How hard is it to get a mortgage in the UK?

Since DH has not been employed in the UK since 1996 I am wondering how hard and how long it might take to get a mortgage. I have looked at www.rightmove.co.uk for info purposes on house sizes and prices. Anyone know what your payment could be depending on how much you borrow? We knew when we bought our place here in Indiana that if we borrowed "X" our monthly payment would be "X". If anyone knows of any sites that would give help in this area it would be greatly appreciated.

There are mortgage calculators all over the internet!  Just Google it, making sure you pick a UK one to get the figures in sterling.

$64,000 or £64,000 question...

i second O-Q's advise...

i would recommend going to see a mortgage broker- they're free (or at least many of them are)- and they are great sources of advice.  they can advise you on what you will be able to afford, how much you'll be able to borrow, etc...

Hi JL,

Firstly, what breed is the doggy in your picture?! i did a double take as I have a Japanese Akita and the one in the pic looks similar

As already mentioned, there are many mortgage calculators on lots of websites - have a search for 'mortgage calculator' on yahoo or google.

the 'ease' on getting a mortgage depends on a number of things. The best chance of securing funding relatively quickly is to show you are able to put down as large a deposit as possible, show relatively small amounts of personal debt (credit store cards loans etc) and in long term employment. Reductions in those will usually take longer to get the mortgage approval process longer as they do more checks etc. Ideally, if you had 25 or 30 % deposit to put down, they'd probably approve you within a few days!

i'd second the suggestion to go see specialist mortgage brokers as they have access to sell mortgages the bigger places just wont do.

As far as things to watch out go -

1. DONT overspend or overstretch yourself - it's difficult to do when you see a fantastic property which is 15 grand over your budget - try to stick to your means

2. Carefully assess your lifestyle and current standing, dont overstretch yourself to putting more money towards a mortgage repayment amount each month if it means you;ll be stretched in other areas.

3. factor in all the secondary costs, council tax, utility payments, maintenence costs, repair costs, insurance, life assurance, solicitors fees, land surveys etc etc.

4. DONT go for the crazy 5 and 6 and 7 times Salary multiplier mortgages - unless you are highly paid as those mortgages suit those with much higher than average salaries.

There's plenty more info on this and other sites, so time to do yer research!!

Good luck!

DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Firstly, what breed is the doggy in your picture?! i did a double take as I have a Japanese Akita and the one in the pic looks similarlator' on yahoo or google.

Kylie is a chow chow collie mix, otherwise known as a chowder collie.

I had only seen the US mortgage caculators, I will do a google serch for a UK one. Thanks!

i would recommend going to see a mortgage broker- they're free (or at least many of them are)- and they are great sources of advice.  they can advise you on what you will be able to afford, how much you'll be able to borrow, etc...

I agree completely. I've been on the phone with one nearly every day for the past few weeks (he must hate me!), and he's been incredibly useful in helping me work out how much I can afford.

I have just been doing the calculators and am SHOCKED  by how much the payments are a month! Looking at what DH wages could be (hoping anyway) and finding out what his take home wages would be (found another calculator) and subtracting house payments makes me wonder how in the world it will work. Is it normal that so much of take home pay is used for house payments? I do not see how the normal family can afford to live on what is left.

As far as things to watch out go -

1. DONT overspend or overstretch yourself - it's difficult to do when you see a fantastic property which is 15 grand over your budget - try to stick to your means

2. Carefully assess your lifestyle and current standing, don't overstretch yourself to putting more money towards a mortgage repayment amount each month if it means you;ll be stretched in other areas.

3. factor in all the secondary costs, council tax, utility payments, maintenance costs, repair costs, insurance, life assurance, solicitors fees, land surveys etc etc.

4. DONT go for the crazy 5 and 6 and 7 times Salary multiplier mortgages - unless you are highly paid as those mortgages suit those with much higher than average salaries.

Good advice.  I would add:

5.  Think beyond the short-term interest rate you are get from the bank.  If it is discounted / variable / tracker then it will likely go up given current conditions.  Determine your payment by increasing the rate at least 0.50% and make sure you are comfortable with payments at that level.

ive heard that you should only allocate 25% of your salary for rent-mortgage repayments... not sure who said this and how true it is.

i second the last poster... think carefully about not only if you can afford the monthly repayments, but if you could afford them if interest rates kept going up.  id also look at mortgages such as fixed.

there are ways of fudging how much you have to pay every month-- interest only mortgage, part interest part repayment, heck you can even do a 50year mortgage now.  however, id carefully consider these bf jumping in. 

General rule of thumb - to be financially sensible, no more than 25-33% of income (best to go on income after tax & NI) for housing cost.  People who have lower motoring or commuting costs, for instance, might be able to allocate more of the budget to housing -- it's relative to what other expenses you might have.

Where I work, we frequently refer people out to this mortgage broker:

http://www.charcol.co.uk/

They are particularly good (so I'm told) at helping those who have more difficulty in getting mortgages - i.e., individuals that lenders would view as greater credit risks.

It seems to me that the UK has lots more 'creative' ways of financing home purchases (at least ways that I wasn't aware of in the US)...but as meggles has suggested, beware & think carefully before taking a walk on the creative side of mortgage borrowing.