House owner wannabe - questions

notwaitingforlotto

Hello all, I really need advice.
My situation: Single mom, work full time, get tax credits & child benefit, no longer eligible for housing benefit. Rented for 6 years, rent in last 3 years btw £530 and £560 and I'm thinking I could be paying a mortgage actually!

I have NO debt and no loans, about 3 credit cards with around £10,000 available credit. I have about £2k in savings but can magic another £7k or so from my folks for deposit on HTB.

I know nothing about house buying so I'll just put some questions here:
1. How long do I have to have to be in a permanent job to be accepted for mortgage?
2. Where do surveyors and solicitors come in and how much do they usually charge?
3. Is there any bank / building society that handles the entire process? If not, what else do they do apart from lend you the money?
4. Lastly, what is the very first step one takes in buying a house?

I'm good with many things but this house buying thing is rocket science to me. I'd be so grateful for your replies.

:-)

cattie

You really need to have more money behind you before you even think of taking on a mortgage. Solicitor fees can be in the region of £1500 depending on price of house. Surveyors fees cost from £500-£1k, depending on which type of survey required.

It is always wiser, & usually cheaper, to find your own solicitor & not use the one recommended by the estate agent. Lenders don't sort out solicitors for you, but you can use their surveyor as this is often more cost effective for you seeing as they have to go to value the property for the bank anyway (which you pay for).

Don't forget that once you own a house you have extra outlay, not just the cost of the mortgage, but buildings & contents insurance, mortgage protection insurance etc. & you always need extra money in the bank for repairs & maintenance. If your boiler conks out say, it could cost you £3k for a new one. There is always something needing doing to a property, whether it is general maintenance or a major emergency.

People underestimate how much they need to have before buying a property. Ideally you should have at least 6 months income in the bank as a financial cushion should you lose your job or be unable to work. This is especially important when you are the sole occupier & have no partner bringing money into the house.

From your post it sounds as if you haven't been long in a permanent job & for your own peace of mind & that of your child, you need to be reasonably sure that you have a secure job for a good number of years before thinking of committing yourself to such a huge commitment as owning a property is.

notwaitingforlotto

Thanks Cattie. Buying a house in the uk is practically the only thing im a novice at, hence my post. Im in my 30s with children and divorced and have had plenty of permanent jobs in my day - I then had a year where I worked as a temp and permanent again. So wondering about the rules around that. Very secure about work - no issues there.

I also had a very healthy savings pot that has now recently become empty due to some circumstances, so no, im not clueless about that either and building back savings is not difficult for me.

I owned a home in a diff country where mortgages dont exist and pretty much had to pay cash for it so I know plenty about looking after a house and eventualities.

If you look at my questions, I need advice on house buying dynamics, banks, solicitors, surveyors, rules etc not really my issues - I can take care of that.

Hope its a little clearer!

crystal64

Is it Scotland or England you are thinking of as the laws are different so different rules apply when buying a house.