Could someone talk me (slowly) through how you buy a house?

[Champagneforeveryone]

I'm 43 and mortified that I actually don't know this

Growing up mortgages were for "posh folk" and neither my school or parents taught me even the basics. I've rented happily and mostly successfully for years, always with a nagging doubt that I should make steps towards it. The past 9 years have been the happiest of my life in what (generally) is my dream house.

So the worst happened today and our landlord has given us notice, though he has given us till mid January which is at least a little breathing space. He's been really decent and I suspect that if we needed to stay a few weeks longer he would accommodate that, but that's obviously not certain.

I've been looking to make a move in the next couple of years as DS is off to uni, and realistically time is not on my side to get the best mortgage deals. However I'm thinking that perhaps now is the moment, and while we may have to hole up in a smaller than ideal house it will only be until September.

I've looked online and TBH I'm baffled by the amount of advice out there. So I basically need to know (and would be hugely grateful to anyone that can advise even generally)

• how long from first deciding to move until completion (we are free to move at any point between now and January)
• I am going to speak to a mortgage broker that a colleague highly recommended. Aside from his costs, what other costs am I likely to incur?
• how do I start???

Again I'm mortified not to know this and don't really have anyone to ask. I'm trying to be proactive rather than falling into a weeping heap so any advice would be greatly appreciated

So first thing we did was approach the bank. We filled in a mortgage application and we that gave us an idea of budget.
Once we had a budget we started looking. Once you find a house you like you can put it an offer. If another party is interested in the house they can put it a counteroffer.

Here in Ireland, you need a solicitor and an engineer. The solicitors handle the paperwork and you have to ask the engineer to have a walk through of the house and send you a report.

Based on that report you can either move forward with the sale or pull out. Should you pull out you get your deposit back.

Moving forward with a sale is pretty straightforward and involves transfer of funds.

The lawyer costs us around 2k and the engineer was 1k. Deposit is 10% of accepted offer.

Of you google Which. How to buy a house there’s a great step by step guide and video.
Good luck!

First of all, you will need some savings for a deposit. I’m in Ireland so here first time buyers need a 10% deposit in a lump sum and the amount you can borrow is 3.5 x times your salary. Also, all short term debts should be paid off. This is probably a bit different in the UK in terms of what multipliers are allowed. What price are houses in your area? What size house would you need? Will you be buying with a partner or by yourself?

You'll need a solicitor and will have to factor in their costs, stamp duty, cost of searches, cost of building survey etc.

The length of time between getting an offer accepted and completion can vary massively depending on your circumstances and if you're in a chain of buyers and sellers. But an average must be about 3 months?

We bought/ sold last year / this year. We accepted an offer on our house in October and moved out just after Christmas. Our offer on our new house was accepted in October but we agreed not to move in until April as she had no where else to go until then.

It cost us about £1500 for solicitor, about £1000 for survey, a few hundred for searches (your solicitor arranges these and they are local searches to ensure house isn't built on radiation/ rubbish/ will shortly be flattened for a motorway etc!). We had to have a septic tank report. Then cost if removals also.

Probably best to start with finding a good conveyancing solicitor who'll explain the process and give you an idea of most of the costs.

The biggest “expense” is the deposit, how much do you have and what proportion is that to the house price range you would be looking at?

That’s where I would be starting before anything else.

Next how much do you earn and when do you want to retire.

Once those figures are determined, the very helpful MNetters will tell you next steps and potential costs.

Offer to completion is a minimum of eight weeks but have heard of it taking much longer than that atm although that might slow down after Sept.
Budget also for a survey (different types, £300-1k), searches (c £100), solicitors fees (variable, c1k) and buildings insurance which is usually required by all banks.
Starr by looking at a mortgage in principle. You can get a mortgage in principle arranged online which gives you an idea of what you can get and shows vendors you're serious before the mortgage gets arranged.
Check, as soon as possible, your credit score on Experian or something similar so you have an idea of whether you'll access the best mortgage rates and if there are any mistakes on there as they can take months to sort out.
Good luck!

www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/buying-a-home-timeline/

Costs - www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-fees-stamp-duty/

Step by step in PDF form - www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-guide/

Thank you all

I'm afraid some of the questions I have no idea about TBH, that's my rest days sorted out!

I think we may be able to pull together £10k if we are extraordinarily inventive and live off baked beans

House prices are expensive but I am a first time buyer so should qualify for any help that brings. We need two beds but at a push could go to one bed and a box room. At this point I'm so desperate not to go through this again with another rental that my wish list is extremely modest.

I have a DH but for dull and boring reasons the mortgage will be solely in my name and using my income. My base salary is just under £25k but I actually bring home over £30k.

I have some credit card debt (£4K) but my credit score is good after a very bad period. I have worked hard to build it back up in preparation for a mortgage application, I just hoped I had a couple more years before I needed it.

Simple, impartial advice here to answer a lot of questions for you . You can do web chat as well. Not selling anything, it's a gov service. www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/homes/buying-a-home?source=mas#

Oh also, I had assumed that I would need to use a shared ownership scheme. While not ideal I'm also happy to consider this as an option going forward if the numbers don't stack up.

You would need about £2500 for lawyers and surveys, leaving you £7500 deposit. The most you could borrow would then be £68000 to make your deposit 10%. Is £75000 feasible for a property where you are? If not, you'll need to look at shared ownership. Have a look on some housing association websites and see what their options are.

Ok so based on your earnings you’ll be able to borrow c.£112,500 (banks normally lend maximum of 4.5 times income) so plus the £10k deposit that would give you a budget of £122,500.

