Renting is not dead money! Renting allowed me to live in a very nice part of London and have no concerns with all of the palava which comes with owning a property. Any appliance go poof? Fixed immediately. Looking a bit shabby? Request a lick of paint. Leaking windowsill? Fix it please. No buildings insurance, no life insurance, no gas boiler insurance. Mattress lumpy - can I get a new one please?

It's a really good way to live but in this country it's frowned upon. I do now own a property (outside of London!) but have bought it "safely". If 2007 happens again and prices plummet 30% I'll be ok. If interest rates go up to 8,9,10%, I'll be able to survive for a while.

Don't go jumping in due to peer pressure from "those that know" on the internet. Base it upon your own financial situation, take proper advice, and understand that a mortgage is a 25 year commitment with a lot of associated costs. We work longer, will live longer and be healthy longer. Rent a nice place for a few years :o)

You must have a lovely landlord. I struggled to get mine to repair the smoke alarms, I could only dream of a lump free mattress.

Nah

Does noone see that this is just a scheme designed to prop up the housing market, and help people overstretch themselves? The Government aren't doing you any favours with this scheme. If they took the action that's really needed, house prices would fall. Once interest rates rise a disproportionate amount of people will be getting reposessed.

The big problem with the housing market is greedy buy to let "investors" are competing against each other, knowing they can financially [email protected] the average working family of at least 50 % of their income, with the right to jack up rents whenever they feel like it - and the ultimate trump card of eviction with more customers/victims wanting to rent property. Plus your B2L investor gets tax breaks, and preferential interest rates because they can use the rest of their "portfolio" as assets to secure against the mortgage, and count income from expected rent. You have to compete against people with these advantages when bidding for property.

I believe changes are needed to make B2L no more of an investment than an ISA. Perhaps a land ownership tax so you're taxed based on the land you own which would make it unsensible to own property you're not using for your own purposes, controls on rent possibly making sure noone would ever pay more rent than they would a mortgage, or a ban on B2L with a right to buy scheme for private rental tenant which takes into account the amount of rent paid over the years against the value of the property.

Please recognise the real enemy that has made the housing market unaffordable. It' just sheer greed taking advantage of people's need to have a roof over their head. Renting isn't a lifestyle choice, it's exploitation.

What's their credit scoring like ?

Is this worth going for or waiting for a 10% mortgage?

well waiting for 10% is good if you know how much time it will take ...or else 5% is good..:smiley:

Good deal. Our 95% mortgage is 5.49% fixed for 4 years with Nationwide. Fees were £0 due to being a Nationwide customer. But this deal is good.

Did you miss the 10% price increases last year? Market isn't flat anymore it's been moving upward for a year or so, so I wouldn't say it's "near the lowest it can be".

Post Office?
Did they insist on knowing the contents of your house?

if you can afford the repayments and have the deposit i'd say go for the 95%. Renting is dead money, the fixed rate on this mortgage means you can budget at least for the first 3 years. The banks can't be expecting interest rates to rise anytime soon as I've seen several 10 year fixed rate mortgages on this site for 2/3% (65% loan to value). The property market is rising steadily so your property will only increase in value over time, lowering your loan to value and opening up more deals to you.

Good luck with this.....I've had 2 houses fall through thanks to the post office messing me around! Cold from me I'm afraid!