AT Home with Sarah Beeny - December 2011 - (Page 43)

| BUYERS’ GUIDE| The f irst time A ording a mortgage these days is hard on everybody, but rst-time buyers shouldn’t despair: because there are still ways to get a loan. Tepilo.com, Sarah Beeny’s website, gives you its top ten tips so pick the one that works for you COST: DO IT THE OLD WAY, SAVE UP FOR A DEPOSIT uying your ﬁrst home can be a hard enough process at the best of times, but in today’s market it is more difﬁcult than ever. Property prices, especially in the cities, have soared, leaving many ﬁrst-time buyers literally out in the cold. To make matters worse, very few mortgage products have evolved to compensate for the dramatic incompatibility between house prices and wages. Some products, such as 110% loan-to-value mortgages and ﬁve-times-annual salaries used to exist, but they tended to mean more risk for the buyer rather than for the lender. However, it is perhaps the sheer competition that poses the biggest problem for potential buyers. Block viewings are not uncommon, whereby prospective purchasers simply view the house as a group and then race to be the ﬁrst to put in an offer. If a member of this group is a professional developer or cash purchaser, then it is not unusual for the ﬁrst-time buyer to be left behind. Despite all the doom and gloom, fear not, as there are still a range of different ways to enable ﬁrst-time buyers to get on the property ladder. B 1SAVE WORDS: TEPILO.COM | PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES Many lenders now offer ﬁve times your income. Increasingly, mortgages are available over longer terms, with some lenders offering loans of up to 40 years. Obviously, the younger you are, the more eligible you will be for such a long loan. If these are still out of your range, consider stretching yourself initially with the view to taking a ‘secured’ loan out on the property as soon as you have completed. Bear in mind that this will land you in negative equity immediately – and if the market crashes, you may stay there for some time. 2BORROW Granted, this old-fashioned approach isn’t as easy as it once was due to increased rents, but it is still achievable. Dump the one-bedroom apartment for a room in a shared house or, even better, move back in with your parents. Saving money on rent will give your savings that much needed boost and, if you have the energy to put in the extra work, a second part-time job could see them go through the roof. Remember that if you’re earning, you can’t be spending – so it’s a double whammy savings-wise, but this is good practise for when you eventually own a house. Becoming a homeowner is an expensive venture, and if you haven’t > DECEMBER 2011 | 043 http://www.Tepilo.com http://www.TEPILO.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AT Home with Sarah Beeny - December 2011

EDITOR’S LETTER
HELLO FROM SARAH
NEWS
MAKE IT A DATE
FESTIVE FOCUS
HOME COMFORTS
LIGHT FANTASTIC
PASTE IT UP
SARAH'S WORLD
VILLAGE REVAMP
TO LET OR NOT TO LET?
KEYS TO THE DOOR
QUEEN OF THE CASTLE
HOT PROPERTY
GREAT SCOTS
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
LODGE LIFE
VICTORIAN SPLENDOUR
FINISHING TOUCH
BEST OF THE BRIGHTS
STORE IN STYLE
BOUDOIR BEAUTIFUL
SHAKE IT UP!
FINE DINER
WHAT’S COOKING?
TOPS TOTTY
SPLASHING STUFF
NIGHT ON THE TILES
GADGETS GALORE
OPEN UP
TOTALLY FLOORED
MAT FINISH
COSY CARPETS
HOT STUFF
THE TEMPERATURE’S RISING
RADIATE THIS
FLAMING GREAT
BURN BABY BURN
DREAM HOME
GOING LARGE
SLIDING AWAY
KEEP IT IN
DRAUGHT EXCLUSIVE
DON’T BLAME THE TOOLS
GOING SOFT
ECO EXCELLENCE
WASTE NOT
BRIGHT SPARK
SUN SCREEN
STREET VIEW
BLOOMING BRILLIANT
GARDEN INVADER
GLITTERING BUYS
COMING SOON
SARAH SAYS
MANSION MARVEL
LAST WORD
STOCKISTS
PERFECT PROPERTIES

AT Home with Sarah Beeny - December 2011