First time buyer - Should I increase my deposit?

tad104

Hi All

My partner and I are first-time buyers and have a 25% deposit.

We want to get a mortgage solely on my partners income, however, we need 198k and have been offered 182k by the lender.

I can add my income to the mortgage, however, it gets complicated as I have been self-employed for 2 years and a limited company for 1 (they normally ask for 3 years of books for either).

Q: Should we add the additional 16k and leave us with 8-10k in the bank, or should we go down the more complicated route of adding my income?

I like the fact of smaller monthly repayments (£60 less) and paying less interest on the overall amount (I want to clear the mortgage as quickly as possible), however, I am not used to not having money in the bank and having only 8-10k worries me (you never know what might happen with the new house).

Am I being silly?

Mrs_Soup

Having 8-10K in the bank sounds fine to me, though it depends on your outgoings and you could use the leftover from the lower mortgage paymets to build it back up that bit more quickly. Its not like you would have no savings at all in the bank.

kingstreet

tad104 wrote: »

it gets complicated as I have been self-employed for 2 years and a limited company for 1 (they normally ask for 3 years of books for either)

Some do, some don't.

How have you established which is the best lender for you and your circumstances?

tad104

kingstreet wrote: »

Some do, some don't.

How have you established which is the best lender for you and your circumstances?

I started by searching for the best rates (including going to a broker), then questioned the lender on their product.

I'm currently thinking of going with a 5 year fixed mortgage of 3.09%, which seems to be one of the better rates. They also have some great perks of being able to pay off up to 20% of the mortgage per year and holiday payments.