First Time Buyer help Please!?

ancasta_2

Hello you lovely lot of clued up mortgage guru's

My fella and i are trying to buy our first house. We've seen the house that is so perfect for us, we have a mortgage agreed in principle( i think thats what its called) and all we have to do is make the offer to the vendor. We understand the whole process off the surveys and solicitors involvement but the only problem is Paul (aka mr ancasta) is starting a new job on the 4th of July. The mortgage advisor applied for the mortgage certificate forward dating it to the 4th of July as Paul will take a large pay rise when he moves jobs. The mortgage advisor said the mortgage was based solely on the fact of Paul having a permanent contract with his new job and no probationary short term contract to start. We were really worried about not getting a mortgage full stop (past defaults on credit card) so we were over the moon at this (i cried in the middle of the Halifax)


My question, now ive laid out a bit of the background is - Do all mortgage companies insist you have to have a permanent contract. I mean, this job he is starting is totally definately permanent but the mortgage advisor said Halifax might not be able to take us on if he is told he has to have a probationery period at work.


Sorry if this is confusing... i dontknow how to best word it

herbiesjp

It is always best to be totally up front with lenders - if there is a probationary period, then it should be stated - doing otherwise could be classed as fraud if the application asks the question.

ancasta_2

i certainly with hold anything from them, i was more wondering if any companies do take people on in our situation. I mean i have a very well paid permanent job and my BF's new job is going to be permanent but its this potential probation period.

herbiesjp

there are indeed companies that will look at your particular situation, but it will depend on the whole scenario i.e. purchase price, deposit, total earnings, any other outstanding liabilities etc

Lemoncurd

When I bought my first house 6 years ago both myself and the person I was buying with were on our probationary periods of our first jobs after leaving uni. The lender (Abbey Nat) didn't question it.

ancasta_2

Thanks. ill have a gander at Abbey National.

Fairdo_2

Halifax may not have an issue with it either.

Sometimes a letter from the new Employer (or response to a Reference) stating that the probationary period is purely academic and that they see no reason why Mr Ancaster would not be employed in the forseeable future, then this could be resolved with them. Employers are often happy to do this if asked.

Otherwise, if he is in the same field of work, but has gone on to a new job for better benefits, then a Lender can often take a common sense view on this.

If your Mortgage Broker is half decent, then they would have resolved this issue in the first place, so I hope you are worrying for nothing.

meanmachine_2

ancasta wrote:

Thanks. ill have a gander at Abbey National.

I think you're going about this the wrong way.

Popping in to one high street bank then another etc - too much like hard work, particularly in this weather!

Your best bet is to go see a mortgage broker.

Now I'm no expert but you sound like a fairly safe risk to me, so I'd be surprised if you were unable to find a standard mortgage.

Lending criteria in recent years have become very lax (far too lax in my opinion), and huge numbers of people these days are on short contracts, rather than being in "permament" posts.

If lenders insisted on permanent contracts for everyone I think the whole industry would collapse. In my line of work they don't even exist!!

Sput2001

meanmachine wrote:

I think you're going about this the wrong way.

Popping in to one high street bank then another etc - too much like hard work, particularly in this weather!

Your best bet is to go see a mortgage broker.

Now I'm no expert but you sound like a fairly safe risk to me, so I'd be surprised if you were unable to find a standard mortgage.

Lending criteria in recent years have become very lax (far too lax in my opinion), and huge numbers of people these days are on short contracts, rather than being in "permament" posts.

If lenders insisted on permanent contracts for everyone I think the whole industry would collapse. In my line of work they don't even exist!!

Absolutely correct. The high street is way too much work and is also the place where you're least likely to get a decent deal on a mortgage. You'd almost definitely do better to see an IFA or mortgage broker; the range of products available to you will be so much wider, and include a whole bunch of companies that don't trade on the High Street (e.g. Standard Life who my mortgage is with). An good IFA should also give you honest, impartial advice and help you through the whole process.

ancasta_2

Thanks for all your advice.

The independant brokers we chose, we felt werent helping us and werent really interested in what we had to say, they were charging a head with 100% mortgages despite us saying we could get a 5% mortgage and had been advising us on information that, weve later found out has expirec circa october 1st 2004.


We dont know anyone with mortgages ( known of our friends have them, most own outright, neither of our parents have mortgages) so we dont know who could recommend any decent IFA's in the area as we dont want to be suckered into things.

We felt the man in the Halifax was totally honest with us and he didnt bamboozle us like the last two IFA's we have seen.


Thanks to you all who have posted advice. you have brightened my outlook on the situation and made me realise we do have options and we could get another mortgage.

Im glad you have !!!!!! on my bonfire (excuse the geordie-ism)

Thanks muchly Katie & Paul.