What to do...

JackSeymour

Hello everyone, apologies if this is in the wrong place.

Long time lurker here, in need of some help/advice/guidance.

Long story short(or probably not), I currently live with my girlfriend at her parents house, which is very kind of them but it’s not idealanymore and we’re looking to move out, either rent or buy, buying would bepreferable.

This is where I need help. I’m a newbie HGV driver and earn a salary of £18k with a £3k attendance bonus, so £21k(will the attendance bonus affect my affordability?) I also do around 20 hours overtime a month which is pretty much always there, just about to pay off my credit card next month which is at £1500(about time too, I was silly, and have learnt), only other monthly bills are mobile and bank charge as I don’t pay rent because her parents are kind J

My girlfriend is just going into her last year of her law degree at uni but works part time as a carer, on a 0 hours contract and would be making around £600 a month, she’s on good terms with the people she works with so thehours are pretty much guaranteed, or have been for the last 2 years she’sworked with them. Can her income be used on a mortgage if it’s a 0 hours contract?

We have 2 cars, 1 of them we have £1,900 to pay off, the money was borrowed from her nan and will be paid off by December.

We have £2,500 saved in her ISA at the moment but should be about £5,000 by January and then in the new year will be putting atleast £1,000 between us into it every month.

According to the Halifax borrowing calculator I could borrowed up to £84,000 on my own, which is not really enough around here(Hampshire).

What I was wondering was if there were any good schemes that people could recommend or wether a mortgage is potentially do-able, obviously we don’t have the deposit right now but we’re getting there!

I’m not very good at putting essays together so forgive me if this post is confusing, just tell me and I’ll try to explain it a bit better!

Thanks in advance forany help or advice anyone might have.

Regards,

Jack

xoAmyox

Honestly, the long and short of it is save, save, save.

Money coming in is shown by your pay slips (not your contract(s)) - but every little bit you save gives you a bigger deposit, therefore more borrowing potential or a better LTV, which would give you a lower monthly payment.

JackSeymour

Thanks for the reply. That is what we're aiming to do until we just can't take it any more i suppose. Are there any good first time buyer schemes out there or is it just better to save up a big enough deposit to buy without having to use 1?

I'm looking at the Help to Buy scheme with the 20% government loan, does anyone have any experience of this?

Regards,

Jack

Thrugelmir

Where will your gf end up working?

JackSeymour

When she finishes Uni she will hopefully be at a law firm doing her LPC(?) which will be paid, not sure how much but will be full time and alot more than she is currently on. Not sure which area, she's currently on a work placement at a London law firm but finishes in 3 weeks.

Regards,

Jack

Caladan

Two questions -
If you want to rely on your overtime and a zero hours contract, what happens if it gets taken away? What happens if they need less driving hours due to shortage of demand or there is an excess of carers on contract?

There's a thousand and one people who believed their circumstances were 'guaranteed' and are seriously regretting that now.

I'm not saying don't do it, but you need to think long and hard about making the biggest financial commitment of your life right now, where you currently have the option of saving a fortune through not paying rent and therefore building up an excellent deposit.

JackSeymour

Fair comment, I didn't mean I would count on the overtime for mortgage payments, more like overpayments, i'm usually over cautious when it comes to bills etc but i understand what you mean.

My girlfriend looks after 3 downs syndrome people who require care 24/7, of which she is 1 of the main weekend carers, so those hours are guaranteed to a certain extent, but you are right, nothing can be guarenteed these days.

Thanks for your input.

Regards,

Jack

ch3101

I'd advise you to be careful with what you expect her to be paid as a trainee. Unless she's working at a city firm she'll most likely be on ~16k until she becomes a qualified solicitor.

And also when Aiken on as a trainee you're not guaranteed a job at the end so be wary of that too.

JackSeymour

I don't expect her to be well paid, but its fair to assume it will more than she earns now, and yes I know it's not guaranteed. I'm just trying to see what kind of options are available but it seems the only option is to save up a large deposit or rent.

Thanks for your input.

Regards,

Jack