Many people have become somewhat exasperated with the housing market. Not only does it take a massive share of proportional income compared to how it was even twenty years ago, but capital investment firms are snapping up homes left and right, sometimes higher than the asking market price.
It’s not hard, then, for people to feel like they’ll never own a home, even if they’ve done most things correctly. Of course, we can’t comment on your circumstances. However, there may be more than one route forward even if you think you’ve exhausted most of them. Not all of the following advice is going to apply to everyone, and of course, a guide that doesn’t lay out a perfect path for you can sometimes feel frustrating.
However, considering these options might help you gain a little more wriggle room as you try to move forward and step onto the ever-competitive property ladder:
Talk To Your Credit Union
If you’re finding the big banks aren’t seeing you as the lending opportunity you might have wanted, turning to a local credit union could help, as they often work differently than the huge corporate lenders. Credit unions are member-owned and usually focus on supporting the financial well-being of their local community, and this often means they’re willing to look past a slightly less-than-perfect credit score or a small deposit size.
You might find the lending criteria is a lot more flexible, or the person you’re speaking to is more willing to really hear your story. They often have programs or mortgage products designed to help first-time buyers get onto the ladder when other lenders have said no. It may be that the best path forward is just looking closer to home.
Consider Career-Based Mortgages
You might not know this, but some lenders offer specific mortgage products designed just for people in certain professions. They’re often called “professional mortgages” and can sometimes be a good helper if you’re working in a field like medicine, law, accountancy, or teaching. If you have a proven long-term employment record, lenders can more easily see your long-term earning potential as lower risk, even if you don’t have a massive deposit right now.
The deals can offer better loan-to-value ratios, meaning a higher percentage of the property value might be borrowed, and sometimes they come with much better interest rates. These lenders often prefer reliability and stability to high-earning clients, and you can absolutely use the situation to your advantage. As such, it definitely pays to check if your profession has a special deal floating around out there.
Buy Smaller Property
While everyone dreams of a perfectly large house with a garden, sometimes getting a foot in the door means setting your sights a little lower for the first go round. Looking at smaller properties, like a one-bedroom apartment or a small terraced house, can drastically change the affordability of what you can work with. If you’re a young couple expecting a baby, could moving into a one-bed apartment with a spare room you can convert really be that much of a problem for the first couple of years? It’ll help you start building equity which could potentially make the next house-hunting effort look much more capable.
With this advice, you’ll be sure to see if home buying is more possible than not.
