Sensible amount to be looking at houses?

pinkcheshirecat

Hi,

We're moving from North of a England to the South of England.

Our property in the north is SSTC And after fees from the sale and any onward purchase we will (hopefully) have approx 200k deposit.

We have only one wage earner who has a basic of 95k, but who has a company car which reduces his net pay. He also gets some bonus each year. It is guaranteed for this year and next, but will vary after that.

We don't have any childcare fees and have no debts other than our mortgage.

Realistically, what sort of amount could we borrow? Things have changed massively since we last bought a house and hearing horror stories of 'they want to know how much you spend on haircuts' hasn't helped me feel confident that I can go and look at houses without wasting the sellers time.

We will want to use a broker this time I think, but I want to get an idea if I'm in cloud cuckoo land with the houses I'm looking at. I have looked at lending calculators, but how do I know what the lender wants to know about when they say........ Any other costs you think we might need to know about? Some calculators ask about Council Tax..... But what about things like energy bills???


Does taking a long fix help affordability? as fees to exit are crippling, 6% on Woolwich 10 year fix for the next 7 years......


Would appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance

TrickyDicky101

Where are you looking to move to (South of England covers a broad area with significantly different house costs) - are you considering London, for example?

What are your ages - this will impact the term and thus potentially the affordability.

What kind of property are you after? Family house, apartment, farm, cottage, hovel?

pinkcheshirecat

We're looking for a family home, I suspect we will want to push as high as we can to avoid another move in a few years time, there is a huge difference in what you get for your money, we are used to having quite a bit of space. That said, we're renting a much smaller house and I may well enjoy less time spent cleaning! :rotfl:

We're moving to West Berks, and we're 37 and 35. I've given up my job as we are moving.....I'm possibly going to work once we are settled....(have 2 kids). But I only earn a small amount if I do work, so I wouldn't expect it to make a huge difference......

amnblog

It sounds like anything up to the 4% stamp duty land tax threshold (£500K) should be affordable - subject to underwriting of course.

You may not want to pay the minimum extra £5000 tax to pay over that figure in any case.

Like anywhere else, think about schools and school catchments if you have children. They are a major factor in property prices, particularly in the London area.

The retention of a Grammar school system in counties such as Devon and Buckinghamshire also has an effect on prices.