For those of you keen to climb on the property ladder this year, there are a few things you can do to be more ‘mortgage ready’.
Have a deposit
Look at your savings and speak to your family to see if they can offer any help with your deposit. If your family can’t help with cash, they may have equity in their property which could be released to help you on the ladder. This means they’d effectively increase their mortgage and reduce yours. Some lenders even accept a bank loan as a deposit.
Understand your costs
Consider what funds you’d need to have to cover legal fees, stamp duty and any surveys for the property you’d like to buy.
Sharing the loan
Buying with a partner or family member means we can use both / all incomes (maximum of 4 people) when calculating how much you can afford to borrow.
Polish your credit history
Lenders will look at 6 years of your credit history and usually assess lending off the last 3 years. If you have any unsecured debts, work towards clearing these and if there are blips on the credit records (missed payments or defaults) make sure these are cleared and up to date. Doing this will improve your chance of securing a preferential mortgage rate. Your credit history doesn’t have to be fully ‘clean’ to be able to get a mortgage as we work with plenty of lenders that are very flexible on that.
Help to secure your dream home
Understanding how much you can borrow is an important step when buying your first home. After all, you don’t want to fall in love with a property and then discover it’s out of your reach financially. Whilst we have some great mortgage calculators on our site to help you with a rough calculation, talking through your personal scenario with one of our mortgage advisors will give you an accurate picture of what you can borrow. They can even support you with what’s called an Approval In Principle (AIP) from one of the 100 lenders we work with. This AIP document will detail how much you can afford and will give estate agents (and the sellers they’re working for) the assurance that you’re a serious buyer and have your finance in hand already.
Whether you’re ready to understand how much you can borrow, would like an Approval in Principle before you start home hunting, or have already found your ideal home and want our help in securing the best mortgage deal for you, call us on 08000 38 37 36 or click to arrange your free appointment. That appointment can be face to face or a telephone call, whichever suits you best.
