If you’ve decided to take the plunge and invest in your first house, the whole process can seem daunting at first. However taking the steps towards home ownership can be an enjoyable experience. And as always, there are certain tips and tricks to make the whole experience much more stress-free. Here’s our top tips for making the whole process easier.
Save, save, save
Saving a good deposit is the best way to secure the home of your dreams and ensure your mortgage payments are as small as possible going forward. The minimum most mortgages ask for is a 10 percent deposit. So if you’re buying a house at £150,000, you’ll need £15,000 to put down. However saving as much money as possible will enable you to go a little higher on offers if need be to secure your dream home, while increasing your deposit to 15 or even 20 percent will get you better deals when it comes to finding a mortgage. Not only will this reduce your monthly payments, but it will also cut down on the amount of interest you pay back to the lender.
On top of this, you’ll also need to factor in solicitors’ fees, stamp duty (for houses over £125,000), insurance and surveys, as well as moving costs and all those trips to Ikea!
Consider all your options
If you’ve looked into buying your first home already, you’ve probably already heard about the Government schemes to help first time buyers get their first step onto the property ladder. There are several home ownership schemes available from the Government, however these can vary between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Looking into these can open up a whole host of new doors and potentially enable you to find your dream home that you once thought was out of reach.
Find a mortgage
Tracker, fixed fee, interest only; there’s many different mortgage deals out there to choose from, and selecting the right one for you can be tricky. Which you decide to go with depends entirely on your individual circumstances, so it’s a good idea to do some research and talk to experts. Independent mortgage brokers are a good place to start, as many offer an initial consultation for free. But if you decide to let them do all the hard work for you, it will cost around £300-£500 – depending on your area.
Get a budget together
The idea of owning your own home can seem like a wonderful idea on the outside, but the realities can be very different. And if you’ve never lived on your own or in rented property, you can soon find yourself out of your depth when it comes to bills and payments. Writing down all of your incomings and potential outgoings will help you to see how much money you will have left at the end of each month and make sure you can afford to buy the house. After all, the last thing you want is to realise you can’t actually afford to live there once you’ve moved in.
Of course there are lots of other things to consider when buying a house for the first time, but these are our top tips. Do you have any for first time buyers looking to step onto the property ladder for the first time?
