Buying a house in a different city - any advisors help

DJLDomino

Here is my predicament. My wife and I are actors but have spent the last year in full time jobs to try and get on the mortgage ladder. We would like to use our salaries (in London) to buy a house in Birmingham and once it's all completed, return to being self-employed actors again. We've no worries over paying the mortgage as we've paid London rent for 13 years as actors. We know the house we want and our deposit is a decent amount over 10% of the value of the house.

Is it possible for us to say to a lender that we would commute from Birmingham to London in order to buy the house? How much would we have to tell the lender? We have no intention of commuting but would say this only to secure the mortgage. We would simply revert to being self-employed again once we've completed on the house.

1) Can we do this? 2) How do we do this?

amnblog

If you are moving cities the lender will ask?

Can you commute? Is it Practical?

If not can you continue in your current work in the new City.

They won’t like your case.

DJLDomino

Commuting is doable but it is not an option for us. We've found a new build which works perfectly to our timescale. We would move into it in Jan and then I've got an acting job lined up in Birmingham to start in Feb.
We have no intention of commuting so it's just to convince the lender to allow us to borrow.

I have thought about doing what I do in Brum but we'd really prefer to get it done in our current situation. Having done a search, incorporating the cost of the season ticket, it seems we could get the loan. I just wonder how intrusive the lenders will be

ACG

I have done mortgages for an actor before, never really had any problems although admittedly she was relatively well known and could be seen on TV but she was not treated any differently to anyone who is self employed.

To be honest, it would probably have been easier to do it as an actor as that job does not really involve regular commuting (unless you were a regular on a soap or something).

It is difficult to say whether or not this can be done, but it might have been better to get advice/pointers before making changes to your circumstances.

DJLDomino

Thanks for your replies/info. TBH, we've had conflicting advice. Some brokers said straight out no, it can't be done. Whilst others have said it's no problem at all. I'm just seeking out as much advice as I can.

It seems as though there are ways to manipulate the system - certainly friends of ours have done it. We just prefer to be straight with things.

It's frustrating because we know we can pay and we have a good deposit, it's just getting the thing.

ACG

If you want to be straight with things, taking out a job knowing you will be leaving it once you complete is not really the way to go.

Systems can be manipulated and I know we could get this through all day long with a couple of lenders, but I would not do it because I have a family and bills to pay and it is not worth losing my license over. If your self assessment income is enough (ie from acting work) then just go down that route, it is easier and legit and no risk of your offer being pulled or being caught out for mortgage fraud.