Still got to make the payments though.

It is definitely worth asking, and don't assume that the answer will be the same everywhere you go. Our circumstances weren't exactly the same as yours, but we managed to make it work with some perseverance.

We moved here at the height of the credit crunch and the first mortgage broker told us that neither of us were eligible for a mortgage, even with a guarantor. She said neither of us stood any chance of getting a mortgage and to come back in 2 years! Later the same week, HSBC approved us for a high ratio mortgage, without a guarantor, at their best available interest rate and we moved into our house a month later.

Well if worst comes to the worst we may ask and see how much relatives have they can lend us short term, then remortgage and add my salary to the mix when I've been working for 3 months. That's not something I really want to have to do though!

Ideally I'd hope I get PR just before we go out and then the GF's job will help persuade the bank to lend to my potential salary as well (with the help of a big deposit).

Make sure you take a variable open mortgage in this case. If you take fixed rate term mortgage the penalty for re mortgaging will run into a few thousand.

Depends on the bank, ours have always been pretty flexible with renegotiating as long as we stayed with them.

Not come across one yet that will let you out of a fixed term mortgage contract without penalty. It really depends on how much it will cost, versus the savings overall on the mortgage term.

http://www.moneysense.ca/property/sh...-your-mortgage

Just don't do that. It'll make you feel dirty. Rightly so.

First Line did with us when we moved and changed things around. We just had to remain with them for the rest of the term, no penalties.

I guess pretty much everyone has a different experience, even with the same lenders. For example, we had no luck at all getting a mortgage for the first year we were here, despite a decent down payment and being well within our borrowing limit based on salary.