Planning a mortgage in 2017

gino76ph

Hi there! Me and the missus are planning on getting a mortage for a house or a part-own/part-rent flat in London.

I would like to start by asking some technical (and stupid?) questions:
1. Would 2017 be a good year to get a mortgage with all the "uncertainties" of Brexit, etc.?
2. I plan to use my credit card (with a credit limit of £3000) to pay off the monthly mortgage. Is it a good idea? (As i heard debit cards are worse as they lots of interest to pay)
3. Would website such as FindaProperty.com be a good way to start inquiring/looking for a property? Or an estate agent be?*
* Trying to avoid less papers and less "extra" taxes to pay.

Would appreciate any advice please. Thank you.

ViolaLass

Debit cards have lots of interest to pay? Not sure what you mean by that.

Banks are unlikely to let you pay your mortgage by CC and if they did, the CC company might consider it a cash advance, for which you get charged more.

haf1

It depends - are you planning to buy a long-term home or considering the property as an investment, to be sold after a few years? If the latter, there is a risk that if you buy with a high loan to value now, and if house prices really do drop considerably post-Brexit, you could be stuck in negative equity, unable to sell or to remortgage. You can check Rightmove and/or Zoopla for current house prices in London to get a first impression on what you can - currently - afford.

There will be no fees or taxes if you pay the mortgage from your current account.

To be clear, it is not possible to pay your mortgage via a loan, if that is what you were trying to say, you will need to prove you have sufficient funds/income when applying for a mortgage, and you won't be able to use a loan as a deposit.

Thrugelmir

When to buy should be determined by personal circumstances. Little point in worrying about events over which you have no control. For many people finding the "right" property is often the biggest challenge. So creating more hurdles for yourself won't be helpful. Personally I'd focus more on interest rates. As this will have a greater impact on your personal circumstances.

Lenders won't accept payment by credit card. They wouldn't wish to incur the fees charged.

Rightmove or other websites. Worth registering directly with estate agents in the locality. As property sometimes gets seen and sold very quickly.

AnotherJoe

gino76ph wrote: »

Hi there! Me and the missus are planning on getting a mortage for a house or a part-own/part-rent flat in London.

I would like to start by asking some technical (and stupid?) questions:
1. Would 2017 be a good year to get a mortgage with all the "uncertainties" of Brexit, etc.?

It's always uncertain times. WHose to say the Eurozone won't fall apart or trump get elected? There's always a crisis.

2. I plan to use my credit card (with a credit limit of £3000) to pay off the monthly mortgage. Is it a good idea? (As i heard debit cards are worse as they lots of interest to pay)

Its a non starter. First of all, you'll almost certainly have to pay by direct debit, and a credit card certainly won't be allowed. Second, why would you pay interest on a debit card? The money comes out of your bank account when you use a debit card, it's like an instant cheque. You don't pay interest on spending from a debit card, so you have it totally the wrong way round. Do you not have a debit card? Do you have a bank account ?

3. Would website such as FindaProperty.com be a good way to start inquiring/looking for a property? Or an estate agent be?*
you don't pay estate agent fees for buying, the seller pays. Look in estate agents, right move, zoopla and wherever else you fancy. .


Would appreciate any advice please. Thank you.

Buy a book on the whole house buying process.
Save up a deposit.
Open a HTB ISA.
Save up enough money for solicitors, search fees, stamp duty and all the other stuff.

gino76ph

We are currently paying £1300 for a fully detached 2BR flat (slash small bungalow) in SW19 London. That is so expensive for us. And our tenancy agreement ends in June so we need to start looking from January or February after all the madness i.e. X-mas/New year expenses.

We are currently paying for two different personal loans for the next 2 years which roughly translates to £200 per month for each of us. So I would really need to know which is the most practical way to pay off the mortgage and/or deposit.

ATM, we are divided into 1. Getting on the part own/part rent scheme for public sector workers so we have the option to buy the rest in the future and 2. Getting our own flat/small house paying it for 10-20 years.

Our other option would be getting a 1BR flat renting but only up to £1100 and for 2 years until we get the necessary funds/savings.

So, what must be our "measuring stick" of deciding what we want and we can afford?

Elfbert

What is your income vs your outgoings? What level of deposit have you saved vs the debts you're still paying off?

Your measuring stick for what you can afford is your income vs your outgoings! What you want doesn't come into it until you've found out if you can afford anything (or are willing to sacrifice things so you can afford to buy - such as location!)

(still don't understand point 2 in your original post, either - you can't pay your mortgage on cc!)

AnotherJoe

gino76ph wrote: »

We are currently paying £1300 for a fully detached 2BR flat (slash small bungalow) in SW19 London. That is so expensive for us. And our tenancy agreement ends in June so we need to start looking from January or February after all the madness i.e. X-mas/New year expenses

That's entirely your choice. Overspending at xmas is not a natural force like an earthquake that you can do nothing about. If you are serious about saving and getting a mortgage then you won't regard buying a huge amount of tat as an obligation.

If you aren't, you'll find that xmas, birthdays, holidays and the like come first and you will not be buying any house of any sort. Not to say you have to live like monks and nuns but you need to be in control of spending not act as if it controls you, which your comment above implies.

I have no idea what you mean by " the most practical way to pay off". Can you explain..

Finally, downsizing to a 1 bed and saving £200 a month isn't going to make much difference to what you can save up. You need to itemise and understand your outgoings and decide which are vital and which you can do without. Try the debtfree wannabe forum for hints and help.

ap1985

Just to be clear do you have any savings for a deposit, stamp duty, legal fees etc? Putting things on a credit card would not be wise and I am sure a lender would not even allow that as this would mean that you can't really afford to buy a house/flat etc!

csgohan4

If you can't afford to pay a mortgage and deposit without using a CC, you can't afford to buy a house.

TJParsons

Going by the original questions it would appear that the OP has little idea about the process of buying a house (no shame there, that's what the forum is for) and seems to have certain ideas around 'I need X to buy a house, I can use Y to do it' without an appreciation of the many requirements that need to be fulfilled. First step should be a bit of research (using this site and the many others available), and then engage with a professional about your circumstances and requirements.