Short employment history, good income, lot of equity

Joeyjo

Thinking about a move & wondering how hard the mortgage market for us will be.
Me - 40 - 6mths in current job, permanent, professional circa £50k plus likely bonus of £10k
Spouse - 49 - previously limited company contractor, last contract ended in Dec 19, new contract due to start mar 20 - delayed indefinitely due to Covid. On furlough Mar to Dec. Now a PAYE contractor on 3months contract but likely extension. Also has options for when this contract ends. Large salary - if works 12mths well into 50% bracket. 

Currently own outright, paid off last mortgage in 3years. Equity somewhere around 700k and circa 100k savings. Looking around the 1million price tag. So mortgage 200-250k ideally. 3kids. No school fees. Some of paid for activities that could go. Not a careful shopper at present. No car loans. No credit card balance. 

Looking for longest term possible (25) so we minimise required monthly payments but want capability to over pay as much as possible. Ideally only want my salary in the calculations but I’m not sure it will get us enough. Concern over my partners age. 

How do we maximise what they’ll offer and how far in advance am I best doing this? 

K_S

@joeyjo Based on the limited information in your post, you *should* have options for a £200-250k mortgage on your sole income but it'll depend on the entire picture. Discretionary expenditure is not an issue that'll impact affordability, it's only the committed outgoings that matter. Even with your spouse on the application (albeit with her income not being considered), you should still be able to get a 20-21 year term and potentially even go up to 25 years.

When it's time to begin looking at houses, I would recommend talking to your mortgage broker to get a realistic idea of how much you can borrow and then you have a budget to work with. Or else just play around with a few lender affordability calculators to get a very rough idea.

Joeyjo

@K_S thanks - good to know we aren’t completely off the mark then! Will start with getting ours valued, I don’t think we’ll get any surprises and take it from there 

Rosemary1982

Hi, I’ve been approved a mortgage (subject to valuation) for £215K in my name only (as my husband is a company director and in his 50s so don’t want to put him on mortgage).  Earn £44K a year approx. Only been in current job 10 months. Went with NatWest and they were one of the only banks to allow mortgage to be in sole name despite being married. Good luck. 

Joeyjo

Coming back to this - we managed to get a mortgage in September. Although we could’ve reached the property on my salary it would’ve taken all our savings and it’s a project so we wanted a good cushion. Halifax would consider my partners contract as he was on a 6mth contract by then and got an early renewal offer. Kept all our savings and borrowed just under £300k. Exchanged last week and due to complete next week. Thank you for the help
to realise it would be possible!