Do we need a broker?

AdamMc90

Hi everyone

I'm looking on buying a house with my girlfriend at some point this year. (We're in no particular rush to get our own place although excited by the thought)

I live and work in Liverpool which is where we are looking to buy, she currently lives down south so will be looking for a new job up here to relocate..... Would this then be the first step before even looking at mortgages? As mortgage applications would require her exact income, payslips etc etc. Or should we just get a mortgage advisor who could advise us on what to do?

May also have a couple of questions about affordability but won't bog this thread down from the start!

Thanks

GMS

If your partners income is required to support the mortgage then they will need to either have been in employment (length of time depends on lender) or have a firm job offer (some lenders will accept this)

If you aren't looking to buy until next year you have time on your side.

If you are looking for an idea of what is available then a chat with a broker may be useful though how the market will look next year is anybodys guess.

Do you have a particular concern with affordability?

AdamMc90

GMS thanks for the quick response.

I'm not entirely sure how much her current income would effect the mortgage application. I currently earn 30631pa plus 2424 call out allowance plus any OT and call outs on top of that. My girlfriend earns just shy of 13000 plus any commission in her current job so obviously a bit of a disparity in income. Would changing jobs recently effect the mortgages we'd be offered or is that just down to credit checks?

Regarding affordability we're looking at houses around the 170-180k mark with 40k deposit (could be upped to 42.5k to meet 75% LVD on 170k home if that achieved a better deal) - we will have approx 50k saved so the rest would go to fees, costs, decorating etc. Together at the moment our basic salary per month is approx 2800 so talking the figures above if we were to obtain a 3/5 year fixed with a decent provider we'd be looking at 550-630 per month for mortgage. Which all seems fine to me but as we're both FTB I don't know if there are any glaring mistakes in my math or whether we should/could be looking at houses worth more or less its just all from my own workings.

Sorry for the essay!

enginesuck

I was in a similar deposit / value scenario to you, income wise about the same but with just 1 earner plus we have kids. We encountered no problems and fixed around 3.5% for five years with Abbey. I think you would be fine. Good luck.

AdamMc90

Thanks enginesuck, its good to know were in the right sort of area with our workings.

AdamMc90

Sorry to resurrect this from the dead but just to confirm - would my girlfriend need to have found a new job in Liverpool with proof of regular income before we would get approved for a mortgage or would my numbers allow us to get through on affordability even before she found work?

Thanks

dashetlandexile

Try using Nationwide's and Halifax's affordability calculators on their website to get an indication. It should be achievable from the details you've given.