Starting point for first time buyer

stanmoor

Hi guys

My girlfriend and I will soon be looking to get on to the property ladder, but I wanted to know where's best to start for finding the best mortgage? Straight to the banks or better to look online?

I've no real idea of the max we could get, but here are the key stats:

Household income: £71,000
Deposit: Circa £50,000

What could we reasonably expect to borrow? We're paying £1560 for our flat now.

Thanks

Paully232000

We started looking online first, and then in the end we went to a broker, and was the best 299 ever spent in terms of no hassle for us, and being told what to provide and when.

Also, for us it wasn't just a matter of what our income was, but also what we spend each month so I guess would be the same for you in terms of what you would be able to borrow.

It was not just 3 or 4 times our joint income, they took into consideration our outgoings such as childcare, car payments (petrol etc), credit card and loan payments and balances etc to come up with a figure they were willing to lend.
We earn give or take something like you and had a similar amount of our savings that we wanted to spend on a deposit leaving some savings for other expenses/rainy day.

amnblog

Do not go straight to the bank.

Get some sensible advise from a suitably qualified broker.

ACG

You can generally borrow about 4x your income plus the deposit on top to make the purchase price.

However, this could go as high as 5x income or come down below 3x income - depending on your financial commitments and the lender. If you look online you are going to find the same deals that the banks offer pretty much.

If you want someone to do the search for you (price comparison sites do not always have everything available) and to ensure you meet the lenders criteria and do the donkey work, then a broker is a good call (one who does not work for an estate agent so you can be sure theyre acting in your best interests and not the estate agents).

If your happy to do the research and leg work yourself then yes, the internet isnt a bad place to start.

Building_Surveyor

Starting point should be getting your credit files and ensuring they are in order before you speak to anyone.