How can I afford a mortgage on a teacher's salary?

Q I am a newly qualified teacher moving to Bristol in September. I would like to buy a house, but with a salary of ?18,300 it appears my purchasing ability is severely limited. I am a single parent and although I will get tax credits my income is limited to the national standard for teachers.

What is the maximum mortgage I could get? I have heard of some companies offering six times your income, or 50-year terms. Renting would be far more expensive than paying a mortgage and is just wasted money. But the average two-bed house is well over ?100,000 - I do not see how I will ever be able to afford anywhere for my daughter and me.

AW

A Despite a rampant housing market, the standard lending criteria is still 3.5 times your income, which would provide a mortgage of just over ?64,000 in your case.

But there are several lenders who may be able to offer bigger loans. Abbey National will lend up to five times income under certain circumstances, which would get you up to ?91,500, and Norwich & Peterborough will also lend more than 3.5 times income if you agree to take out a fixed rate for a minimum of five years.

Halifax has a scheme whereby if you can show you've been paying far more in rent than it would otherwise lend you according to standard income multiples, it will increase its offer.

Scottish Widows offers a graduate mortgage which takes into account the higher earning and employment potential of graduates (and so may offer higher loans). It also allows you to have a guarantor cover the part of the loan to which your income can't stretch - so if you could get a relative to guarantee, say, ?40,000 of the loan, that might work.

Leeds & Holbeck has also recently launched a guarantor mortgage aimed at young professional buyers struggling to get onto the housing ladder. Annoyingly, there are no details as yet on the society's website but you can get more information by calling 08450 505062.

One other option is to think about taking in a lodger - you can earn up to ?4,250 a year tax-free from letting out a room in your house under the rent-a-room scheme.

If you organise your lodger before applying for a mortgage, lenders may be willing to take this income into account when calculating how much they will lend to you - that would boost your annual income to ?22,550.