First time buyer thread

[SecondhandTable]

Any other FTB hopefuls about? DH and I have just started looking as we just realised we actually have enough to put down a 10 per cent deposit on houses in our area. We've both been off work this week so had our first few viewings which was strangely fun, felt very grown-up but in future I am either going to have to do viewings alone whilst DH is at work or we will have to take toddler with us on weekends, neither of which is ideal...! Any other FTBs want to chat as we go through this potentially looooong process?

Yes me! Although prices have increased so much where I am,and there isn't much suitable on the market, so I'm not very hopeful which is annoying after saving for so long

Yes! Though longer down the line, waiting for local authority search, the report back from the survey, queries etc.
The learning curve is steep

Sorry to hear that @Camandmitch . I know 95% mortgages are making a come back but still doesn't help with the inflation from stamp duty craze

Yes we’re FTBs. We’ve put an offer on a house but they’ve had lots of offers so it’s going to go to best and final offers in the next week which is nerve wracking. We’re hoping being FTBs puts us in a good position but recognise we’re likely to be outbid.

I'll join! FTB here too, we put an offer in on the first house we saw 2 weeks ago but it went to best and final offers and we missed out!
We're viewing a house this Saturday too, I have zero clue about most things but it's all so exciting

We have seen our first few properties over yesterday and today, two ended up needing loads of work before they'd be livable, which isn't an option for us as we will be spending virtually all our savings on the deposit. We made an offer on one today about 30 mins after we viewed it but a much lower offer as the EA disclosed significant work that needed doing to it (damp issues and roof) which caused the first buyer to drop out. EA told us they'd already had a higher offer and so didn't seem interested in us haha. It is a very desirable area but the work easily could have cost £15k and the asking price was that of houses that don't need any work in that street. Won't increase the offer as it's not worth it and we couldn't afford more for repairs anyway. The market here is cut throat, it's a v desirable area, prices have risen ridiculously in the last 2/3 years and houses frequently are viewed for one day and then under offer. So many houses we ring up about have already had offers accepted on them. Like PP we are anticipating this taking awhile but we are not in a huge rush to move. Although I am pregnant so if we can't get sorted in time we will have to park for it a bit I guess.

Best of luck to people with outstanding offers!

I’ll join.

FTB, buying as the sole applicant but BF will probably live with me.

Offer accepted two weeks ago, I think.
Solicitor instructed and money on account paid, need to take my original docs in tomorrow for be copied and return my paperwork pack.

Used L&C broker, got knocked back for a 10% deals credit score just “good” and not “excellent”. So have had to come up with another £10k or thereabouts as 15% AIP was agreed. Mortgage application has gone in to Accord but haven’t provided all my docs yet as need to wait for another proof of address to come through the post, so just waiting for that and then I’ll have submitted everything.

I will probably use the lenders surveyor as it’s only £170 to upgrade their free valuation to a homebuyers.

House is a 3 bed detached 1930’s house, needs a bit of TLC but not a full reno. Will need a new kitchen fairly soon after move in, but everything else is just decor and things like adding extra sockets and new front and back doors. Potential for a loft conversion, a side extension over the garage, and I’ve a five year plan to knock the kitchen and huge dining room through into one big kitchen diner. It could be a house for life if we do the extensions and things!

@QueenOfPain

I’ll join.

FTB, buying as the sole applicant but BF will probably live with me.

Offer accepted two weeks ago, I think.
Solicitor instructed and money on account paid, need to take my original docs in tomorrow for be copied and return my paperwork pack.

Used L&C broker, got knocked back for a 10% deals credit score just “good” and not “excellent”. So have had to come up with another £10k or thereabouts as 15% AIP was agreed. Mortgage application has gone in to Accord but haven’t provided all my docs yet as need to wait for another proof of address to come through the post, so just waiting for that and then I’ll have submitted everything.

I will probably use the lenders surveyor as it’s only £170 to upgrade their free valuation to a homebuyers.

House is a 3 bed detached 1930’s house, needs a bit of TLC but not a full reno. Will need a new kitchen fairly soon after move in, but everything else is just decor and things like adding extra sockets and new front and back doors. Potential for a loft conversion, a side extension over the garage, and I’ve a five year plan to knock the kitchen and huge dining room through into one big kitchen diner. It could be a house for life if we do the extensions and things!

We've used L&C to get an AIP too based on word of mouth recommendations however one local EA has insisted they won't accept this as they apparently have a high number of these fall through later and we need to get another AIP with their broker?! Has anyone heard of this before? We are concerned about this affecting our credit ratings if we get loads of AIPs but the broker said that it won't?!

Sounds exciting about the house!

