interest-only mortgage 1st time buyer

Hi all,
wonder if any of you could give me advice on applying for an interest-only mortgage.
Not sure if I'm going to do this but may be an option for myself and girlfriend.We want to get on property ladder,perhaps not right away but in the future anyway.

Problem is, she's a full time student, first year in nursing, so our income is only mine at the moment (and her back to education allowance).

Would it be a bad idea to go down this route? Don't even know if mortgage lenders would consider anyway, obviously our income would rise when she graduates and we'd be able for higher repayments then.

Any advice on this appreciated

I doubt that too many lenders will offer an interest only (100%?) mortgage to first time buyers in such circumstances. Have you tried any lenders yet? Why not wait until she is in full time employment to buy?

No not 100%.Don't want to wait till she's in fulltime employment, would like to take advantage of lower house prices and would prefer to buy bigger house now rather than apartment and then have to upgrade in 4 years with associated costs

To clarify,I'm actually wondering if they'll lend us more if we went interest only or is that totally out of the question.

I doubt that they will lend more because you go interest only. If anything I would have assumed the opposite. In any case I doubt that many (any?) lenders will consider interest only for FTBs. But I could be completely wrong. Why not contact a good broker for advice?

ClubMan said:

In any case I doubt that many (any?) lenders will consider interest only for FTBs. But I could be completely wrong. Why not contact a good broker for advice?

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Whilst again not 100% in the know I would assume the opposite purely on the basis that Brendan has gone on the record time and again, both here and the mainstream press, advocating Interest Only for FTB's purely on the basis of lifestyle; that many FTB's scrimp during the early years of a mortgage when they could have a better lifestyle on an IO mortgage and only paying it back when their incomes improve later on in their careers (paraphrasing). I would fundamentally disagree with this however.

Just looking online and see that ebs offer interest-only for 3 years to first time buyers, I wonder are there many conditions with this

OK - wasn't aware of that. If you are not inclined to start inquiring directly with lenders yourself then you should really consider contacting a good broker to advise you.

Applications for interest-only mortgages for family homes are assessed in exactly the same way as repayment mortgages. So you will not get any more by choosing interest-only.

om123 said:

No not 100%.Don't want to wait till she's in fulltime employment, would like to take advantage of lower house prices and would prefer to buy bigger house now rather than apartment and then have to upgrade in 4 years with associated costs

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To be honest, this logic sounds flawed. It reminds me of the huge acceleration of people jumping in to buy property while the interest rates were being raised (before they "got priced out of the market"). When you are both in fulltime employment you will have a lot more income, which will allow you to buy a bigger house than you can now. What is the rush to buy now that the market is falling?