However, the best deals are if you have a 10% deposit. Therefore, if you could find somewhere for £100k that would give you the best deals. You should speak to a mortgage broker to be sure. If may be possible to take out a 95% mortgage (to give you a bigger budget) but the interest rate will be higher when you pay the mortgage back.

Start looking with that budget and if you seen something you like you can go view.

Once you make an offer you instruct a solicitor, and you pay for surveys to make sure the place you are buying is ok.

Costs wise (approx)

Solicitors: £1500
Surveyor: £700
General search costs: £200
Moving costs (depending if you hire movers) £200 - £800
Stamp duty: you won’t pay with your budget and you won’t pay if you’re a first time buyer anyway.

Hope that helps :)

Your husband can be on the mortgage but his income not included in the affordability. If he doesn't go on the mortgage at all it will limit the amount of lenders who will offer a mortgage.

What is the average house prices in your area for a small 2 bed? Is £10k enough to cover the 5-10% deposit and solicitors fees.

You would be best to use a mortgage broker. London and Country are usually recommended.

I would start to save in a help to buy ISA, that will get you a 25% top up from the government, although you’ll need to have it open for at least a year, but sounds like you might need to save a bit longer anyway. I also recommend London and Country, they’re free and sort out the whole application process for you.

An independent mortgage broker will hold your hand through a lot of this - ours certainly did. He was brilliant and we still see him every few years when we change mortgage companies (to get the best deal). It’s definitely worth having one, ime!

Handholding is definitely what I need, even if I have to pay for it

You are more than able to get a hand holding broker without having to pay for the advice, i promise! I work for one and could name a handful more just in my town so there will be one near you I am certain of it.

Best of luck OP and i hope everything works out for you.

Definitely speak to a mortgage broker and go through everything with them. Ours helped us massively and we then had an idea of what our maximum budget for a house was. Then we viewed some, made an offer and went from there. MSE has a brilliant guide on the process that helped me make sense of it, I actually used their remortaging guide when we came to move as I had no idea how to sell one house and buy another but we managed it! From offering on a house to moving in was three months both times I've bought which I would say is good going.

You made it sound so easy carolina

I have emailed the broker my colleague recommended and am waiting to hear back. My wonderful DM has also offered money towards the deposit so I feel slightly better placed than I did yesterday

We’ve never paid a fee to our broker - some mortgage companies pay their fees in return for them organising things. An honest broker will tell you about how this works and get you the best deal taking their fees into account.

If you want to get a quick idea of what you could borrow, most of the major lenders have an online tool that you can use. This does not commit you to anything or go on your credit rating- just gives an idea of what they might lend (subject to checks on income/credit check etc). I found this really useful to get an idea of budget before looking any further. As well as income, what you can borrow will depend on how long you want to repay over. You've not stated your age but it's trickier to get a lending period that would end after you are 65 (eg. if you were 48 you'd find it harder to get a 25 year mortgage, but could borrow more over 20 years than over 15).

I know some people who swear by their mortgage brokers but I would caution against using one connected to an estate agent. I'm sure they are not all like this, but those I have encountered have been very pushy and one tried to make me believe that I would mess up my credit rating and not be able to buy anywhere if I didn't use a broker- I didn't and found a much better deal myself. I would also look online at the deals being offered by various lenders to get an idea of how anything the broker suggests compares.

In terms of timing, we recently moved and it took 4 months from putting in an offer to moving in. There were 3 people in the chain- it's probably quicker if you are chain free.

Just one thing to consider. If you are going for shared ownership I assume the house will be fairly new. Make sure you clearly understand what you are getting into in terms of leasehold vs freehold. Freehold is better but newer properties or flat are dominated by leaseholds. If it was built in last 12 months they aren’t allowed to sell leasehold on houses without a very good reason, BUT many new builds come with management fees and covenants restricted what you can do. Basically developers are trying to squeeze as much money out of you on an annual basis as possible even after you think you’ve bought your own home outright,
Read the small print, ask questions, and get yourself online to understand how leasehold, freehold, management fees etc works.

I have just bought my own home by myself for the first time after divorce. I agree that the Which guides and MSE are great for getting information and understanding the process. I got through it but it is a pretty silly market and process right now. I did sale and purchase in 11 weeks, BUT, I had to literally push the solicitor every few days and chase up and down the chain (and we had a short chain with cash buyers), right now I think nearer 4 months is more common , but quicker if you don’t have a chain (e.g. you buy new build as first time buyer)

I really wouldn't be paying a fee for a mortgage broker. Ours was amazing and we didn't pay him a penny. They get their payment from the lenders directly.

I'd seriously look into finding a different one, this isn't a service you have to pay for and my the sounds of it you need to save every penny you have. It's in their best interest to find you the best deal.

Just an idea of the figures from my house purchase 2 years ago (first time buyers)

We bought for £144,000. Put down a 5% deposit of £7,200 and our monthly payments were about £637.

We had a help to buy isa (now called a lifetime isa) if I were you I'd open one ASAP and put the full amount in as the first payment. Then keep topping it up every month until you move. The government will give you 25% of what you save in it and you can use it toward your deposit or solicitors fees etc.

The government gave us an additional £2,500 which paid our solicitors fees and the surveys we had done.

My mind is absolutely buzzing

I've spoken to the mortgage broker, gone into work on my day off to get pay slips (because I'm an idiot who never thought to email them to myself when I was in) and completed all the applications for a shared ownership property that was released yesterday.

I've no idea if we're in with a chance but at this point I'm too tired to worry much. I've also packed two boxes which I reckon is a pretty good start