24 yr old and mortgage

maunders

hi all,

I'm currently renting a flat in London and am looking at buying a flat in outer london.

I am 24 years old and earn £36,000 a year before tax etc. I doubt I'll get a pay rise for another 4-5 years.

I have £50,000 available as a deposit on a flat, so take away legal fees etc say 45k, and have been looking at places around the 175-180k mark. My credit history is pretty good(only one late payment on a credit card about 4 years ago, reason being I just forgot to pay) and no debts.

I was thinking about a 5 year fixed rate mortgage, as I can afford the average mortgage price in the 130k loan range and doubt I'll be getting a payrise in the next 4-5 years as previously stated.

How should I go about this, should I contact some mortgage providers directly? Or go via a broker, say L &C? Thanks in advance.

Dave_Ham

You could say I am biased, but I think the ability to call someone in the evenings/weekends and support you during a first buy process is priceless (as they say)

However, do not take the easy option of seeing a broker in the Estate Agents as firstly not good practice giving them visibility of your financials (from a negotiating point of view) and b they are typically less experienced.

Ask a lot of questions here and in person and assess what works for you..

Good luck

maunders

thanks for the reply. so would you recommend talking to L & C and see what options the give and then speaking to the Lenders in person?

Im also going to view a couple places I've found, would it be better to get the ball rolling with the mortgage so to speak to show sellers that I am serious in buying property?

The_J

This should be a relatively simple process so someone like L&C or another fees free broker will be unable to mess it up. Worth a shout, no fee and as a FTB useful to have your hand held.

You'll want to have an offer accepted on a property before you sort the mortgage out. No point credit scoring yourself unnecessarily.

maunders

Cheers. So basically contact l and c. View some properties. Make an offer and then l and c will contact lenders?

Dave_Ham

Absolutely correct, they should really protect you from any issues arising.

L&C have a fair reputation on here, but it seems typically it depends on who picks up the phone, as they have many, many advisers there.

Your case is straightforward though, so should be quite straightforward...

All the best...

maunders

Just a quick q re the deposit. It's being held in my dads account. Would there be any problem with him giving the money to a mortgage company or would it need to be transferred to me first?