First time buyers help.

[ThatAgileMintBiscuit]

Hello all 👋

Just wondering if anyone has any advice or wise words please.

Me and Husband are first-time buyers in our mid-30s with two DDs together (16 and 9). Household income is around £180k and we’re looking to buy at about the £500k mark, with a 10% deposit. We should massively benefit from paying very little stamp duty as first-time buyers, which feels like a big plus.

We’re based in Greater Manchester, so in theory we should be able to get a decent 3-bed for that money, but we’ve literally only started looking this week and honestly feel a bit like we don’t know what we’re doing 🙈

One thing I’m really unsure about is how you know whether a house is priced fairly or is over-valued? Everything looks lovely online and it’s hard to know what’s realistic.

Are there any first-time buyer tips, pitfalls to avoid, or things we should be doing early on that we might not even be aware of yet? Any advice we could benefit from would be really appreciated.

View lots of properties. On paper things you aren’t sure about and ones you are. The more you view the more you will define what’s important to you and the more you will get a feel for “what the right price is”.
Trust your instinct and hold your nerve.

Household income around £180,000 ? And you're asking for advice ?!

Where in Greater Manchester are you looking? Because I’m in Greater Manchester and with a £500k income and only wanting 3 beds, there will be TONS of options.

In terms of knowing whether it’s fairly valued, when you instruct a survey, the house is valued and your mortgage company will confirm whether the house is correctly priced.

@Tortephant Thank you. we will bear this in mind. I guess we only thought about viewing properties that we really liked the look of but maybe it’s a good idea to look and get a feel for things - a wild card perhaps.

@joeninetey yes asking for advice. I’m Not sure what household income has to do with it. There’s Always lots of helpful advice on Mumsnet.

There’s a lot of information online re properties. If you’re looking on Rightmove, you can see (down the page) what the house previously sold for and also what other houses nearby sold for. Obviously houses in an area can differ hugely in terms of size, layout, decor, fittings etc etc but at least you can see what might compare with the one you’re looking at. On Zoopla, there’s more information about when a house was first put on the market and at what price, when it was reduced etc and sometimes photos from earlier marketing. There’s also information about extension potential and the energy performance certificate.

One crucial factor is the fact that many local authorities are being pushed to provide space for housing development now, so be careful if you’re looking at somewhere with green space nearby. Don’t assume it’ll stay green. You can look at the local planning authority website and see what’s earmarked for development and what planning permissions have been granted in the area.

In addition to the house itself, pay attention to the road its on, how much traffic passes along there, parking restrictions, schools nearby, catchment area (since you have school age children), if it’s near a flight path or railway line. There are lots of things to consider but you’ll gradually whittle it down to a number of must-haves and must-not-haves.

I think to be fair they do need advice. With a combined income of £180k and only a 10% deposit they are possibly not very financially savy. No offence op, but a minimum deposit like that leaves you quite exposed to market shifts - and recent news suggests the shifts might be downward. You don't want to end up in negative equity. If your current living situation is tolerable could you not spend 12 months adding another 100k to that deposit ? The added bonus being that the homes your looking at may also be cheaper by that time ?

My thoughts exactly!!

Can you get any more deposit? I bought a house at 520k last year, Greater Manchester also. I wouldn't have wanted to own below 20% of the house on purchase due to uncertainty in market and also interest rates. If you use more of your deposit and less mortgage what value house are you looking at? That also depends on where in Greater Manchester too as £400k could still get a decent 3 bed or 4 bed in many areas East of the city,

Ftb things to consider. Conveyancing can take 4months plus, dont expect an unrealistic turnaround
Get a survey if house is over 10 years old
Consider whats around the house, if other houses any planning being sought or if fields-same

Thanks @whattodoforthebest2. Thats a really comprehensive list. I will start looking at that for every property. I was looking on Rightmove but looks like Zoopla.

Thanks for the heads up with the deposit amount @DrySherry and @BonnieWeeLass99. our thought process was to get on the property ladder asap. Especially given our age. we could afford to save approx £50,000 a year. We are looking in the Tameside area. So maybe it’s best to save for a year or two longer.

We definitely need to become more financially savvy. It’s a New Years solution.

Start by adding the Area360 add-in for RM. That will power up your search and let you quickly skip past risky places such as flooding, noise and crime.

Now use houseprices.io to see what properties in that postcode / area are worth if their previous sale price had increased with inflation/ You'll also see whether properties are selling for less (red) or not keeping up (yellow). Now you better understand the local market.

The Area Profile button on the Area360 data will reveal the long term trends for property in that locale, plus loads of other useful data.

YOu could dabble in my old thread in case it helps.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4935470-tools-for-house-buyers

My preference is to shorten mortgage terms to 10/15/20 years. You don't have to accept 25/30/35 years as standard. You can save a ton of interest that way and quickly build up equity.

Don't neglect your pensions! Money invested now is worth 2/3/4 times the amount invested 10/20/30 years later