First Time Buyers, advice please

YRazor

Hello all, 
My wife and I have considered purchasing a house for about 2 years now to the point where January last year we had registered with L&C, habito etc to find out what was possible. Following the first lockdown I was furloughed and subsequently made redundant at the end of October, I was lucky enough to start a new job at the beginning of November.

Following the budget announcement and extension of the stamp duty holiday I discussed with the Wife that maybe we should try to purchase before June end and avoid the additional cost.
We are both first time buyers living and renting in London (Bromley) with a child in Nursery full time.
I feel that £450,000 is what would be required to secure what we are after (3 bed house, minimum 2 bed in/around our current location).
If this was to be the case the thought of paying £7500 on stamp duty doesn't sit well with me, £500 more and that's 4 grand extra in each of our LISA's = 10K.
Prior to the stamp duty holiday extension Our original plan was to wait until October when our little one turns 3 and we get 30 free hours child care due to nursery fees being such a massive factor in all calculators we have used. For example as of today the Nationwide affordability calculator shows we could borrow up to £230,700 with childcare factored in and £397,400 without. The "unofficial" advice of a couple mortgage advisors was to 'hide' the childcare fees.
We have 45K set aside for a deposit, our joint annual income is 90K.
I have an additional 12K saved on a prepaid card (I know not the appropriate place for it), I add minimum £500 to it each month and plan to use it for fees and potentially an advance lumpsome payment for nursery.
The wife doesnt want to spend more than £1400 a month on mortgage payments.
Joint credit card debt is 8K, I have 20K credit available to me across 2 cards, 1 with no balance and 10K available.

Specific questions I have are:
'Hiding' nursery fees, yay or nay? (I understand if you cant say publicly). 
Should I close the unused credit card, is the available balance a positive or a negative?
I've been in my job 4 months (probation passed), is this likely to cause any issues, would be 6 months by beginning of May which is the earliest i'd expect any movement.
Mortgage advisors - I know there are several on the forum who give helpful advice, are we allowed to use your services? (if so can you provide contact details).
Am I being unrealistic with the maximum house price (450K) / borrowing amount?
Is my wife being realistic with the monthly mortgage payment (under 1400)?
Any better ideas for the 12K+?
Would we actually likely able to complete this process by June 31st?
Any considerations that I may not be taking into account?
Advice around mortgage deals and playing the game of changing deals/providers in 2, 3, 5 years time.
Advice around whether making regular or annual overpayments is a good idea?

General advice is welcome from everyone and I appreciate all input.
Thanks

SpiderLegs

How are you proposing to hide your nursery fees?
Are you comfortable submitting a fraudulent mortgage application and taking the risk of a CIFAS marker?
are your mortgage advisors prepared to put their careers on the line by helping you? Or are they only to help you ‘unofficially’ so that you take all the risk?

K_S

@yrazor Thoughts on some of your questions -

'Hiding' nursery fees, yay or nay? (I understand if you cant say publicly). Nay

Should I close the unused credit card, is the available balance a positive or a negative? Unlikely to have any material impact either way

I've been in my job 4 months (probation passed), is this likely to cause any issues, would be 6 months by beginning of May which is the earliest i'd expect any movement. On its own, might mean a few lenders are off the table, but shouldn't be a major issue

Am I being unrealistic with the maximum house price (450K) / borrowing amount? Based on the limited info in your post, yes. The childcare outgoings will significantly impact your max borrowing figure

Is my wife being realistic with the monthly mortgage payment (under 1400)? Will need some firmer numbers on borrowing, term and LTV to be able to guess but as low as £1,400 is unlikely. If you are young enough and have flexibility with the term (usually can take it up to 70) that will help.

Would we actually likely able to complete this process by June 31st? With a freehold chain free property, an offer accepted by end-March and a clear path to the borrowing you need, potentially. The more you go away from that, the less likely it is.

YRazor

SpiderLegs said:

How are you proposing to hide your nursery fees?
Are you comfortable submitting a fraudulent mortgage application and taking the risk of a CIFAS marker?
are your mortgage advisors prepared to put their careers on the line by helping you? Or are they only to help you ‘unofficially’ so that you take all the risk?

