Advice for first time buyer

[skywalkersweetie]

Hello
Desperate to buy our own place in a few months. Living with in-laws atm and partner doing a full time masters degree, so will be working full-time from September.
We have lots of savings for a deposit and good credit ratings.
Anything we can be doing in the meantime to improve our chances for a mortgage and ensure everything goes smoothly when we start looking?
Just looking for some optimism and positivity for the grand moving out

If at all possible try for a freehold property rather than a leasehold. Get a mortgage AIP before you start looking. Good luck.

Good luck! We have just recently bought our 1st house. I would use a good local mortgage advisor and get documents ready (payslips, deposit proof etc). Check solicitor, especially how busy they are, if possible. When we were buying our solicitor, very good one, was extremely busy so it was a bit difficult to speak to her. Another piece of advice, be careful if house you want to buy was left as part exchange and you are buying from a developer. This can be complicated.

It took us 6 months and lot of stress but it was ok in the end.

Yes defo look for freeholds when scrolling on Rightmove :)

Thank you! Will get organised and cracking early then. Don't want to waste any time!

Really interrogate your spending and cut out anything not necessary, make sure you don't have spending on anything related to gambling on your bank statements etc as they will go through any that need to be provided

Do your research on who will be doing any conveyancing (use a proper local solicitor not an online conveyancer) and who you want to use for any surveys etc, so you can move quickly

Make sure you know what needs to be done when, as some of it runs in parallel and you risk having avoidable delays and your vendor getting pissed off of you don't realise (hoa.org.uk really helped me with this)

Also get comfortable with what is a big deal when it comes to buying houses and what will just be the surveyor covering their arse (eg regulations around electrics change frequently so anything existing for a few years probably will be marked as an issue on the survey, but it isn't. Homeowners don't have to have gas safety certificates in the same way as landlords etc) you only need to look at the boards on here to see how much everyone HATES FTBs because they are nervous and ask for lots of unrealistic things

Take out insurance to cover costs if things fall through!

Maybe make sure you have a good credit rating? You can increase your credit rating by taking out a credit card and paying it off fully every month. If you don’t already do that it could be something to consider.
Make sure you have ID for example a passport each or utility bills in your names. Check online what sort of documents are accepted for bank/building society ID checks

Just to add that my daughter is a first time buyer. Fingers crossed she is exchanging today, which will be just less than 5 months on from when she made her offer.

Getting the mortgage offer was the easy bit. She was only just one month into her first job when she applied for it and has never had a credit card so I don't suppose she had a particularly good credit rating. However, like you she was lucky to have a big deposit. Whilst it makes sense to get the mortgage offer lined up in advance, it will probably expire after 6 months so it could be dangerous to do it too early.

I'd definitely agree with the advice to avoid a leasehold property if you can (was never going to be an option for my daughter because all she can afford is a one bedroom flat). Issues with the lease made life much more complicated and solicitors charge more for dealing with them.

Finally, don't underestimate how frustrating the whole process will be and check absolutely everything. Don't assume that your solicitors will spot or check things.

Good luck!

Average earnings to average house price ratio is at an all time high so you can expect house prices to fall significantly over the next 2 to 3 years (we probably won't see the bottom for another 5 years).

Therefore buy the cheapest freehold property that you will comfortable in for the next 5 years. Your mortgage cost will be minimised thereby making it look more affordable to the mortgage company. You'll have much more contingency for life's unexpected events. And finally, the surplus you save can be invested to purchase a much grander home at much cheaper prices in 5 years time.

Doh! House price to earning ratio - is at all time high - not what I said above.

Prepare for it to take much longer, and be much more frustrating that you expect.

DD has been looking for a year, after being pipped at the post by investors several times, she finally had an offer accepted on a flat, but the vendors pulled out seven months later on the day of exchange, so she's got to start again.