I have recently purchased my first home, and whilst this is an exciting achievement, the process can be very daunting for a first-time buyer. There are so many things to know and think about that you will have never encountered before such as mortgages, solicitors, finances, how to offer on a property etc. so here are five key pointers to help aid first-time buyers with preparing to purchase their first home.

LISA

Lifetime Individual Saving Account (LISA) is an amazing way of saving for your deposit. It is a type of ISA where the government will give you a contribution of 25% of your savings. This is an incredible return and all you need to do is open a LISA account and transfer your savings into it.

There is a limit of £4,000 that can be saved each tax year, but this means you can receive a maximum of £1,000 per annum contribution from the government. I had my LISA for 3 years prior to me purchasing my first home so I managed to receive £3,000 of contributions.

Research the local housing market

Once you have started saving in your LISA, it would be beneficial to research the housing market in the area you are looking to purchase to get an idea of house prices for the type of property you want and to see what type of property you may be able to afford. The simplest way of doing this is looking at Rightmove to see what properties are available in your price range. It is also a good idea to look at the sold subject to contract properties as this will show you what has been agreed recently in the area.

When you have a more detailed knowledge of the property market, you will have a better understanding of property prices and whether, in your opinion, a property is worth what it is on the market for. It is worth looking at which properties have been on the market the longest amount of time as this indicates there is most likely a reason they haven’t sold, usually because they are overpriced, so you may be able to get a lower offer accepted.

It can also be beneficial to contact the local estate agents as if you have a good relationship with them, they may tell you about properties they have coming onto the market and possibly even allow you to view before it goes onto the market. This is how I secured my property and it worked really well as there were a lot of people interested, but they went with my offer as I was the first person to view.

Budget your bills

Now you are looking at properties you may be interested in offering on, it is important to work out a budget for the bills you will be taking on when you have your property. This will be at a minimum: gas and electric, water, council tax and your mortgage. You may also have things like TV license or other bills you may need to consider. It is so important to work out what these costs will amount to, to ensure you are able to afford these with your income.

 Rightmove provides a mortgage repayment calculator which is found at the bottom of every listing. This is a great tool to give you an idea of how much your mortgage might be.

Mortgage broker

It can be really beneficial to be working with a mortgage broker as they often have access to lots more products than the general public so will most likely be able to offer you a better deal. Also, they often get their fee from the mortgage provider so you may not have to pay them a fee. They will do everything to get your mortgage for you so this takes a massive aspect from you which is so helpful and takes a big portion out of your hands.

Spread the cost of purchasing items

I found it way easier to start purchasing items I would need right from when I knew I wanted to purchase my house so that I didn’t end up having to spend lots of money all in one go when I moved in. Therefore, I would recommend either regularly saving into a separate bank account to use for purchasing items or start by buying smaller items you will need and storing these until you move.

Also, companies that sell bigger items like furniture or appliances usually offer an interest free credit agreement so it is worth checking this to see if this could help spread the cost.

I hope those pointers help and good luck with purchasing your first home! Thanks for reading.