Yes if your income is not enough to get the mortgage amount required then a close family member(usually parents) can act as a guarantor however the guarantor will need to prove that they can afford all of the mortgage in addition to any mortgage they may have of their own.

A repayment mortgage is guaranteed to pay off your mortgage by the end of the term as long as all payments have been made. With an interest only mortgage your monthly payments only pay the interest that is due so at the end of the term you still owe the same amount that you originally borrowed and would need to either sell your property to repay the mortgage or find the money to repay it from another source by that time.

The cost of the mortgage is governed by three things, the amount borrowed, the term of the mortgage and the interest rate charged and therefore is quite specific to each individual. A general rule of thumb would be about one third of your total take home pay would be the maximum that most lenders would provide a mortgage for.

The amount that each person can borrow is based on their income, their current credit commitments and to some extent the amount of deposit they have.

The minimum deposit can be as low as 5%. Normally the minimum deposit is 10% however there is a significant reduction in the interest rates available once the deposit reaches 15%.