Q:I'm writing on behalf of me and my partner, both 21.I'm pregnant and due in March!! We are looking at the possibility of buying/renting. W e both live with our parents at the moment!!! Ideally we would like to get a mortgage but don't think it will be financially viable, my partner earns 15k a year at the moment and i'm only doing agency work at the minute and it is very unlikely that i will be able to get a full time job until after the baby is born!!! We have also looked at 50% share mortgage but we are not fully aware of what it entails (extra rent etc). My partner has a default against his name and pays out approx 40% of his monthly wage on bills and car etc. Would look ideally at 70k mortgage but we aren't too sure on what repayments would be! Any advice on what we could be looking at paying and what would be involved in a shared ownership mortgage would be greatly appreciated.:
Sorry, but what a totally irresponsible answer!!!!!
There is NO guarantee whatsoever that she would be housed by the council just because she is pregnant. She would probably be housed in a B&B for months before any offer on a dingy place would be made.
Tut tut.
Welcome to the site!
I'm NOT a fan of renting, but in your situation, I'd certainly NOT think of a mortgage & everything else that goes with it!!
Best sort yourselves out a flat/small house, with a short term leas, see if you can negotiate no increases in the rent, for next maybe 2 years, but have the option for you to move out at a notice period that suits YOU, before that.
Better still, find a place that needs a bit of decorating & get the landlord to give a rent free period & let you do it up how you want it, using your time & £$£$ before you get the new baby around!
& make sure you get EVERY entitlement, your due from tax & other fovernment agencies, as well as signing up for all the free stuff, companies offer for new families.
Spend a few cliks on the other forums, like I say & you'll find LOADS of helpful stuff, once you look around on here!
VB
To be brutally honest? You can't afford it. Lenders are tightening their credit and the days of lending over 4 x salary is on the horizon and disappearing over it fast.
You can just about afford a £60k mortgage if you get a lender to lend 4 x your partners salary and even then you would need to stump up £10k deposit. If this £70k is for a shared ownership then you are looking at rent on top of the mortgage payments too, plus all maintenance involved in the house as the HA will not pay out for maintenance.
Sorry to be brutal but you really cannot afford a mortgage at this point in time. No lender will take into consideraton your agency work either as its not regular full time work and as you are expecting in March you have NO IDEA how much a baby changes your life and strains it puts on a relationship. You may decide not to go back to work at all.. then what?? You would probably be entitled to tax credits etc, but if your OH is already paying out 40% of his income on bills, then how would he be able to support both of you and a new baby and all the cost that a new baby brings, as well as servicing a mortgage, rent, bills, food and maintenance?
Me and my OH earn £43k jointly and WOULD NOT consider a morgage on our salaries… especially not in the present climate. Financial suicide.
I would recommend renting… I just wish young 'uns would stop thinking that a mortgage is the way forward at all costs… when its not! GGGGrrrrr.
A shared ownership property means you pay rent on the part you don't own, this usually works out that the monthly cost is slightly less than if you had a mortgage for the whole lot.
Witha baby on the way and limited disposable income, I would suggest that now may not be the right time to buy. House owning means paying out for insurance, council tax and utility bills as well as repairs and maintenance. Babies are very expensive. Until you are working again, I would suggest that buying is not a good option.