I've just been reading MSE's guide of tips for when you view houses and I haven't been doing half of them! Do you guys open and close all the doors, windows, cupboards, ask about when the property was last rewired, ask about age of boiler etc? The thing is, the houses we've viewed, the people showing us round never knew the answers to any of our questions anyway

@SecondhandTable they can do hard checks on credit which does affect your score. Whilst I cannot speak for L&C, an estate agent would only allow me to visit a house if I spoke to their MA first as a part of a sellers tactic. I had the 20 min phone call where they asked basic things like deposit etc (but weirdly enough not salary) and just kept repeating I have a broker already. They did not complete a credit check and I made it clear that they did not have permission to get an AIP/DIP for me. It was very much a ruse to get my business. Not sure if this is a part of their game. I am 80% sure they can refuse your viewing if you have an AIP and also as a vendor I would be unhappy to hear that my EA was turning people away....

What I will say is that my small, independent, family recommended mortgage broker was and is a life saver. Super patient and informative as a first time buyer, especially in the initial phases where I wasn't sure what the steps where or who does what. You MA/broker and solicitor are so so important (Solicitor more so). So shop around, find recommendations and don't go for the easiest option.

@QueenOfPain your house sounds lovely (I love a 1930s) with lots of potential.

If anyone is stuck, I have found the home owners association website (and money supermarket) really useful:
hoa.org.uk/services/ask-an-expert-2/ask-an-expert-i-am-buying-questions/do-i-need-a-mortgage-agreement-in-principle-or-can-it-damage-my-credit-rating/
www.moneysupermarket.com/money-made-easy/sealing-the-deal-a-step-by-step-guide-to-getting-from-offer-to-completion/

*they can't refuse your viewing

Apologies my spelling is atrocious over the phone!

And no I did not check doors/windows because I am socially awkward and felt very weird in someone else's house! But don't judge those that do. If you get a decent survey, it will pick up the larger issues.

So I had two AIP’s in place before I started viewings, one with Halifax and one with HSBC for more borrowing. I also had brief chats with two small brokers before ultimately making an enquiry with L&C and deciding to go with them, I hope that proves to be the right choice. I guess I could have pursued the mortgage application with one of the lenders I’d had an AIP from, but I was scared to do that in case it wasn’t the best option and the ultimate hard credit check failed. Some of the smaller independent brokers although “whole of market” can’t do the application for you for some of the bigger lenders and they often have criteria about how many brokers have to work for the firm. HSBC for example will only work with brokers who have three mortgage advisers working for them. So if one of those comes out as your best option, you’re back on your own for the full application, and the broker can’t claim any fee.

AIP’s only leave soft footprints on your credit score and don’t impact it whatsoever in my experience so far!

None of the EA’s forced me to get mortgage advice from them, it’s been offered, but I just declined and said I already had a broker. When I called to request viewings they asked me what my position was and I just explained I was a FTB with an AIP in place, living in rented. I made enquiries with several local agents who were happy with that.

I viewed three properties before putting an offer in on the one I’m buying. I enquired about several others which sold so quickly I never even got chance to view them.

Once I had my offer accepted and notification of sale through, I booked a further viewing. The EA said she would just unlock the house and then sit and do her paperwork in the car while we did what we needed to do in the house. Obvs only possible because the property is empty.

I took my stepdad with me who is a surveyor and we spent 45 minutes there.
He went up in the loft to look anything of note up there and made his way round having a look at things that would be pertinent from a surveyors point of view and I went and made videos of every room, paying attention to sockets, faults and the types of wall coverings/ceiling texture, light fittings, and the windows (there are some UPVC units that have blown) as I went round.

I filmed the kitchen, opening every drawer and cupboard and took measurements (so I could start planning the new kitchen and rough costs) and tried to be as detailed and methodical as possible.

I did all this so I could start writing myself a plan for each room and the priority of jobs that need doing once I move in.

I will probably book to view again in the next few weeks, just so I can be clear on what rubbish I need my solicitor to ask the vendor to get removed before completion. There’s a massive rotten Wendy house and a shed in the back garden and lots of other general shite, as well as horrid old wardrobes (not fitted) in the back bedroom and junk (old Xmas trees and cardboard boxes) in the loft and garage. Might seem a bit arsey but it’s probably two skips worth of stuff and two days labour for two people (if not more) in sorting it all.

Thanks for that info. DH had an appt the other day with a broker linked to an EA that told us they wouldn't accept the L&C AIP. He is independent and whole of market and said he'd do a soft search first that won't impact our credit scores so we just need to send him some more docs first so he can proceed.

