Browsing Right Move but will be looking properly again early next year. Hopefully lining up some viewings in Jan. No doubt posting daft questions on here... Got an agreement in principle, well an email, from the bank to say they can lend me X. Ideal would be a 2 bedroom flat not a million miles away from central Bristol. Options to be adjusted in line with financial realities...
Buying a home and don't know how anything works
- Thread starter miss direct
- Start date
5t3IIa
Registered User
Can I ask a question? I’m sure I can but I’m hedging this as I barely even know what I’m asking 
Say we have X deposit and our comfort level house price/mortgage is Y. Then we see a house which is decently below Y but needs work doing.
Does one start asking brokers to look at stuff like reducing X in view of Y and bringing it in line with our comfort and using what’s left of X to do the work?
Is that a thing that happens?
Also; 30 year mortgages. Are there any major disadvantages, aside from, obvs, from paying it for an extra 5 years?
Say we have X deposit and our comfort level house price/mortgage is Y. Then we see a house which is decently below Y but needs work doing.
Does one start asking brokers to look at stuff like reducing X in view of Y and bringing it in line with our comfort and using what’s left of X to do the work?
Is that a thing that happens?
Also; 30 year mortgages. Are there any major disadvantages, aside from, obvs, from paying it for an extra 5 years?
Thora
Differently Ethical
When you actually do your mortgage application you'd tell the broker what your deposit is and what you want to borrow. Usually your deposit needs to be at least 10% though and they will lend you around 4x your income.
30 year mortgages - depends on how old you are. IIRC they will only give you a term until the oldest person is 70.
30 year mortgages - depends on how old you are. IIRC they will only give you a term until the oldest person is 70.
5t3IIa
Registered User
Yep, when we initially spoke to a broker they have us figures we were happy with considering the whole deposit amount.
I am asking if we, say, halved the deposit amount for a commensurately cheaper house we could possibly get figures we were happy with again, and if that’s what people do, as a thing, when they are buying a house. Just as an idea if it’s an ordinary thing.
I suppose it’s an obvious ‘yes’ really but I had this idea from a position of 0 knowledge of the process.
I am asking if we, say, halved the deposit amount for a commensurately cheaper house we could possibly get figures we were happy with again, and if that’s what people do, as a thing, when they are buying a house. Just as an idea if it’s an ordinary thing.
I suppose it’s an obvious ‘yes’ really but I had this idea from a position of 0 knowledge of the process.
Thora
Differently Ethical
Probably depends a bit on how much your deposit is - if you have a big deposit and want to drop it a little bit it might not make much difference, but if you want to cut your deposit from being a reasonable percentage down to a minimal 10% it might mean you don't have so many mortgage options.
Leafster
.
5t3IIa If the house needs a lot of work you may want to investigate having a renovation mortgage. That way you only borrow what you need when you need it as the renovations happen. I don't know much about them but suspect the interest rates may be slightly more than a conventional mortgage. However you only pay interest on the amount you've already borrowed so could work out cheaper if the renovations are done over a longish period of time and you only draw down the additional funds when you need them.
5t3IIa
Registered User
That’s about the size of it, yeah. The house is cheaper though….so I’m thinking it might even out? Like, it’s £25k cheaper than the price that we are super comfy with.
Right. Bugger, need to do maths to work out the %. That’s why I’m wondering if a broker can do this for us?
5t3IIa
Registered User
Aha! Never heard of a renovation mortgage, thank you
We literally started looking last weekend so super new to this. Learned so so so much from this thread miss direct 
danski
"vibey"
Yeah, by all means hold back deposit for works but consider the where you sit regarding LTV (loan to value) thresholds and the differing interest rates based on the LTV.
ie. it might be worth holding back a lower amount of your deposit to bump you into the next LTV bracket to give a better rate and lower monthly payments.
It might not but is something to consider.
ie. it might be worth holding back a lower amount of your deposit to bump you into the next LTV bracket to give a better rate and lower monthly payments.
It might not but is something to consider.
Leafster
.
Thinking about it, another possibility is an offset mortgage if the renovation costs aren't that high. That's what I did through my friendly bank manager 
I knew I would need to replace a lot of windows and some retaining walls in the garden (I also needed some money towards a replacement car but that's another matter 
) The bank loaned me enough to cover everything but put the money in an offset savings account. That meant that until I started to draw the money to pay for the renovations I didn't pay any interest on it.
I knew I would need to replace a lot of windows and some retaining walls in the garden (I also needed some money towards a replacement car but that's another matter ) The bank loaned me enough to cover everything but put the money in an offset savings account. That meant that until I started to draw the money to pay for the renovations I didn't pay any interest on it.
All such great free information 
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Biting our nails. Put on an offer on a place way nicer then I thought we can afford (and probably can't). Ex council, which is just fine by me, but located in the Peak District and yet doesn't add much to my existing commute. I'm trying hard not to imagine the amazing runs I can have from my house.
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
Good luck! Sounds lovely, I hope it works out!
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
Just signed the contracts on buying my flat. I still couldn’t tell you what the process is or how it works, and I still don’t really know even what I’ll be paying a month. But the whole crappy process has taken nearly a year, I’ve lost all interest and enthusiasm for it, and I’m past caring.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
I bought this place from the landlord I was renting from, because he wanted to sell and I didn't want to move for the 3rd time in two years. I got the mortgage in a very straightforward way but the conveyancing brought a number of issues to light on his side (he clearly couldn't be arsed getting the paperwork for the renovation works he did, so had to arrange it with the council). Took 3 months to sort it out.
When I remotgaged the surveyor valued my property as zero, because he was a twat who didn't know his left from his right and claimed my flat was over a takeaway. Managed to get a different remortgage but that was a few months as well.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I'm a little confused. We were told when we were viewing it that she'd been let down once already and was very keen to have to wrapped up. To the point she'd move in with parents if the sale came up. Someone had viewed it the day before us and put an offer in, so we suspected we wouldn't get it.
From what I guess our offer was better, but what would you be waiting on?
From what I guess our offer was better, but what would you be waiting on?
clicker
nanook rubs it....
The seller will weigh up the best offer, combined with how quick the buyers can proceed. Their offer may be better, but they may be in a chain.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Best of luck ThoraI think we might be ready to exchange todayGonna call the estate agents to hear some more bullshit about it in a minute
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
Went down to Bath at the weekend to see my mum , she completes on Friday , she has downsized to a 2 bed house . She sold her previous house in March & has been staying with my sisters. The buying wasn't that much hassle for her as my 2 sisters did all the running around 
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
I think we might be ready to exchange today
Good luck!
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
Good luck !I think we might be ready to exchange today
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I had email with a memorandum of sale from a solicitor. I got excited about it, that someone made a mistake and sent it out early, but something looked fishy. Thing is it was a local one who we used to buy our current place. After examining the headers, which looked off, I called to find out what was going. He'd had his email hacked. He didn't appreciate my suggestion to start using MFA either. 
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Well spotted. If he's been hacked he should definitely improve his security and systems if they haven't been updated for a while.I had email with a memorandum of sale from a solicitor. I got excited about it, that someone made a mistake and sent it out early, but something looked fishy. Thing is it was a local one who we used to buy our current place. After examining the headers, which looked off, I called to find out what was going. He'd had his email hacked. He didn't appreciate my suggestion to start using MFA either.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
Dp
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Yes. Condescending pratt. Bit daft really as I won't be using him this time round.
