First Time Buyers

Makes sense.

Had Mr Panj owned a property before? Friends of mine have had a mortgage agreed based on her salary and being a FTB but with his 'rent' being taken into account in terms of her affordability statement.

No, unfortunately due to his personal circumstances, he's never been in a position to buy.

He ought to look at FTB incentives then. Definitely see a broker, they'll talk you through all sorts of options.

Thanks for all your help, I'm definitely going to look into it at some point in the new year x

We've just bought our first home (a new build) and we could have borrowed something around 4.5 times our wages. However we went with an offer with the housebuilder were we could get a mortgage for 80% of the house price, own 100% of the house (none of this shared equity rubbish were you have to rent the % you don't own) and 15% was a 'loan' from the housebuilder so we only needed a 5% deposit. This works out great as the loan only needs paying back to the housebuilder within 10 years or just whenever you sell the house. It means we've got a low mortgage and we can still build up some equity while we're in it!

I inquired about something imilar to this a few months back but they would only do the deal on their two bed starter homes which would be too small for us unfortunately.

OUrs is a 3 bed semi. Suppose it depends on the developer and the time of year. Their financial year ends in June usually so if you start looking around March/April then they are more likely to offer incentives/crack under pressure to hit targets. Also works around October/November as half year targets also apply heavily.....I work for a house builder! :-)