Mortgage affordability advice

bpk101

Hi —

My OH and I are looking to buy a new house at some point in the next 12–18 months and would like to find out what our budget might be based on the size of mortgage we could potentially get now taking into account our current salaries, current equity in our house etc. 

Should i reach out to a few mortgage brokers for advice on this and if so, which independent brokers are recommended? 

We used John Charcol for our first mortgage and they were good but someone mentioned recently that they don't have access to the full market despite being independent, is this right?

Thanks

Safe'n'Sound

Some good calculators online but they are ballpark figures. You get a better idea when you type 'intermediary' beside the mortgage company you might go for, try a few though to get a better idea. Then go for a broker and ask if they are full market first. Where in the UK are you looking to buy?

dimbo61

So you have a mortgage ?
Have you looked what your current lender is offering ?
If your a standard type of borrower IE Employed on a normal contract with a main stream employer ??? You should have access to most lenders.

ACG

If you have less than a 25% deposit, are able to do a 25 year + mortgage, have no more than say 2 children and maybe £100 a month in commitments (the last 2 could be higher or lower depending on your incomes) you should be able to do 4.5x income.

If you ave 25% or more deposit and the above is true, you can probably go a little higher, maybe 4.75x income. 

You may even be able to go higher, but general rule of thumb if you want to stretch yourselves, it may mean higher rates. 

But as above, use the lenders affordability calculators. They are pretty accurate. If you have bonus/commission income that you want to use it can start to get a bit complicated in terms of what to put on those calculators so it might be worth speaking to a broker. 

bpk101

Safe'n'Sound said:

Where in the UK are you looking to buy?

South East

bpk101

dimbo61 said:

So you have a mortgage ?
Have you looked what your current lender is offering ?
If your a standard type of borrower IE Employed on a normal contract with a main stream employer ??? You should have access to most lenders.

Yes, current mortgage with Natwest, my OH is 'standard' i.e. employed on a normal contract, i'm self-employed. 

bpk101

ACG said:

If you have bonus/commission income that you want to use it can start to get a bit complicated in terms of what to put on those calculators so it might be worth speaking to a broker. 

Yes we have bonus income that might need to be factored in.

What UK brokers are full market?

bpk101

Additional question...

How does one get their house valued in line with what we might expect a lender to value it at? I've used estate agents before but their values are often inflated to impress you and secure your business.

tinribzzz

Get a good broker and phone around. We ended up being able to borrow 4.5x our salary with a 5% deposit. Interest
rate a bit high at 2.9% but it’s getting us onto the ladder!