Buying a house

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Assuming you are living in the UK, have established a credit-history and have a regular job, then getting a mortgage should be relatively simple.  We used the Nationwide building society when we first moved here; this link will take you to their website.  There are plenty of other mortgage companies; this link will take you to a website that compares all of them.

How much you pay will depend very much on where you want to live; if you want to live in or near London, then expect to pay a premium for doing so.  In general, the further north (or away from London) you go, the cheaper housing is.

Security cameras; we live in a small rural village where you wouldn't have thought they were needed; that said, we have one and it paid for itself within a few weeks when a couple of idiots thought they would try and steal my son's car.  I've never heard of Ajax until you mentioned them; we use the Ring system (link); mainly because it was affordable, I could install it myself (didn't need any skills, just know basic DIY) and it connects via my house wifi.  So, shop around, speak to your neighbours.  Probably the best thing you can do is to make sure that all of your locks will withstand somebody trying to break in.  When we called the Police about my son's car incident, they did a quick survey of our house security and told us their opinion of what he had; one new back door and 2 new locks later, I feel a lot safer.  If it really concerns you, the other thing you should consider is getting a dog, preferably one that barks when people are around your property, it was our dog that alerted us to the idiots sniffing around our house, the cameras just provided the evidence the Police needed to lock them up.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

People usually install security cameras if they have lots of valuables worth stealing or a nice looking car, or, if your home is in a "rough" neighborhood. So definitely worth having a system installed, at least it could work as a deterrent to potential thieves. When I lived in the UK which was a very long time ago, most people didn't have security cameras but it is more common these days.

No idea about brands or systems, but I have had cctv cameras installed in condominiums in Malaysia when we have decided to replace or upgrade our cctv systems, so I know that the higher resolution cameras are generally more expensive but give a clearer picture. Very cheap cameras are quite useless in my opinion so look for a compromise between quality and price.

GooseGrey wrote:

Oh, it is necessary to have a lot of money buy a new house in UK. Just can't imagine how is it possible to earn them

It depends, the north is a lot cheaper than the south.

GooseGrey wrote:

Oh, it is necessary to have a lot of money buy a new house in UK. Just can't imagine how is it possible to earn them

Many don't and find themselves in rented accommodation.  Not necessarily a bad thing, in fact if you have no intention of remaining in the UK, then it's probably the best way to go.

Basically, you need a cash deposit to secure your mortgage; how much varies, but it seems to range between 5% and 15% of the house value.  The less you pay, the less good mortgage rates are available to you, so you pay more interest on the loan.

People on the minimum wage will struggle to get a mortgage, as will people with little or no credit rating.

We have an Ajax security system in our house in Portugal. Its an all in one system with a fire and smoke detection alarm as well and is all connected to our phones in case there is a problem being based in the UK. Very easy and simple system to set up and it looks good as well.
Even though we have not had any security issues its a great system. I would say its slightly more expensive than your every day system however deals with any issues via WiFi. You can even activate or deactivate the system via your phone - e.g. when we have the cleaners in and we are to set the system from the UK.

That is an interesting tread. I am also interested in the topic of house security.
Honestly, I haven't earned a house yet, but I got it from my grandparents. So, now I am into its renovation and changing an old alarm. I am thinking of installing the Ajax system, too. It seems for me more modern than others on the market. I suppose it is better to install that professional one than any DIY variant. By the way, do you have any experience with DIY systems? Do the companies provide any customer support service and give a life-long warranty?

Oh, it is necessary to have a lot of money buy a new house in UK. Just can't imagine how is it possible to earn them

pitterbrayn wrote:

Oh, it is necessary to have a lot of money buy a new house in UK. Just can't imagine how is it possible to earn them

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Average house price in the UK today is £250k; emphasize, that is the average price; there are many different ways to structure the debt, so this link will take you to a Google search where you can read for yourself.

A quick look tells me that you would need to repay £1.2k p/month for 20 years, just for the mortgage.  Normally, lenders look to limit your maximum debt to 1/3 of your monthly salary (joint if you are a working couple).  So, a joint gross income of £36k p/annum is about what you'd need to get a mortgage to buy a house in the UK.  Now people may begin to understand why the UK places minimum salaries on work and family visas.

So what does this tell you; UK minimum wage is about £17k p/annum; so a couple on minimum wage are going to struggle to even get a mortgage, so will be renting at first until they can find the places with cheaper costs (remember, it's an average).  So you can probably forget living in London and the South East; you can certainly get cheaper housing up north.

So, perfect world, land in the UK with enough for your deposit and jobs lined up that will pay you  enough to get a mortgage.  A lot of recent asylum seekers who have landed in the UK were not aware of this and thought that the UK would provide housing and social support - not any more.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

I have no idea about house , but after reading this thread got some idea..

Thank you

Hi everyone,
I live in Birmingham for 1 year. I expect to buy my own home in the next 1 or 2 years. But I am afraid about moods and leak. I live in a council flat with mood and more heating.

@Gerbert86 where do you live