Hi, me and my girlfriend really want to move out and get our own place, we dont want to rent as we feel it would be a better financial decision in the long term if we buy our own house, we are both in low income jobs, I earn 13.5k pa and she earns 14k I have been back in full-time work for 12 months now and have a permanent contract, before this I had a 6 month stint of being unemployed, my girlfriend has been employed full-time at her job for 6 months now before this she had been employed by another company part-time for about 18 months, we live in a fairly rural location in south wales and were thinking about buying a house worth around 50k that needs to be renovated and we would renovate it as we went along earning moneg at our jobs, we have around 7k saved up which we could use as a deposit, do you think the banks would allow us a mortgage in our circumstances?
Thanks
If you have £7000 saved remember you'll need to put aside maybe £2000 of this money for legal fees, surveys, emergency repairs and buying things like a cooker, microwave or fridge.
I think with your incomes you should be able to get a mortgage for the £45000 or so that you need to borrow, but the lender may prefer you to have a liitle bit more for a deposit.
Good luck
Forgot to mention we will both be 21 this year, I have never had any debts or taken out any sort of loan, my girlfriend has had mobile phone contracts and is currently paying £200 a month on her car for the next 2 years
When I first bought a house the estate agent offered to arrange the mortgage so I took the offer. I suspect the estate agent isn't going to want to try to sell to those who can not afford to buy, so a chat with them may help.
Remember when you start off it is hard to find the finances and have to settle for something somewhat short of what you felt you should have. But you don't get on the property ladder unless you start off on the first rung. I think the £7k you've saved is a little less than ideal. You may want to wait a year or two and build the fund up. But see how it goes before making a decision.
You need to ask around, ask your bank, see if they have any preferential deals for existing customers. A small warning - they will consult a credit rating agency as part of the normal process, because you have no credit cards or loans or debts, you don't have a record as a good payer of credit which can (amazingly) go against you. Your girlfriend has a credit record so that is an advantage. All you can do is ask.