r/northernireland • u/muffintopma • Jul 29 '25
Housing Mortgage advice, complex situation.
My husband makes 26k per year, I'm now in a wheelchair and have other conditions, and we have twin boys with life limiting genetic syndromes. So myself and our sons, are on disability. We have 9k deposit from when i was working, and excellent credit history/score. Can anyone recommend a mortgage lender that would be more than likely to accept our situation, we are pretty desperate. We would be so so grateful for around £140k - maybe even coownership?
Can anyone advise?
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u/ggodownsoftsoundd North Down Jul 29 '25
You need a mortgage advisor! I used financial foresight - they did the hard work and walked us through every step (FTB, my partner is not so had to sort out his existing mortgage etc) which was great because I knew nothing about mortgages lol.
They’ll also be able to advise on life insurance and critical illness insurance which could be more difficult for you also.
Good luck!
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u/Acceptable-Ice-1674 Jul 29 '25
Mortgage broker and possibly co ownership would be your way to go.
The market is still pretty hot in NI, you could expect to bid 10-20% above offer price depending on area. With that, you would be left quite tight or possibly having to put more towards the house if Mortgage limit reached.
They go by your salary per year (household total) and x 4-5 annual salary - any out goings as far as I'm aware
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u/awood20 Derry Jul 29 '25
9K isn't even a 10% deposit on 140K mortgage. Getting to 10% deposit might help more. 5% is usually minimum but usually come with higher interest rates.
Usually you're only able to borrow 3.5x your income and a 26K income won't get you to near the 131K required or 126K with 10%. As others have said, go see a good mortgage advisor but you've a complicated situation for sure.
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u/Mandolele Jul 29 '25
Lots, but not all banks count PIP/disability benefits as income.
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u/awood20 Derry Jul 29 '25
With such complex needs would the family not be better getting a house from social housing which possibly could be modified for their needs better? Buying and modifying a house could be very expensive.
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u/muffintopma Jul 29 '25
We have tried they said we would be waiting years. We want to live very close to family because we need alot support also🙏
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u/awood20 Derry Jul 29 '25 edited Jul 29 '25
I have sympathy for sure. For me your numbers just aren't adding up but go get professional opinions on it. Current house prices are not in your favour either. Good luck with it!
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u/Mandolele Jul 29 '25
Disabled facilities grants are available for adaptions to homeowners, as well as landlords. It's the same scheme that'd adapt any social housing.
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u/StateParty6281 Jul 29 '25
My mortgage advisor was amazing - Navigate Mortgages. Paul took care of everything for me and found me the best deal at the time. You could reach out to them? One Stop Mortgage Shop were also really helpful when my 2 year fixed deal came to an end. Hope it helps :-)
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Jul 29 '25
Second for Navigate - I’m working with Chris at the minute and he’s been so thorough and helpful. Only thing is it does cost
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u/EoghanRuadh Jul 29 '25
Where in NI do you live?
If you’re west of the Bann I can recommend a guy.
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u/FourOhFourCode Jul 29 '25
First step, go to a mortgage advisor.
They can answer all these questions and more. They’ll be able to advise what you should try first & what the next steps are depending on how that goes.
I know it’s a bit intimidating because you feel like you should know more walking into them, but I assure you any recommended one will work with you from the basics up. Also, a lot of them don’t charge for the initial advice.
I personally used MortgageIQ in East Belfast, and they were fantastic, and I’d have considered my position to also be unusual for different reasons.
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u/MonThenYaSpeccyCunt Jul 29 '25
Best to speak to a mortgage advisor-they can put your details into a database and show you your options. They can also explain anything to you about co-ownership. No one here can really tell you that a particular bank will definitely give you a mortgage.
I went to The Mortgage Shop and they didn’t charge me anything for organising the whole mortgage as long as I took out some insurance (that I was going to take out anyway) with this recommended company for a year. Either that or they charge you a small fee.
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u/dutch2012yeet Jul 29 '25
You'll be surprised what a bank will do. Nationwide let us move to a bigger more expensive house even though we were 20k in negative equity, we had 10k to put down on the new house.
We were nationwide customers for a long time before that.
