No mortgage for two years - first time buyer?

nponsford

Dear all!

This is my first post here and I really hope that someone can help me. My husband and I owned a house, which we sold just over a year ago. We paid off the mortgage then. We would love to own a house, but I have just started to take on freelance work and am a new mum. I read that some banks offer a mortgage if you have not owned a property / had a mortgage for two years +. Does anyone know if this is true, and if so, which? I spent a rather dismal day trudging around the high street and the banks were not very helpful!

Thanks in advance

N.:xmastree:

ACG

You are possibly thinking of First Time buyer mortgages?
Most lenders have some sort of deal for FTBs.

As for your work, you may be able to get a mortgage against any tax credits (with some lenders) but unless you have been working as freelance for atleast a year and have some accounts to back it up - its unlikely you will get a mortgage against your income.

nponsford

Are we considered first time buyers if we haven't had a mortgage for a few years? I am aware that FTBs seem to get better deals, just not sure if we count. We are not remortgaging - but we do need a new mortgage.

I have been working since July in a freelance capacity. I do not think this means anything to the banks though. However my husband works - salary at £40K and we have £60K deposit. We really need a mortgage to get a property of £400K...

Thanks SOOO much for helping!

kingstreet

The FTB/or not thing is a red-herring.

Regardless of whether you've owned a property in the last five minutes or the last five years or never owned one, lenders base their decisions to lend on;-

- affordability and your ability to prove income in a format they want
- credit worthiness
- deposit/loan to value - are you putting enough down.

From what you've said, your simple problem is you haven't been self-employed long enough to be able to provide acceptable evidence of income. That means you either wait until you have that (normally two years) or you try to proceed on your provable income (your husband's salary).

On the sketchy information you've given, I'd say (assuming only one dependent and no other credit) you'll get a maximum mortgage of around £160k, which when added to your deposit will give a maximum purchase price of £220k.

Just as a FYI, to justify a £340k mortgage, you'd need to be earning a provable (SA302) net profit of around £45k on top of your husband's income, possibly more if you don't have a top credit score and/or have other credit commitments.

nponsford

Thanks - Santander did offer us £300k a few months ago but then decided not to contact us again! Will just have to wait. I wondered if we were seen as FTB, we might be entitled to better deals. Hence my question...

kingstreet

nponsford wrote: »

Thanks - Santander did offer us £300k a few months ago but then decided not to contact us again! Will just have to wait. I wondered if we were seen as FTB, we might be entitled to better deals. Hence my question...

There might be a 0.1% rate difference, or a refund of valuation fee for a FTB deal but like I said, this is a red herring. The issue is can you get the mortgage you need?