Hey SpiderLegs, thanks for your comments. I first received the advice from a mortgage adviser in a bank at a first time buyer event. Afterwards two mortgage advisors suggested the same and were prepared to accept us as customers but we were reluctant to pay a £795 fee at the time. 
I say 'hide' but as I mentioned my method would actually to use the excess savings to pay the nursery fees in advance either up to October (when we will actually stop paying) or just for 3 months ahead so that the money doesn't come out monthly.

YRazor

K_S said:

@yrazor Thoughts on some of your questions -

'Hiding' nursery fees, yay or nay? (I understand if you cant say publicly). Nay

Should I close the unused credit card, is the available balance a positive or a negative? Unlikely to have any material impact either way

I've been in my job 4 months (probation passed), is this likely to cause any issues, would be 6 months by beginning of May which is the earliest i'd expect any movement. On its own, might mean a few lenders are off the table, but shouldn't be a major issue

Am I being unrealistic with the maximum house price (450K) / borrowing amount? Based on the limited info in your post, yes. The childcare outgoings will significantly impact your max borrowing figure

Is my wife being realistic with the monthly mortgage payment (under 1400)? Will need some firmer numbers on borrowing, term and LTV to be able to guess but as low as £1,400 is unlikely. If you are young enough and have flexibility with the term (usually can take it up to 70) that will help.

Would we actually likely able to complete this process by June 31st? With a freehold chain free property, an offer accepted by end-March and a clear path to the borrowing you need, potentially. The more you go away from that, the less likely it is.

Evening K_S, really appreciate the advice.
I understand you would need some specifics to give more informed answers.
Things I failed to mention we are 31 and 30, looking for 90% LTV and not too concerned about the term.
A question about the term though, is this something that can easily be changed when re-mortgaging especially should we be in a better position to pump some more cash in at that time?

K_S

YRazor said:

K_S said:

@yrazor Thoughts on some of your questions -

'Hiding' nursery fees, yay or nay? (I understand if you cant say publicly). Nay

Should I close the unused credit card, is the available balance a positive or a negative? Unlikely to have any material impact either way

I've been in my job 4 months (probation passed), is this likely to cause any issues, would be 6 months by beginning of May which is the earliest i'd expect any movement. On its own, might mean a few lenders are off the table, but shouldn't be a major issue

Am I being unrealistic with the maximum house price (450K) / borrowing amount? Based on the limited info in your post, yes. The childcare outgoings will significantly impact your max borrowing figure

Is my wife being realistic with the monthly mortgage payment (under 1400)? Will need some firmer numbers on borrowing, term and LTV to be able to guess but as low as £1,400 is unlikely. If you are young enough and have flexibility with the term (usually can take it up to 70) that will help.

Would we actually likely able to complete this process by June 31st? With a freehold chain free property, an offer accepted by end-March and a clear path to the borrowing you need, potentially. The more you go away from that, the less likely it is.

Evening K_S, really appreciate the advice.
I understand you would need some specifics to give more informed answers.
Things I failed to mention we are 31 and 30, looking for 90% LTV and not too concerned about the term.
A question about the term though, is this something that can easily be changed when re-mortgaging especially should we be in a better position to pump some more cash in at that time?

@yrazor Your age is definitely a positive with regard to affordablity calcs as that means you could go all the way up to a 38/39 year term with most lenders and keep the monthly payments as low as practicable.

Term can be changed at remortgage time but it will usually mean a full affordability check, income assessment, etc.

You can of course always overpay and achieve the same effect as shortening the term, but without locking yourself in to higher minimum payments.
https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2014/10/dont-shorten-your-mortgage-term-if-you-can-overpay/

Given that your child will turn 3 in October (which usually means eligibility for 30 hours free from Jan), childcare costs need not be a show stopper with the right lender.

Based on the limited info in your post and assuming childcare costs of £1,250 a month, and 90k of basic income between you, ballpark you *should* be able to borrow what you need or very close to it.

I don't have anything against free brokers (from a consumer point of view they're great for straightforward cases), but for a 90% max borrowing case in the current market, I'd always recommend going with a broker who can give the case a bit of personalised attention.