Looking to buy a house...

[expensivegarms]

Right, so looking to buy my first house, and was wondering what the maximum I could borrow was. I'm looking at properties that are around £150k, with a £15k deposit, and I'm currently on about £24k a year. Does this seem feasible? The online calculators tell me that I could borrow around £96000, does this sound about right? Been told that they aren't that accurate, I'm hoping they aren't as otherwise it'll be a lot longer before I can buy somewhere!

[expensivegarms]

Jesus, I'll have to keep saving! I thought it was all done differently nowadays? Bit of a crap time to be buying a house!

Edited by expensivegarms on Sunday 11th January 19:57

[expensivegarms]

BoRED S2upid said:

No chance. Even if you could you shouldn't you would be properly skint. Unless £24k was a basic with a decent bonus on top.

Buy somewhere cheaper.

Trust me, I would if I was moving back to my home county. I'll just have to keep saving then, it's a pain in the arse, moving down to Essex!

[expensivegarms]

Sarnie said:

5 x 24 = £120k

5.5x income is possible with one lender but not at 90% LTV...............

Ideally, I wouldn't be borrowing the maximum! Shame I moved somewhere more expensive. Never mind, will keep going, thank you for all your answers!

Edit to remove the hideous 'lol' that I put in for some reason!

[expensivegarms]

hidetheelephants said:

For all the talk of wanting to stop the madness of irresponsible lending and absurd house price growth this seems a lot like business as usual; when I went for a mortgage in 2008 I didn't even consider trying to borrow more than 3x, and the broker didn't offer it.

Like I say, ideally, I wouldn't be borrowing 5x my salary. Ideally I wouldn't be borrowing anything! Think house prices have gone up rather more quickly than I expected and I may have missed the boat for now.

[expensivegarms]

blank said:

It just shows how ridiculous house prices are.

£24k is about the national average I think? What's the average house price?

If the average person can't buy the average house something is wrong!

It's ridiculous isn't it. Shouldn't have bought a new (for me) car last year, and run the old one even more into the dirt.

[expensivegarms]

Charmless man said:

gregf40 said:

Charmless man said:

When you put it like that it does sound a bit daft, quick Google shows av house price as £188k av salary £26.5k.

I don't think it's ridiculous - why would a single person need a 3 bed house?

I didn't realise the average house had three bed rooms and the average person was single? It almost as if averages aren't exact science.

For £150k around here, you're lucky if you can find a one bedroomed flat. A three bedroomed house would be brilliant, I've already got plans for my spare rooms when I get into that position.

[expensivegarms]

As I'm still an apprentice at the moment, my salary goes up every 6 months, so that's a bit extra to add to the pot every month! Plus, a bonus in April should add a grand or so. Been looking at cheaper stuff, but it's really not convenient for work unfortunately.

I'm expecting my girlfriend to stay a few nights a week as well, not ready to move in together quite yet, so this is purely for me at the moment. When she has the funds saved we shall look together, but ideally I'd like to get on the property ladder as soon as I can.

[expensivegarms]

To be honest, my outgoings are minimal. Petrol in the car which is about £250 a month, £20 phone bill, £300 to myself, £550 rent and bills. The rest goes into savings, which when my fuel is paid back to me as well, is about £650 a month.