Struggling to find a mortgage as a single person

Thrugelmir

At least you've low outgoings in your current situation. Your savings are building.  You are in a far better position than many.  Sometimes you need to adjust your expectations to get on the first rung of the property ladder. Once on the ladder becomes far easier to move upwards. 

janoid19

I would go and speak to a mortgage advisor. I am 28 and in the process of buying my first house for 186k. I am on 30k a year and have 30k savings and like you use my credit card very little and pay it off every month. 

I have received a mortgage offer from Halifax for £142500 and I am paying a 15% deposit and so 99k seems very low. If you are able to pay a 15% deposit you will have more options available that 10%

MikeL93

janoid19 said:

I would go and speak to a mortgage advisor. I am 28 and in the process of buying my first house for 186k. I am on 30k a year and have 30k savings and like you use my credit card very little and pay it off every month. 

I have received a mortgage offer from Halifax for £142500 and I am paying a 15% deposit and so 99k seems very low. If you are able to pay a 15% deposit you will have more options available that 10%

Halifax were actually one of the ones who offered me £99K, I know this doesn't account for much but I thought I'd get a higher offer from them seeing as how I have banked with them all my life.

MikeL93

MaryNB said:

MikeL93 said:

K_S said:

MikeL93 said:

K_S said:

ACG said:

£99k seems low, I would expect something closer to £135k + your deposit. 

I'll second that. £99k seems awfully low. Where did you get this figure from @MikeL93 ?

Some of the aspects that may bring down max borrowing are if your credit history is poor (recent late/missed payments or defaults on file) or if your income of 30,750 includes a variable element such as commission/bonus, etc. If it's a basic income of 30,750 with a clean credit history and no debt, a single 27 year old *should* be able to borrow around 4.5 times income.

I can't remember off the top of my head where I got that figure from, it was a mortgage advise company that I had to have a telephone meeting with. My income is a basic income but then last month and this month I've had bonuses in my pay cheque. I imagine I have a clean credit history, I've never actually checked my credit score but I also forgot to mention I have for the past few years been paying £350 a month for my car which is now all paid off and for 6 months last year I was paying a £200 direct debit to my dentist every month for work I was having done, I never missed a payment on either of them. Part of me is thinking if I am facing an uphill struggle due to what is going on with Covid and lenders are less willing to lend money.

@MikeL93 That's probably it. If you add monthly outgoings of £350+£200 to your affordability calcs, that could reduce max borrowing to around 100k.

Assuming the bonus you are talking about is over and above the basic, then that should still mean you should have a max borrowing figure of around 4.5-4.75x basic income.

Covid has no impact on any of what I've said above. As far as I can tell, based on the limited info shared someone in your situation should potentially be able to borrowing at least 135k towards the purchase of a 160k property.

I think I'm going to have to speak to someone else then about what mortgage I can get, when I last spoke to someone though it was in May. By that point I had already paid off both my car and the dentist so didn't even mention.

I am sort of stressing now feeling like I'm never going to get a mortgage. My parents keep telling me though not to stress and worry about having to move out anytime soon.

Don't stress about it. You are far from alone in your situation. I'm only just buying my first place at 31 and I know very few people of my generation who bought in their 20s (at least without substantial help). I know a few older than you who are still living at home while they save up to buy. Think of it positively, you're saving way more living at home that you would be renting and therefore can get on the ladder sooner. Also, you miles away from having to worry about still having a mortgage as you approach retirement.

That's a good point about saving money instead of renting. My best mate and his girlfriend have lived together for 4 years now and because they have rented that entire time their savings have hardly grown in the last 4 years.

MaryNB

MikeL93 said:

janoid19 said:

I would go and speak to a mortgage advisor. I am 28 and in the process of buying my first house for 186k. I am on 30k a year and have 30k savings and like you use my credit card very little and pay it off every month. 

I have received a mortgage offer from Halifax for £142500 and I am paying a 15% deposit and so 99k seems very low. If you are able to pay a 15% deposit you will have more options available that 10%

Halifax were actually one of the ones who offered me £99K, I know this doesn't account for much but I thought I'd get a higher offer from them seeing as how I have banked with them all my life.

Unfortunately loyalty doesn't pay. However, I found Halifax very easy to deal with and got 4.75x my salary no bother back in August.

The only negative I can see so far is that paying off your credit cards too early looks like you don't use credit. A limited credit history is not great. Although in my complete non expert opinion I didn't think it would have that big of an impact.  

Check that your credit files with each of the three agencies are in order (the won't necessarily all have the same info so check all) and talk to a broker.
On your credit files make sure:
- you have no missed payments
- you have very few hard searches (hopefully none recently)
- you have very few cash advances on your credit card
- you are on the electoral roll
- there are no errors with your personal info, linked addresses, financial associates

MikeL93

ACG said:

There are pros and cons. I think I moved out at 25 around 11 years ago, back then I wasnt in any major rush to move out but now I would never move back. 

You will have more money each month now than you ever will when you get a mortgage and bills - a mortgage also comes with council tax, gas, electric, water, tv license, house insurance, a proper food bill, repairs etc. Think about what you are giving up. No harm moving out, but do it because you want to, not because you feel like you should. 

I do want to move out but at the same time I’m not sure if I’m entirely ready. I’ll be honest I’ve had a really tough year this year. I came out of a very long relationship, I had my dog put to sleep and my nan died all within the last 3 months so at the moment I just feel exhausted so the hassle of moving house is something I think I could do without at the moment.

