That First Home

Remember that feeling? It’s all yours, tiny, falling down and comes with that pungent smell of years gone by! (Or even cats, dogs or worse!)

You have a modest regular income, solid credit record, and a burning desire to have and hold your own little kingdom. Great! perfect mortgage candidate, Right? Wrong! Recent figures show how the credit crunch (don’t you hate the sound of that phrase?) has turned the mortgage product upside down.

We are constantly hearing how first time buyers are being left out in the cold, how do you get on the proverbial ‘property ladder’ if at every turn the bottom rung has been cut! It is clear that with rates of 7 to 8 percent on offer, first time buyers are subsidising equity richer, affluent homeowners on low tracker rates.

First time buyers once the lifeblood of the market, are feeling ignored as lenders lean towards the lower risk borrowers. As a first time buyer, it’s all about the compromise, perhaps not quite living in Bell Air or having that lovely open plan loft living. The ‘compact and Bijoux’ apartment may have to do for now. That may still be tenable for some, having savings or parents that are fine with handing over their retirement fund, so that the little darlings may move on. Others are not so fortunate.

What’s the answer? Who knows, but with two teenage children at home, the possibility of them not moving on to that old property ladder is pretty scary!!