When Ben & I made the decision to move in together, we very briefly looked at possibly buying, but after some research we realised that firstly we needed quite a bit of money for the deposit etc & the mortgage rates then were pretty high too! We decided on renting and have been living in our first home since 2011. Buying is something we definitely want to do in the future, for the purpose of it actually being ours, doing it up and hopefully making a bit of money when we decide to sell on!After doing some research online recently we found some things that can really help, we are newbie’s to it all so didn’t even know where to start! Whether you’re seriously looking at getting one now or just want to know more about it for the future, these tips should help get you in the right direction! Firstly start off old school, get pen and paper and write down how much money you both have in savings/assets etc & also if you’ve come from renting remember you should get a good amount of money from your deposit too, so don’t forget to include that! Figure out how much you can afford and have a good browse and nosy at the properties in your area!
(source)
Next use a mortgage calculator; simply fill in the details about how many applicants there are, the annual income of both parties & monthly outgoings! This will really help to give you estimation in how much you can borrow. You’ll then be able to look further into house viewings and if you can push your budget up or if you need to lower it! When you’ve found your house online or maybe you just want to use it as an example, have a search for quotes, choose what type of mortgage you are after, i.e. fixed rate, meaning to simply guarantee your mortgage payment over a set period, regardless of what the interest rates do, or tracker rate, meaning the mortgage rate is guaranteedto move with UKbase rates, research both of these thoroughly to determine which is right for you! Enter how much you are borrowing & for how long, you want to pay the mortgage over, whether it’s 10 years or 25 etc.
(source)
It can be daunting at first, after all it’s about your future and your money! But it doesn’t have to be stressful, take it slow, work everything out properly, speak to friends, family and even experts, pop into some estate agents and get some advice on what to do too! You can never have to much information! At the moment mortgages are actually at the lowest price in 14 years, the market tends to go up and down so my advie is to work out everytrhimh in advance (just as a draft as things change..) so when there is a drop, you have some estimated figures!
