First time buyer help/questions! Mortgage advice

Neo187

Hi all, wondered if you lovely people can advise of my current situation please!

Myself and my wife have rented the same property for 6 years and unfortunately have never been in a position to be able to buy. My parents had a successful business growing up, and we lived very comfortably indeed, but unfortunately things didn't go to plan in the end, and had to sell the business for next to nothing. They don't have a mortgage but unfortunately savings were used up with the business and they are not in a position to help. Both my grandparents passed many many years ago, and my wife is Eastern European and had a tough upbringing, so altogether we have never been in a position to be blessed with any inheritance or assistance down the line, and always resigned ourself to renting.however my sister is now very successful and has mentioned recently she might be able to help us out financially.

The place we rent is now being put up for sale by the owner and he has said he will give us first option to buy before it lists. We would love to buy it as it has been our home for ages, and is a perfect start on the ladder. However the issue is getting a mortgage for it. Being completely new to all of this, I had no idea and thought best ask you experts first.

Just browsing mortgage calculators and what we can borrow is already the first disheartening step. House is worth £270,000 and we earn a joint income of £63,000. Most calculators put us at maximum borrowing of around £220,000. I haven't discussed in detail with sister yet, but she mentioned she may be able to help out with around £30k deposit, which is still short. Unfortunately we don't have savings ourselves with the rent and other issues that have always cropped up eating into what savings we ever managed. Currently paying £1,000 rent per month, so repayments should be fine, it's just getting a deposit and onto the ladder. Is this maximum borrowing figure a fair reflection?

Do any government schemes help with old houses? Everything I've read in the past has always been new build, but we would like to buy our house we live in now. Another option might be that we and my sister buy the place, and have a 50/50 mortgage, and pay her 'rent' to pay her side of the mortgage and I'll look to buy her out of it at a later date. Is this a possibility?

Can anyone recommend any brokers to speak to? I don't want to approach high street banks yet, as the other issue is credit history. Unfortunately mine wasn't great, and got myself into a bit of a mess 5 years ago, which is almost close to dropping off. All cards and loans have been satisfied, but show a few defaults from 2011/12 where I missed some payments. Is a mortgage still even a possibility with this, or do I need to wait maybe 8 months for it all to clear?

Any advice would be greatly appreaciated!

summer0304

I would definitely recommend going to see a mortgage advisor. I tried to do it myself and it just caused a huge amount of stress. The online calculators are rubbish and the mortgage advisor got me more than they estimated. As a first time buyer you only need 10% deposit so £30k should be enough to cover the deposit and fees. Our fees are about £1200 and that includes the mortgage advisor fees. They can look at your circumstances and tell you which lender will give you what. Also the seller might accept a lower offer due to you already living there, definitely worth asking. Good luck

amnblog

About the only part of your post you have an accurate assumption on it the bit about not approaching lenders direct. Your case sounds managable.

Ask friends from recommendations to a suitable mortgage broker, or failing that, check an independent review site like Trustpilot for a suitable firm

ACG

A broker should be able to manage this for you.
Finding an extra £10k on a Mortgage is normally easy enough to do with a couple of minor changes, getting an extra £20k is probably doable also.

Without seeing what you have put on the calculators, it is difficult to say for sure. Sometimes it is a case of using the calculators correctly and knowing how to manipulate them in your favour - an experienced broker will know how to do it.