First Time Buyers - How to Boost Our Chance of Qualifying for a Mortgage.

cheskahb

My partner and me are wanting to buy our first property in the future. Currently 25 & 26. No kids. No debt of any kind. Nothing on finance. Both have great credit scores.

I'm aware that it's likely to be complicated to get a mortgage as I'll be employed by a limited company that I'm a director of. I would pay myself through PAYE. Complicated circumstances, PAYE is best for this situation. Would the two years, at least, account rule be the case here? 

We are also the sole directors of another limited company, for online retail, and we are working on expanding this business further.  

My partner currently works, 22k a year, but hates his job. In the future he might leave that job to work full-time for the second limited company. He has spoken to his current employer about transitioning into a different area of the business, but this is only when a role becomes available in that section and he doesn't feel hopeful. He mainly stays in his job for the security of it. 

Due to the pandemic the first business has not yet opened and will do so in May. I'm unsure how much I'll pay myself currently, as I don't know how the pandemic will affect the cashflow. 

We will start to take dividends out of the second business shortly. 

I have 16k in savings. 
He has 8k (possibly more) in savings, and a further 4k or so invested in stocks.
He currently saves £500-750 a month. 

Is there anything we can do to boost our chances of qualifying for a mortgage. I'm aware that we'll most likely have to wait two years for the accounts, which is rather annoying for us, but it does give us more time to save. So, should we save as much as possible? Is there anything else we should think about? 

AdrianC

Saving as much as you can is never bad - because it means you need to borrow less.

But without having adequate proof of earnings from the businesses over a few years... Nope. Nobody's doing self-certified mortgages now, not since the crash.