If you’re having trouble getting together the cash for a first home on your own, and worrying about how you’ll afford the subsequent mortgage repayments, you could pool your resources?

Buying with a partner or friend enables you to borrow on the basis of two salaries rather than one and give you more money for those repayments.

But don’t assume that just because you get on well together, you can live together harmoniously.

Join forces with someone just because you both want to get on the property ladder, and it could turn into a disaster that’s costly and stressful to unravel.

It is very important that everyone has a stress free area that they really can call their home. We all need our space… and familiarity can breed contempt…

If you’re stressing about how you’ll afford the mortgage payments on your new home, why not take in a lodger?

This puts you more in control of the siuation. Basically, if you don’t get on you can always ask them to move out

Under the Government’s Rent-a-Room Scheme, you can even earn £4,250 a year in rent that’s £354 a month to help with the costs of ownership without having to pay a penny in income tax on it. See the British government’s website on this here

Of course, you can earn more than this, but you’ll have to pay tax on anything over this threshold.

Or Consider

There are other ways to increase your buying power.

For more on these, read our complete section on Affordability solutions.