Mortgage on a PhD stipend

twowheelspete

heya,

I am a right tightwad, spend most of my time playing sports (always shower at sports centre) or in my office or library (so no television, broadband telephone etc needed). In addition I am exempt from council tax. I basically just need a roof over my head in a quiet area with somewhere to store my mountainbike, grow potatoes and have bbqs with my pals.

I've saved ~£40k. I have no debts other than student loans (which "don't count").

I've got a research fellowship from my university for £14,000/yr (tax free). I also do some teaching (an extra £1000 or so /yr) which is taxable. It is guaranteed for 3 years, increases with inflation.

I'm looking at properties for about £100k.

Cov BS have said they'll lend ~£56k (I could do with £65kish to be comfortable) with repayments of £416/month over 20 years (repayment mortgage). I tried to explain my income situation and they were cool with it. I tried a few other places (Nationwide, Halifax) and they wouldn't accept my research fellowship as admissible income.

For which mortgage companies is my income addmissible?
Of these which is the cheapest?
Any good indep. brokers you can recommend?

I haven't actually found the house I want, but they tend to go quite quickly at my price range (popular buy to let area sadly) so I want to know all my options before hand.

thanks

twowheelspete

I tried to post the following edit, but the forum keeps reporting a database error..

[edit]
1. Yes this is a big "ask"-borrowing 4x my phd stipend
2. When I finish my phd and get a "proper" job in industry or as a lecturer my income will probably double or triple
3. I could possibly let out a room to a fellow post grad student for £230/month
[/edit]