Confused!!! First time buyer with older partner

dealmein

Hi

I am hoping some of the kind people on this board can help me out as my head is spinning!!!

My partnera nd I are first time buyers with a £25000 deposit. I earn £17400 and he earns £15300. We are hoping to buy a property for 125000-130000.

I am 35 and my partner is 47. We have been told by the Halifax that we can't get a mortgage over 17 years because my partner's pension when he retires won't be big enough. However the amount they will lend would mean that we would seriously have to downgrade our expectations.

I have also received advice from L&C who say that we can borrow the amount we 'need' however I feel that the monthly payments whilst doable would be a little bit too high for comfort!! I am also awaiting a call back from 'Mortage Monitor'

Therefore I am now thinking that I should get the mortgage on my own as a way of getting the amount we need whilst acheiving my aim of getting the monthly payments down. I am trawling the internet getting quotes, however I am now just feeling more confused and getting numerous key fact illustrations is adding to this!!!!

I realise its difficult to speak in generalities, but does any one have any thoughts on the age issue?

Any advice on how to refocus my mortgage search and to stop my head spinning would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance..

Dave_Ham

Depending on your OH income type, should be able to get to 22 years term..

Joe_Bloggs

The State Retirement age for those born between 6 March 1961 to 5 April 1969 is 67. This may also require some checking as the government are forever threatening to raise this age.

It seems strange that the lenders do not increase time before retirement that they will lend in line with the state retirement age. You can retire earlier than this if there is a sufficient pension to do so.

Affordability / responsible lending (ie. not lending ) is left to the lenders discretion. It may require the expertise of a mortgage broker to wade through the options.

J_B.

ACG

Based on your figures, its probably doable.
Whether you find that affordable or not is another matter.

If you are already speaking to 2 mortgagebrokers im sure they will find you something that is available, its then upto you whether to proceed with it or not.

dealmein

Thank you all for your advice, much appreciated :beer:

I have a decision in principle from L&C so I guess I should have more trust in the experts!

Once again many thanks.

zeke

I am in a similar-ish position with an age-related query:

I'm 49, salary £45K, partner is 45, salary £12K. No mortgage at present, in rented accommodation, just sold a property so we have £20K as a deposit, with maybe a little more if necessary. Should have a good credit rating, never missed a payment in 25 years, probably doesn't count for much nowadays.

We would like to be able to buy a property costing in the order of £200K- is this realistic in the current climate? Any suggestions on where to go and how best to go about it?

Dave_Ham

Hi Zeke,

Whilst do-able this is likely to be expensive.

Subject to any credit commitments you may have and credit scoring mitigating, you would be able to afford the mortgage on affordability.

Given your ages, you would only get a 20 year or 15 year mortgage, depending on lender.

On 20 years for £200k you would be looking at about £1300-£1500 a month, as no lenders will currently give interest only at 90% loan to value..

You may want to engage a mortgage broker to talk you through this process and ensure you approach the right lender.

All the best

zeke

Dave,

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe a silly question but how much extra deposit would be likely to make a significant difference to the application? We could probably find another 2 or 3K ourselves- over and above this would require some creative accounting or (last resort) relatives. Worth bothering?

Dave_Ham

Hi there,

I did this really quickly to be honest to give you some indicative numbers. Do not rely on them being perfect as obviously typically we would undertake a fact find and spend some sensible time giving options.

That said, this was based at 6% which is a steady 90% product with a main stream lender - there are better and worse out there, but this is middle ish.

The loan to value ratio's then go down in 5% increments, so your next step at 85% at say 4.8% and then around 4% for 80% and 3.5% ish for 75%...

As stated, these are for indication only purposes and a typical 85% product would cost you around £1,300 a month for 20 years repayment..

Hope this helps for now..

zeke

Thanks again for the speedy response. So if I'm reading this right, we'd need another £10K ish deposit to get a better rate? Blimey, better go count the change jar!

Dave_Ham

zeke wrote: »

Thanks again for the speedy response. So if I'm reading this right, we'd need another £10K ish deposit to get a better rate? Blimey, better go count the change jar!

yep - subject to purchase price obviously....

Remember stamp duty is back at 1% now also...