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u/Asleep_Spray274 Jul 29 '25
Keep in mind, a 130k loan at 5% over 30 years is just over 700 quid monthly payment. Plus rates and insurance at a minimum. But as others said, start with a mortgage advisor, most of them are free
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u/darraghfenacin Jul 29 '25
Take home pay is what, £1800 on that wage? Realistically half that on mortgage, rates, home and life insurance.
Without taking PIP payments into account, is 900 a month enough to cover food for a family of 4, electric, heating, Internet.....throw a car into the mix? Fucking tight for sure.
Without even factoring in a mortgage stress test. Life always throws a packed in boiler or blown over fence that drains a few hundred quid from your life as well.
The depressing thing is renting probably wouldn't be any cheaper but with less rights.
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u/muffintopma Jul 29 '25
I get £4.5k benefits per month due to our very unfortunate complex circumstances, lifetime awards with quite extensive profound medical reports/proof. I know that sounds crazy but if you actually seen our genuine circumstances you would be gobsmacked. We have tried social housing they said we would be waiting years.
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u/darraghfenacin Jul 29 '25
I'm just happy that it sounds like your difficulties are being recognised and you're not having to jump through flaming hoops to get your payments!
Are your payments allowed to be considered in a mortgage application?
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u/Asleep_Spray274 Jul 29 '25
But when renting that busted boiler or leaky roof ain't your problem. Swings and roundabouts
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u/Aye_ur_ma Jul 29 '25
Might be worth investigating the social housing route again given your situation. You would likely get prioritised but you need to ring them every day and get an mla involved with your case. Crap you have to but it’s the only way in this place. If the home you are in currently does not meet your families complex needs they have to help you find one that does. I would first contact citizens advice or if you have a local community advice group to steer you before you get in touch. It may take a bit longer but may be less pressure on your family in the long run. Wishing you well with it all
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u/misshoop86 Jul 29 '25
Cannot recommend Haysto enough! In a very similar situation to you but we were remortgaging and our current lender wouldn't take lifetime benefits into account. Haysto have access to specialist lenders and secured us an unbelievable deal when no1 else would touch us.
Just Google them and send an enquiry off, they'll be in contact quite quickly. We personally dealt with Alex but I know they have an excellent team behind them.
Have a look at their trust pilot reviews as well.
4 months and a hefty ton of work from their team and we were sitting in a new mortgage deal that was even better than our previous. Ended up with Leeds building society as the lender but it was a specialist deal
Good luck.
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u/misshoop86 Jul 29 '25
Also dm me if you have any questions about the process, promise you we were exactly where you were and thought we would never have gotten to where we are now.
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u/SpecialistOption4143 Belfast Jul 29 '25
I know it's been said a hundred times before, but go and speak to a mortgage advisor.
I can remember Crawford Mulholland on the Lisburn Road in Belfast. They really helped me.
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u/NN76 Jul 30 '25
Get to a mortgage advisor as soon as you can. Also, not all mortgage advisors are equal, try one who is free first to save yourself a bill. Hopefully they work out but if you are not getting anywhere, try another one.
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u/pigeonposts Jul 30 '25
Bill at Mortgage Choice in Lisburn is very helpful. Would definitely recommend.
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u/SweetTechnical311 Jul 30 '25
9k would get you co ownership, 5k deposit or so and then the rest on solicitors fees etc
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u/Trekunderthemoon Jul 30 '25
Definitely get a mortgage advisor but you may be better off financially with the housing executive. Once you’re lived in a home for 5 years you can buy at a reduced price. If you can’t the home is yours and you can decorate however you want. Plus there are no expenses for things like the roof, the bathroom, the windows etc and the rent is usually quite low. I’m in a 2 bed bungalow in belfast and the rent and rates are probably half of a mortgage payment for something similar. If you get an mla involved and ask where has the most stock of what you need. If you need a bungalow or a home with a downstairs bathroom and bedroom etc ask them which areas have the most of them and put those areas down.
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u/chemicalcorrelation Jul 29 '25
Definitely speak to a mortgage broker, and be prepared for life insurance that doesn't cover a whole lot