Also I’m not entirely sure I’m confident enough to live on my own yet. Growing up I very often looked after the house whilst my parents and sister went away on holiday but then 18 months ago they went away and I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by the house alarm to find someone in the house! Ever since that day I’ve always been nervous about living on my own.

MFWannabe

MikeL93 said:

ACG said:

There are pros and cons. I think I moved out at 25 around 11 years ago, back then I wasnt in any major rush to move out but now I would never move back. 

You will have more money each month now than you ever will when you get a mortgage and bills - a mortgage also comes with council tax, gas, electric, water, tv license, house insurance, a proper food bill, repairs etc. Think about what you are giving up. No harm moving out, but do it because you want to, not because you feel like you should. 

I do want to move out but at the same time I’m not sure if I’m entirely ready. I’ll be honest I’ve had a really tough year this year. I came out of a very long relationship, I had my dog put to sleep and my nan died all within the last 3 months so at the moment I just feel exhausted so the hassle of moving house is something I think I could do without at the moment.

Also I’m not entirely sure I’m confident enough to live on my own yet. Growing up I very often looked after the house whilst my parents and sister went away on holiday but then 18 months ago they went away and I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by the house alarm to find someone in the house! Ever since that day I’ve always been nervous about living on my own.

Crikey it sound s likes you’ve had a really rough time of it 
I think you’d be better off staying put at the moment. Buying a house is stressful and something you could do without at the moment, especially if you don’t really like the thought of living on your own. Take the time to recover from the last few months and carry on building up your deposit until you’re well and truly ready to buy a property when you absolutely want to. 

enthusiasticsaver

You have a steady work record and a good deposit so you are in a  good position but yes as a single person it is just your income so inevitably you will be looking at fairly high multiples.  £99k is a low offer from Halifax though so go and see a mortgage broker.  My daughter and her husband did that earlier on this year when Halifax capped their offer as too low to buy the house they wanted even though their affordability was fine and their current mortgage had been with Halifax for 6 years with no problems. A broker got them an offer with HSBC at a considerably higher amount although they did not go up as far as was offered.  

elsien

MikeL93 said:

MFWannabe said:

MikeL93 said:

K_S said:

MikeL93 said:

K_S said:

ACG said:

£99k seems low, I would expect something closer to £135k + your deposit. 

I'll second that. £99k seems awfully low. Where did you get this figure from @MikeL93 ?

Some of the aspects that may bring down max borrowing are if your credit history is poor (recent late/missed payments or defaults on file) or if your income of 30,750 includes a variable element such as commission/bonus, etc. If it's a basic income of 30,750 with a clean credit history and no debt, a single 27 year old *should* be able to borrow around 4.5 times income.

I can't remember off the top of my head where I got that figure from, it was a mortgage advise company that I had to have a telephone meeting with. My income is a basic income but then last month and this month I've had bonuses in my pay cheque. I imagine I have a clean credit history, I've never actually checked my credit score but I also forgot to mention I have for the past few years been paying £350 a month for my car which is now all paid off and for 6 months last year I was paying a £200 direct debit to my dentist every month for work I was having done, I never missed a payment on either of them. Part of me is thinking if I am facing an uphill struggle due to what is going on with Covid and lenders are less willing to lend money.

@MikeL93 That's probably it. If you add monthly outgoings of £350+£200 to your affordability calcs, that could reduce max borrowing to around 100k.

Assuming the bonus you are talking about is over and above the basic, then that should still mean you should have a max borrowing figure of around 4.5-4.75x basic income.

Covid has no impact on any of what I've said above. As far as I can tell, based on the limited info shared someone in your situation should potentially be able to borrowing at least 135k towards the purchase of a 160k property.

I think I'm going to have to speak to someone else then about what mortgage I can get, when I last spoke to someone though it was in May. By that point I had already paid off both my car and the dentist so didn't even mention.

I am sort of stressing now feeling like I'm never going to get a mortgage. My parents keep telling me though not to stress and worry about having to move out anytime soon.

There’s no need to stress; you’ve got a well paid job; good deposit and can stay at parents as long as you want and need to. Also you’re only 27! 
Check your credit files; just in case there is something flagging up on there that you’re unaware of / not right
Speak to a good broker; honestly they make it so much easier. Absolutely worth it IMO especially when you’re a FTB 

Thank you, I guess I'm just feeling old to be living at home compared to my mates as they all moved away to uni and then moved in with their girlfriends so they've been living independently in their own properties for a number of years now. Added to that my sister who is 23 has now moved out so I guess I'm just putting pressure on myself. I just have to keep reminding myself that my mates and sister have all had joint mortgages whereas I will be applying on my own unless something drastically changes in the next 6 - 12 months.

I was older than you when I bought my house. I’d moved away from home then came back again a few years later for various reasons. I used to feel very self conscious about still living at home at my age wondering what people thought of me. Then after I bought my house, I saw other single older people still living at home and feeling equally embarrassed about it and realised that no-one else actually gives a stuff. It’s all in your head.
Just do what’s right for you at the moment then move out when you’re ready, not when you think that it’s expected. Really, no-one else gives it a second thought. 

hayley2411

I wouldnt worry too much about been 27 and still living at home, I'm 32 and currently in the process of buying my first home and I'm still not 100% sure I want to 😂 it's scary and very daunting. The thought of all my disposable cash which I use for nice holidays and weekends away and enjoying myself long gone scares living daylights out of me 😂
Dont compare yourself to anyone else 😊 you'll drive yourself crazy. I'm a single applicant who earns lower than you, and doesnt have the amount of deposit you have, and all seems well and good so far.