Buying your first home is one of the most exciting, exhilarating decisions and journeys you can take in life. We tend to think of bucket list entries as visits to exotic locations, skydiving, or meeting celebrities, but that is perhaps only because the real lifetime ‘musts’ such as having a child or getting a mortgage have been accomplished earlier in life.
Going From Renting To Buying
Let’s assume that you’ve reached that point where you’re ready to finally buy a home. The usual route in life is from renting to buying, and there is actually little financial difference in the month-to-month expenditure between the two once the house has been purchased.
From the moment you decide to purchase you must become brutal with your money discipline to make sure that you are ready to buy. Your credit history must be spotless, with no late payment of bills or violation of your limits. Any borrowing must be paid on time, and overpaid if possible to drive overall debts down. Unless some dramatic changes are made to the entire structure of borrowing and a new approach is taken to the housing crisis, only those who have good records will even stand a chance.
The trick is to maintain your finances while still putting enough aside to build an impressive deposit. The key number for mortgage seekers is the Loan to Value percentage (LTV), which describes how much of the mortgage will be loaned out by the lender. The lower the LTV and hence the lower the amount contributed by the lender, the better the interest rate one may receive.
How Much Can You Afford
It’s worth getting at least an idea of how much you may be able to afford before setting your heart on a house. Be realistic in your searches. City AM reported that the average first time buyer is paying £166,393 with an average deposit of £32,518, representing a rise of £138 a day from the year before. To many young people these are horrific figures, and could represent crushing disappointment. This article may help with assessing what you can afford.
So the advice is to be realistic, plan early, and try not to be too prescriptive when searching for options. Excluding an affordable home purely because there is no parking or because it is terraced is likely to screen out homes that actually could be ideal. That five-bedroom detached home might have to wait, but it will definitely be more achievable down the line once you’ve got some equity in the first home.
Remember Those Additional Costs
Underestimating the additional costs associated with buying a home is one of the most common mistakes made by the rookie. According to recent research the average move costs £5,000 more than the participants expected in 40% of cases; even renters overpaid by more than £3,000. We tend to see the headline figure of the cost of the home and ignore budgeting for the costs of estate agents, conveyancing, surveys, valuations and the other additional elements that make the process run smoothly.
The more you’re prepared and organised, the better the overall process should go. Know that you could be stressed and worried at times, and impatient and frustrated at others. Many brokers now issue each buyer with a portal allowing them to submit forms and costs electronically, and follow the process online.
For your part, keep tabs on this portal while also compiling a checklist of things that need to be done by you, and people/companies who need to be contacted, such as utility providers etc. it’s not easy but it is rewarding, and by the end you’ll be able to utter those magic words: “I own a home”.
Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank says
When we bought our first house, I and my wife considered that we had to have a budget that we’re willing to spend and needed to stick to. We didn’t want to go beyond the expected budget as it would have been more challenging to pay.
Correy Smith says
Would a home loan be the same compared to an auto loan? It reminds me of what my wife and I will be doing tomorrow. The both of us have decided about taking out a first time buyer loan for our first home.
Jason Strong says
My wife and I are first time home buyers and we have no idea what we are doing. This article not only has some great points on things we can do to make this happen the right way, but this also gave me some good insights on what conveyancing is. I’m grateful I found this and I feel much better about this whole thing.
Westly Smith says
My wife and I are at the point where we’re ready to buy our first home together. I like how you mention to be disciplined with your money. I’ve never owned my own house before and I know it’s going to be a struggle. Thanks for the tips, and I’m going to make sure I budget every month!
Herman says
Hii,
Indeed a great share buddy.
But one of the most important point that should be kept in mind while buying a new home is the “paper work”. Common people are mostly unaware about the required paper work.
So I would suggest to take help from a real estate agent or a professional regarding this.
Cheers.!!
Faylinn says
Currently, my husband and I are renting a home, but we would really like to buy our own pretty soon. However, my husband only makes 40K a year and I make 15K as I work part-time and so we are not sure how to calculate how much money that we will need to be earning in order to make this work out for us. We definitely couldn’t make a £32,518 deposit and so do you know how we could figure out what amount we could put towards a deposit and how expensive of a house we should be going for?
Silas Knight says
You have some great tips for first time home buyers. I have yet to buy my first home, so I’m sure these will come in handy sooner or later. It’s important to remember, and plan for, the additional costs that come with owning a home, like you said. That is one thing that my parents have taught me.