We viewed a house yesterday but a planning portal search revealed one of the neighbours (terraced) is a 7 bed student HMO so that put us straight off. We knew someone had withdrawn an offer on it and the EA called us today to chase it up. I feel sorry for the vendors as theyre a young family that spent loads of money doing up the house and only moved in about 2 years ago, approx 1 year before the planning permission was approved. I suspect this is the reason they are trying to move, I really feel for them. My greatest house buying fear is having horrific neighbours especially noise as I'm autistic and hypersensitive to noise.

Definitely get the vendor to get rid of all that crap, I wouldn't want to be doing that either, I don't blame you.

I just had an offer on a house accepted at the weekend. The EA asked me who my solicitor is and I don't even have one. I need to sort that out today and then go to a mortgage advisor. I do have a Santander AIP but I am sure I can get a better deal as I just filled in a from online for that one and it was approved right away as I bank with them already.

I'll join.

Not a FTB but parent on one so going through the same thing and this thread might be useful and happy to share DDs position.

Seen a few houses now, saw one Saturday and out in an offer for full asking price as nothing for sale round here at the moment in any decent areas.

3 offers were made and it's now gone to full and final offers today.

DD has good deposit and MIP. Offered just over, although I think the property is already overpriced.

let's see what happens.

FTB here. We've just been through the mortgage process & thankfully were accepted, we're now waiting to exchange.

We are buying a new build, when we put in our offer we were told the house would be ready for April, more recently we were told it could be August & we'll get 2 weeks notice. I've started packing a few non essentials, I don't want to pack the whole house too soon but 2 weeks notice seems such a short amount of time to pack up 11 years worth of things.

Good luck to you all.

Can I join
I'm buying a house with my family's help
I'm not excited, I'm scared
I'm doing it so that I hopeful will have security
But I'm scared

Hi 👋

I'm scared too Purple and we are only just looking at houses at the moment! We have three viewings this weekend and one next week which I will have to do alone whilst DH is at work. Two of them are only affordable if they will take less than the asking price though so we will probably lose those to higher offers even if we wanted them but worth a punt.

Two weeks sounds very little time Princess! Is there any way you can push for them to give more notice? Even if it's not a definit date but an informal 'its likely to be roughly a month from now' and then a proper two week date later? I would love a new build but we want to buy in a very restrictive local area due to schools and the only new builds here are executive homes that start at roughly double our budget hah.

@purpleme12

Can I join I'm buying a house with my family's help I'm not excited, I'm scared I'm doing it so that I hopeful will have security But I'm scared

Me too. When I got my offer accepted I wanted to say no I don't want it anymore but I know it's only because I'm scared about the massive amount of money and commitment to paying it.

@SecondhandTable I'm hoping once we've exchanged we'll get a firmer date. We've got a baby too so I'd ideally like enough time to be able to pack in between looking after her 🤞🏽

I got my mortgage offer today! I’m so happy!

Unfortunately missed out on upgrading the mortgage valuation to a homebuyers survey (for £170) due to dithering so now need to fork out £585 to an independent surveyor but it’s not the end of the world.

My vendor hasn’t returned his paperwork to the solicitor yet so there’s no contract pack ready, so my solicitor can’t do a lot, can’t even start searches or do they say. The EA called me with the update about the vendors paperwork so I called my solicitor to give them that update so that she didn’t waste her time (and my money) chasing it herself, hahah.

God, I’m so relieved that the mortgage offer has come through. I was so worried they were going to be like “nice try, but we see you only stopped your ridiculous Amazon prime habit in December so you can’t be trusted with a mortgage”. Hahaha. Phew!!!

We’re planning on buying later on in the year so this thread is great. Hoping to start viewings soon to get a better idea of what we want and what we can get for our budget

Congratulations @QueenOfPain!

Fellow FTB here, just started looking at houses. Have seen one I like but it's two doors down from a HMO with students so unsure if it's a complete no-go (I'm a stupidly light sleeper) What are everyone's thoughts?

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling scared
Thank you for sharing x

Congratulations @QueenOfPain, it's a huge relief when you get that offer isn't it

@Hijabihouse

Congratulations *@QueenOfPain*!

Fellow FTB here, just started looking at houses. Have seen one I like but it's two doors down from a HMO with students so unsure if it's a complete no-go (I'm a stupidly light sleeper) What are everyone's thoughts?

We are having this issue, it's mad how many modest houses round here are now flats and HMOs. Like you I'm a super light sleeper. Is there a garden? I'd imagine noise two doors down wouldn't travel really unless there's an outdoor space they can use for parties? We are going to look at one soon that has a huge HMO a few houses down but opposite as well. But discounted one that had a 7 bed HMO right next door and also discounted a whole street where loads of the houses are flats and HMOs, mainly because parking would likely be awful there!

Congrats Queen!