Potential First Time Buyer - Guidance needed

_Kaiser_

Hi all,

So, I've been renting my current home for the last 6 years or so and am paying significantly below the market rate as a result of a very good landlord who I get on well with and while the place isn't ideal in many ways and needs work (it's a 2 bed end of terrace/townhouse thrown up in the early 2000s with no real proactive maintenance, no back garden and in an area that's about halfway between the office and where I ultimately plan to settle), it's been fine for the most part.

The LL has come to me last week indicating that he's planning to sell this year (no immediate rush but he's thinking 6 months from now) and he's offered me first refusal as we'd agreed in the past.

My challenge is that I'm a single guy with rent, car loan, bills, and a child to support and so saving is slow going and I don't have 20k in cash needed for a 10% deposit and the rest. I also don't have any access to the bank of Mam and Dad (both dead) and nor tcan I move in with family to save as many do when trying to buy. Against that though my income is sufficient that I would be able to cover a mortgage that I reckon would work out at about 100 extra a month once the dust settled.

At a push I could probably manage half of the deposit within the time allowed and that might be enough to buy me more time as he's not put any definitive timeline against it nor a number (a Daft search shows 2 identical properties in the area for 175 and 195 - the latter of which is overpriced IMO), but the deposit is the stumbling block I think.

I've spoken to my bank who agree with my assesssment and suggested various help to buy schemes, but I wouldn't qualify for the Council one because I earn over the income limit, and the Revenue tell me I COULD get up to 30k back in taxes for a deposit BUT it has to be a new build (so not much help there!). I've rang the Credit Union to discuss the car loan (which will be finishing this year - the timing of all this is just typical!) and any options/suggestions from them but they haven't come back to me yet.

There's also the question I suppose of buying a property that really would only be a medium term solution (as it's not the area I will be settling in long term), and how that would affect future plans to relocate and possibly buy again (rent this one out/resell it?) etc. Is it even something I should be considering? Of course the alternative is being evicted and trying to find somwhere to rent.....

So I guess really the point of this post is to get some thoughts/feedback on what I should do..

• Try and get the deposit (any other options I haven't considered - will a bank accept a CU personal loan for example?) and negoiate the dates/amount with the LL
• Look for a new build somewhere (significantly more expensive) and use the Revenue's 30k taxback support
• Try and find somwhere to rent (very difficult anyway but also impossible in this area for the current rent I'm paying) and save for a year/two and then relocate bearing in mind my age (late 40s) also limits the term and impacts the amount/repayments as well

I've been stressing about this most of last week so any fresh perspectives, suggestions or advice would be appreciated!

Cheers!

spaceHopper

Don't forget legal fees and stamp duty, life cover...

Have you a pension, when you turn 50 can you get a lump sum out.

Have you claimed all you tax back, check that you have. Medical, rent relief, health insurance tax relief. Anything else?

Can you sell the car and get something cheaper.

Can you look at all the stuff / junk you've accumulated and sell anything you don't really need.

Can you stop paying into your pension and cut back to save as hard a possible for 1 year?

No nights out, take aways or holidays for a while.

It's a two bed can you take in somebody for while even a Ukranian for 6 months that's 4000 tax free.

Can you get a payrise in work?

Can you get overtime or a side gig.

Be realistic, if you have less than 10K saved, you aren't going to settle in your ideal are anytime soon. This is your opportunity take it. You've less than 20 years to pay off the mortgage so the monthly cost of servicing the loan go up.

Leg End Reject

Get a recommendation for a mortgage advisor and see what they advise.

If you can clear the car loan early, it will reduce the amount you can borrow as the payments are taken into account.