How do I go about buying a house?

[Chattycathydoll]

I’ve had a windfall, unexpected inheritance and want to start making plans to make my dream of buying a house come true. However I have no experience of the practicalities & no family to ask.

I have a salary of £25kpa with good promotion prospects- I know multiple people at this firm who started out on basic salary for my role £23k, and have risen to £45k after 5-10 years depending on skill set. I inherited £40k which I have set aside as a deposit and am adding to it where I can.

I am a single mum in my late 20s with a primary aged DD, can’t move area until she is an adult, can’t afford to buy in current area. I’d prefer to live somewhere relatively rural, north wales or similar quiet and scenic place would be lovely, and I’m not particularly limited by work as my job can be done basically anywhere in the UK.

Is it feasible to one day buy a house like this? If so, how would you go about it, what steps would you put into place? What are some costs I won’t know about, as I come from a background where no one owned their own home?

The first step is to speak to a mortgage advisor who would give you an idea of affordability based on your income and outgoings and how much of a deposit you have. Once you know what sort of property price is comfortable, you can start looking for properties to see whether you can get what you want for that price and even if you're not in a position to buy just yet, go and view some properties as your priorities will change as you become familiar with different layouts and what you like or don't like. I'm not sure of rules for first time buyers but normal costs to consider are stamp duty, solicitors, building and contents insurance, moving costs and always have some money behind you for unexpected repairs and things you want to do to the house yourself.

I would speak to a mortgage advisor, if you’re needing to stay in the same area for quite a long time could you look at a shared ownership property in your current area?

A mortgage advisor would be a good starting point to understand how much you could borrow. London & Country have always been very helpful.

Rightmove will give you an idea of the type of houses available within your preferred area and budget.

If you don’t already, keep a budget and track income and expenditure so you have a good idea of your monthly outgoings. Also make sure you’re getting your credit rating into the best possible place - pay off any debts, transfer to 0% cards etc.

It would also be worth looking into a first time buyer Lifetime ISA - www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-isas/ as you can get up to £1000/yr from
the government towards your deposit.

You could potentially get a mortgage up to about £110k on your salary, however that doesn’t take into account the ‘affordability’ check, if you have fixed outgoings such as childcare, car, debts this will lower the borrowing amount.

You’ll need to factor in legal fees, most solicitors have calculators where you input house value, freehold, leasehold etc that’ll give you an idea in their costs.

You’ll need to include, life and buildings insurance (don’t go through your mortgage broker!) unless you look around at comparables first.

Moving costs maybe?

If your daughter is in primary and you don't have family, I'd be tempted to move to somewhere cheaper now! That way you'll be halfway through the mortgage by the time she's an adult. Plus much more secure than renting.

I've rented all my life and no family have bought, except my parents briefly owned their council flat but I don't count that as it was practically given to them and they sold it and spent all the money in a few years!

We finally will be in a position to buy in a couple of years and DCs will all be teens, we will have to relocate us all in order to buy what we need for that stage (4 bedrooms!) and it's going to be difficult, but can't wait until they all leave home as the point of buying is to give them stability and the option to live at home while they save a deposit (an option DH and I never had).

@RagzRebooted I’d like to move now but can’t realistically move anywhere affordable due to custody agreement with her Dad- plus the area is really good for schools, primary and secondary.

Sounds like we have similar family- congrats on changing your own circumstances & giving your kids a different experience, that’s amazing!

@Hotandbothereds ooh- I was led to believe shared ownership was a scam. Is it actually as good as it seems? There are shared ownership properties in our area!!

Not a scam but a bit more complicated and various things to be taken into consideration.

Also add cost of stamp duty, if the house you end up buying is over £125,000.

There's lots of simple guides to buying houses online. Building societies will have them, also basic money guidance websites.

@Awakened22 wow- lifetime isa looks super helpful.

Ok- will book myself an appointment with a mortgage advisor. I thought you couldn’t do that until you were in a position to buy- no idea why I thought it was somehow ‘not allowed’!

Gosh. I’m starting to get really excited that buying my own house might be on the cards someday, that’s probably really lame 😅

Not lame at all

With £40k find the nearest place to you with 2/3 beds around £160k and get a buy to let.

unless you have to claim benefits as having this income will impact UC etc

Stamp duty only kicks in at £300k for first time buyers :)

First of all well done on the planning and groundwork you’re putting in! I was hopping on to say why not move now but see you have barriers to that.

Would getting a mortgage on a small property somewhere else that you can rent out be an option?

I really don’t feel confident in being a landlord- I’ve had so many issues with dodgy ones and difficult agencies and finally landed in a property with a good one myself, I don’t want to be somebody else’s dodgy landlord and don’t feel competent enough to be a good one.

But, omg- I’m going to have to read up on help to buy. There’s a 2 bed house for £116k a couple of miles away on help to buy. I could afford that, soon!!! My lease runs out in 18 months, I think I’ll speak to a mortgage advisor and see if I can get things in place by then. If it looks like I can, I can go onto a rolling contract and then not have a break clause.

Which brings up another ignorant question. How long does it take to actually buy a house? Like all the contracts and stuff? 😅

It depends really, but can be as fast as three months from putting in an offer, or longer if there is a chain. Be sure to get your own independent surveyors report if not buying a new build. Congratulations :)

It can be just a few weeks but that's increasingly rare I think.