A Brief Guide To Buying Your First Home

Buying your first home is one of the biggest decisions that you will ever make. It is also one of the most exciting, but the scale of the venture means there are many things to be taken into consideration. This is a brief guide to help ensure you have everything covered.

The first place to start is working out how much you have to spend. You can make an appointment with a financial advisor to assist. Buying your first home can be daunting, however if you start off by working out how much you can afford this will help. There are different ways of working out this 'affordability' as it is known, but typically it is calculated as three-and-a-half times the main earner's income plus one times the second earner's income. Other considerations such as the size of the deposit you can afford and your credit history will also affect the outcome.

It would also be a good idea to sit down and make a full list of bills to be paid after you have moved in; you will have house insurance and life insurance to consider as well as the usual utilities. Generally you will have gas, electricity, water rates, television licence and council tax to pay regularly, so these must be added to any other monthly payments you make, such as car finance. Once you have established how much you can afford and how much deposit you have then you are set to move on to the next step.

Finding the perfect first home will require a great deal of consideration. You have so many choices; new build or old? Do you want to renovate? Location is also important, as is space. How many bedrooms do you need? Would you prefer a garden or is a flat adequate for now? The fact that maintenance needs will be kept to a minimum is a big factor in favour of a new home. Once you have located your perfect home, make an appointment to see it. All houses for sale require a home information pack to be available. This includes information about title deeds, local authority searches and energy assessments. Next, make an offer. You should start at a lower point and add 1,000 to the offer at a time until you reach an agreement.

You must now find a mortgage, so shop around for the best deal. At this point you will need a solicitor who will complete the deal for you. There will also be a survey carried out to ensure the house has no major defects. If you purchase a new home you will not need a full building survey.
After the contracts have been exchanged via the solicitor both parties are committed to the deal and approximately two weeks later it will be your completion date when you will receive the keys to your new home and you can move in.