First home mortgages

As a co-borrower of a home mortgage, you are jointly and severally liable for ensuring the entire loan is repaid. This means that each and every borrower is responsible for the entire loan.

A mortgage guarantor is a person who places their own property as additional security for a loan. For example, this might be your parents.

A secured guarantee can be an option for making up for a shortfall in equity. As a mortgage guarantor, you place your own property as security for someone else’s loan. This means that the bank makes you liable for paying the debt if the person you have placed the guarantee for does not pay. It is important to think carefully before agreeing to place a guarantee for someone. You can set a limit for how much you want to or can guarantee.

Joint debt is debt that belongs to a housing cooperative, and everyone who has an occupancy right or share of an apartment in a housing cooperative, also owns a share of the debt.

The debt is often taken out to carry out works on the housing cooperative that will benefit all of the apartments or residents, for example renovating bathrooms, replacing windows, refurbishing the facade or building balconies. You repay the joint debt monthly along with the joint expenses. High joint debt also means high rent.

NB! Joint debt counts as part of your debt and has an impact on how much you can borrow from the bank.

One solution for meeting the down payment requirement is to take a private loan from your parents. A private loan can be interest and fee-free, but must be in writing and submitted as documentation to the bank and be entered in the tax return.

If you haven’t saved enough equity yourself, a solution may be to get a cash gift or advance on inheritance. This money must be deposited into your account in connection with the purchase of the home.

Your parents can help with the house purchase by acting as co-borrowers. You and your parents’ income and debt will then be looked at, to assess how much home mortgage you can get from the bank. This means that you are all responsible for the total home mortgage you take out.

With two incomes and a larger down payment, it may be easier to get onto the housing ladder. You will then be able to share the costs and a double income will be considered for how large a home mortgage you can get.

If you are buying a home with someone else, you should agree on the ownership share, how big a down payment you will use, the division of the home mortgage and costs, as well as a clear exit strategy.

If you have purchased a home with several bedrooms, you can rent out a bedroom to increase your total income. We add the rental income from a maximum of 1 bedroom based on the expected rental income from the room, but no more than NOK 7500 per month. Remember to think carefully about what your finances will look like if you end up without a tenant for a period of time, and this risk must be included in the bank’s calculations. You must inform the insurance company of a partial rental, and sign a tenancy agreement.