As part of its FTB mortgage range, Halifax offers a menu of 'extras' designed to cut the cost of buying a home. FTBs can choose from a low variable or fixed rate mortgage, with any one, two or all three 'extras' from the following: £250 cashback, refund of the cost of Halifax Valuation Report and/ or Conveyancing Fees paid.
Rates start at 5.34% on three year tracker mortgages and 5.59% on five year fixed rate mortgages. All new Halifax mortgages offer interest calculated on a daily basis, overpayments, underpayments and payment holidays. Subject to Halifax mortgage terms and conditions, mortgages are available up to 97 per cent loan to value for FTBs, which means that the minimum deposit is 3 per cent.
Halifax Estate Agents also provides FTBs with an exclusive mortgage, only available from its own branches. The exclusive deal offers both FTBs and homemovers a 2 year fixed rate of 4.95% up to a 90 per cent loan to value.
To guide FTBs through the home-buying and moving process, Halifax offers a range of tools on www.halifax.co.uk, such as a step-by-step Home Buyer's Guide, downloadable property viewing checklist and 'Moving Home' jargon buster.
An online calculator is also available for FTBs to find out how much they can afford to borrow, in principle, and there is a free budgeting advice service available to help them understand all the costs involved in buying their home.
A pocket-sized "Survival Guide" for FTBs is also available from Halifax. Providing both information when buying your first home and a helping hand to "survive" the home-buying maze, the "Survival Guide" is available throughout Halifax's High Street branches and its network of Estate Agency offices.
Craig Donaldson, head of mortgage products at Halifax, said: "First Time Buyers want more than just a catchy mortgage deal. Our experience shows they need a combination of advice, expert knowledge and mortgage deals which will enable them to reduce the costs of buying their first home."
If affordability is an issue, steps that FTBs can adopt to get a foot on the housing market, include:
- Clubbing together and buying a house with your friends. Some lenders, including Halifax, will accept up to a maximum of four applicants.
- Asking your parents to act as guarantor for your mortgage.
- Shared ownership allows you to buy a share of a property (usually 50 per cent) from a housing association and pay rent for the remainder. Your monthly outgoings will include repayments on any mortgage you have taken out, plus rent on the part of the property retained by the housing association. After a qualifying period, homeowners should be able to purchase further tranches of the property's equity, usually in 25% stages. For more information about shared ownership see www.housingcorp.gov.uk for more information.
- Key Worker Homebuy, a Government backed scheme, offers teachers, NHS staff and emergency service employees, interest free loans up to £50,000.
Loans of up to £100,000 are available to teachers based in London - if the teacher can prove that they are potential educational leaders. However, please note that if you stop being a key worker or move from the eligible area then you will have to pay back a percentage of the property value within two years.
