HI deedee,
I'm in the process of applying for a mortgage and have 2 approvals. I found the Ulsterbank adviser very good to deal with, he looked at my figures and gave me a good estimate of what he thought I would achieve before putting in the application formally. It might be worth your while to arrange a meeting with your local UB adviser and see what they say.
As it happened, I have got a better offer from another bank so probably wont be going down the UB route, but I did find there adviser to be very helpful.