How to Buy Your First Home

Buying your first home will offer up a mixed bag of feelings from being nervous, excited, overwhelmed, and even scared. With a little thought and preparation, you can navigate your way through the process and find yourself a dream home, the next phase of your future.

A few things to consider before you start looking at property include:

Can you afford the property?
How to apply for a mortgage and do you need a mortgage broker?
How much money do you need to buy your first home?

Do your sums and figure out if you are able to purchase a property, how are you going to buy? How much deposit do you need, what percentage will you need to borrow? Are you ready for the financial lifelong commitment? These questions may fall into the overwhelming stage, but they are important questions to help establish how much you can spend on a property without stretching yourself to thin. Find out how much you can borrow based on your financial state, there are online mortgage calculators that can help or speak to a mortgage broker, some brokers will let you apply for a mortgage in principle to give you an idea how much you might be able to borrow.

When you want to apply for a mortgage the bank or building society can help, they will ask for a lot of info such as your salary, amount of savings, how many dependents, outgoings, your credit score, how long you want to borrow the money for. Again, all very overwhelming but a necessary step to secure a mortgage, you could also involve a mortgage broker who might be able to save you time and money as they have access to home loans that might not be advertised to you.

Buying a home is not cheap! When borrowing money, you also need to consider extra costs such as broker fees, a homebuyer survey, stamp duty, conveyancing fees, building insurance, valuation fees, and of course removal costs. Make sure that you budget for these extra costs so as not to make things tough on yourself from the very beginning.

When you feel confident that you are ready to buy and can afford it you need to think about the type of home you want. Make a list of priorities, how many bedrooms, do you want to be near shops or a park, should the community have amenities, be near schools? Be realistic with your wish list, there’s no point dreaming of a waterfront property if you can’t afford it! Also be willing to compromise on certain things because it might not be possible to tick every box on your list.

Exciting times will follow when you start looking at potential homes, ask lots of questions; how long has it been on the market? How many offers have you had? What renovations have already been done? How old are the appliances, boiler etc.? The more you know the better prepared you are to make an offer.

If/when you finally decide to make an offer do your research! Look at similar properties in the area and see how much they sold for. Consider how much you want to offer, if you don’t have any competition you might want to start at a lower offer to grab yourself a bargain, don’t forget you can always go back with a counteroffer if the first is refused. If you have a competitor, then you need to consider just how much you want the house and are you willing and able to pay the purchase price.

If your offer is accepted, then congratulations you have just agreed to purchase your new home. The relevant surveys will need to be completed and a deposit paid. Solicitors will swap signed contracts and a deposit will need to be paid, this ensures that the property will not be sold to anyone else as contracts are legally binding. The final step of the process is completion when the remaining balance of money will be transferred, and you will receive your keys. Hoorah! You are now on the property ladder and the proud owner of your very first home.