O/T Pulling at straws re: mortgages

but does anyone know if there is some way of getting a higher amount you can borrow than has been offered?  We are £30k short of what we need to get the house of our dreams and although on paper we could afford this much there just doesn't seem to be any lenders willing to lend this amount....I just don't get it

I couldn't believe our luck...there are 2 houses we are interested in but around the same price and £30k more than we are allowed to have even though we could afford to pay more if that makes sense...the only thing we are gonna have to do at the mo is put in a stupidly low offer to either have them laugh at us or in my dreams be accepted....

Grabbing at straws really but does anyone know if there is another way of getting the lender to lend more money (prob stupid question but i need to ask!!)

TIA

I think mortgage lenders have clamped down on the x salary they will lend now, so for exapmle, if a bank used to lend 4x joint income, you will find that they may only lend 3x joint income now, and there's no getting round it.

Mortgage advisers can have a level of discretion, but when I was selling mortgages, my level was only about £5K

You may find a mortgage provider who will lend you more, but they will charge a higher rate for it as you would be classed as a higher risk

Sorry, not what you wanted to hear, you'll have to either save more or haggle the price down, or find another property

I know nothing about financial things but just an idea - could you get a loan to cover the difference if you can afford the payments?

To be honest there isn't no. They all have a way they work out the max they will lend and that is it,as spamboule said sometimes there is flexability for a stretch but not more than about 5k. Have you told them about all your income as some will take into account tax credits and child benefit as well as salaries. Also some lenders will lend more than others. So if you haven't spoken to an independant advisor I would recommend doing so.

The only thing you can do is to try a different lender. They all have different lending criteria, e.g. some still work on income multiples but others use an affordability calculator (and these themselves vary widely).

We were in a similar situation with our existing mortgage provider, but by moving to someone else we were offered an additional £70k (we do have current accounts with them too so think this may help).

 

unfortunately probably not.  the fact is that they are clamping back down to what they SHOULD have been lending all along. generally 3x income (2xcombined) is accepted as affordable through interest rate rises etc and over the 25 years or however long you are taking it out for.  You MIGHT be able to borrow more if you borrow over a longer period?  the reason everyone NEEDS to borrow more now is because the lenders went mad and started lending stupid amounts based on affordability and now they aren't able to do that.

 

mind don't worry about them laughing at your offer - there is a saying that if you aren't embarrassed by your own offer then it is too high. make it - you never know. and if they do laugh at it what difference does it make

I sympathise as we are in EXACTLY the same situation.  We can afford to borrow quite a bit more but they won't lend it, we too are missing out on our perfect house because of this.

I'd make the offer - you never know, they might accept it. Oh and bear in mind that interest rates are incredibly low at the moment - even if you could get someone to lend you the money you might not be able to afford it in a few years when rates go back up.

Its frustrating and a disappointing business buying and selling houses!

Thanks for all your replies - I guess what you say makes sense esp with interest rates being low etc but it is hard....I think we will make the offer anyway and see what happens....esp as my 2nd choice house is a few doors away from a house that was sold for £30k below what we can afford in 2009 so there is hope!!!

SL - did you use a financial advisor to find you a better deal on your mortgae or did you search yourself?  I can't believe you were able to get an extra £70k...that gives me hope too!!

x

S-C I would see a broker as when I was an advisor we used to get special deals with lenders. Worth looking about. Although some banks are quite the opposite- you can borrow more if you go direct.

You're so lucky to be under offer by the way! We've pretty much given up on selling again at the moment