Me and the mrs have happily reached our early fifties on the basis of ‘no debts, no assets’ However we are having to leave our rental and looking around there isn’t much that meets our needs, and what there is is ripping the arse out of things rent wise. Plus modern buy to let landlords seem to forget you pay rent to live there and won’t allow dogs and such and to us a home without a dog is no home at all.

So for the first time ever we are thinking of trying for a mortgage, only thing is we have absolutely no idea how things work.

Do we go to a building society, or a mortgage advisor? I know a lot of folk on here seem to know there way around this sort of thing- give us your tips, advice etc

Yours in fear, Thank you.

First port of call should likely be your bank. Have a look online at mortgage deals. Work out how much you need and how much you can put down. It’s very easy actually, most of the leg work is done by the solicitor. Do you have any specific questions?

Find a recommended idependent financial advisor. Ask on here for a local one, or ask friends.

Well worth the advice and time IME.

I know great ones in Sheffield and Dunblane if that helps.

The main issue you’ll face is lenders are very reluctant to lend in to retirement unless you’ve got some cast iron way of meeting repayments when you’re not working.

Used to be quite easy, you just said your pension would cover it but that doesn’t cut it anymore. So either you need to prove pension size etc or take a shorter term mortgage (how ever many years you have until state retirement age).

Given your circumstances I’d find a good independent broker to properly look at your situation.

Will your age count against you re term of mortgage available?

I’m 53 now, Mrs 51. Ive never expected to retire.
Im on an NHS pension which should give me some form of lump sum at some point but it wont be massive I dont suppose, 13 years in at the moment.

Any recommendations for the inverness area would be welcome.