What are the chances of a 95% mortgage..?

downhillfast

Hi there.

My wife and I currently live in a rented 1 bedroom flat with our toddler son. Although we love where we live, space is becoming an issue. We don't want to move as where we live is 'mates rates' rent and it is allowing us to save for a deposit to buy somewhere bigger.

We've got to the point where we have about £20k savings - maternity leave last year ate into some of our savings but we are back on track now and wondering at what point we will actually be in a position to start looking for places.

Now the sticking points...

I am an ex-bankrupt. Bankruptcy was the result of a failed business back in 2007. My credit history since then has been exemplary and I have built up a good record of having managed multiple 'good' credit cards with high limits (paying off in full every month or metered payments to repay a 0% offer within the time limit) I have also paid back a loan that was taken out to fund a vehicle - this 3 year loan ends next month.

My wife entered a DMP about 9 years ago - this is all paid off in full now and has fallen off her credit records. She also now has a 'good' credit card with a high limit that is managed well and paid off in full every month.

Between us we earn about £90k a year so our affordability is reasonably high... the main issue however is that we live in the South East where 2 bedroom properties are looking at costing £350k or more! I am also 40 years old so I am beginning to worry that as time creeps on I won't be able to obtain a long enough term to allow us to afford monthly repayments! I envisage working until I am 65-70 though so I hope I can still get a 25 year term reasonable easily?

Are we kidding ourselves that at our current saving rate of £1000-1500 a month or so we might be in a position to move within the next year? I know most people aim for 85% LTV but that would make the deposit alone £50k without considering how much the house prices may still rise and therefore increase the stamp duty we'd pay aswell... it feels like we're chasing something we're never going to achieve! If we could just get a 95% mortgage it would feel like we have it within our grasp finally :j

Any advice would be much appreciated

amnblog

You wont know until you try.

95% mortgage generally mean you need a good score with the lender, but equally there are options with lenders that make a manual assessment.

downhillfast

What I don't want to do is to make an appointment with a broker just to be laughed out of the door for wasting their time!

On another thread on the bankruptcy board someone mentioned that there is a cap for purchase prices for 95% mortgages that if true would limit us further???

I used a comparison site to see what might be offered and Barclays came up as offering 95% one a £400k property - we both have a good history with Barclays but cannot apply for an online AIP to test the water because of my bankruptcy...