What are my best options for saving and a mortgage as a first time buyer in my late 40s?

wandererreturns

Without any judgement I'm looking for advice on my realistic options (if at all) for saving for a mortgage at 48 years old.

I currently rent and have never owned a home, am single and have £2000 of savings. I can afford to save £400-£450 a month towards a mortgage with repayments of circa £650-£700 per month. I realise that this is very low as I assume that the mortgage term would only be as long as the maximum age of retirement but I don't know enough about mortgages to be able to make a decision. 

Would it be better to opt for Shared Ownership mortgages or interest taking into account my age? Added to this I am also an umbrella company employee.  Is it too late for me at my age to realistically get a mortgage? With the ever increasing rents recently and minefield of mortgage calculators online I'm really confused and worried about the choices I have in both a buyer and rental market.

400ixl

What would it cost for the sort of property you would want in the area you would want it?

wandererreturns

  I would say c£200,000

FarmGirl78

My fella had just got a Decision in principle for a Mortgage with Nationwide, and he turns 50 next month. I think Nationwide will lend to new applicants up to the age of 70, will everything having to be paid back by either 80 or 85.

Times have changed, and I think Nationwide are one of the more generous ones for lending past retirement. Barclays wanted everything repaying by his retirement age, which is 67, but would consider going beyond this if he could show proof of existing pension plan and payments going out of his salary.

Hope this helps!

london21

Your income amount also plays a big part.

I am personally not a fan of shared ownership or interest only.

You will need a deposit of 5-10%, at least 5%.

5% of 200,000 £10,000, with the figures you gave will take about a year to save.

BlondBoy

I bought for the first time, age 51, lately. So it’s doable. 

Was lucky to have a reasonable deposit (was a contractor, now an employee, so liquidated my company and used the funds for a deposit).

Had no problem getting a mortgage until age 70. Applied on that basis, accepted without question.

As others have said, save as hard as you can for a decent deposit and be realistic about where and what you want to buy. But it’s definitely doable! Good luck.

getmore4less

Income will drive the amount.
Guide around 4.5x 

20y term should be available, 25y with some lenders.

£200k 1% 20y would be ~£920pm
£200k 1% 25y would be ~£750pm

You won't get 1%.
Using nationwide as mentioned
95% LTV  3.69% 20y would be ~£1,200pm 25y still over £1k.

That gives a idea of where you are and potential costs today, they will change while you save.

Looking like a real stretch till you have a decent deposit to get better rate and reduced borrowing.

Going to be worth a look at shared and H2B to see how they stack up.

You should get better rates and the reduced borrowing will give scope to overpay.

Is that saving on top of paying rent?

If it is what's the rent+saving that could go towards the mortgage.

wandererreturns

getmore4less said:

Is that saving on top of paying rent?

If it is what's the rent+saving that could go towards the mortgage.

Yes that saving is on top of paying rent so my ability to save a substantial amount is restricted unfortunately...

getmore4less

wandererreturns said:

getmore4less said:

Is that saving on top of paying rent?

If it is what's the rent+saving that could go towards the mortgage.

Yes that saving is on top of paying rent so my ability to save a substantial amount is restricted unfortunately...

But should increase the amount available to pay a mortgage once the rent stops.

wandererreturns

getmore4less said:

Going to be worth a look at shared and H2B to see how they stack up.

You should get better rates and the reduced borrowing will give scope to overpay.

I think the only problem is that with shared ownership whereby you borrow less on the mortgage at with shared ownership, you still have to pay the remainder of what you don't own in rent. So that scope to overpay disappears...

MovingForwards

I was fast approaching mid 40s when I purchased my home. I'd grabbed as many regular savers / higher interest accounts as I needed for what I could save each payday. 

Whilst I considered SO, I ruled it out due to being 100% responsible paying for repairs, rather than them apportioned to what I was buying.

I also briefly considered help to buy and ruled that out quicker as I didn't want to have to find the percentage I had borrowed on top of the mortgage.

This meant I couldn't afford to buy in the area I had made my life and instead extended my search area to other counties. Looked at public transport/ driving costs / times, then closed in my search to as close as I could to where I was working at the time and looked for properties with a budget I felt comfortable with.

Adding on my commute costs, it still wouldn't have amounted to the purchase price of a similar property in my 'home' city.

Mortgage + commute costs is still a couple of hundred less than I paid in rent each month and I've made my new county home.