A progress diary from a FTB

olbigead

Hello all,

I've used MSE a lot for advice and thought I would give a bit back! I notice a lot of threads come from FTBs asking for advice so hopefully an insight into my experience may help. I'll provide an insight into what we bought, or mortgage and also updates on how the purchase is going. It may not be of interest to anyone but hopeful it may act as a guide to others and also help people learn from our mistakes (touch wood there won't be too many!!)

About us:
Married: 28yrs old and 29 yrs old. First Time Buyers
Joint Income: app £55k

Current living arrangements:
I am lucky to have rent a cheap flat associated with work so will be in no chain

Deposit - 10%

Mortgage:
We went with NatWest 5.99% fixed for 5 years. £0 product fee. The maximum loan they will give is £150k, we sneaked in just under this. Yes - this rate is high in comparison to trackers etc, but it's quite good for a FTB and also we wanted the security of knowing what we will be paying.

Property we're buying:
3 Bed terraced (mid) - built circa 1985

olbigead

22nd July - First Viewing
probably 8th house we've looked at. Liked it on first impressions. Did the usual checks. Came away feeling more conifdent than we had with other properties. Talked it over with the wife and weighed up pros and cons

23 July
arranged a second viewing but put in a conditional offer app 10% below asking price (subject to second viewing and works to be completed on the house). Offer accepted

24 July
Rushed down to NatWest to sort out the mortgage - this where the fun begins!! In theory, it went well - usual stuff required to set up the application. We spoke to an advisor (but not mortgage advisor) in branch and because we wanted to move quickly to secure the product, they put us on the phone to their mortgage department. Phone call took about 30mins in all! We went armed with payslips, bank statements, passports

27 July
Bank want more certified docs. Driving licence, marriage cert. Trip to town during lunch

30 July
Solicitor found - we went for value. They are not located near us but made big financial savings. Slight concern here about the distance, will see how this progresses

3 - 7 August
Quite a quiet week which was un-nerving for a FTB. I assumed that there was just 'behind the scenes' stuff going on. I did touch base with the solicitors twice to keep my mind at rest

13 August
Not heard much from the bank - so chased them up - they were wanting MORE ID but didn't decide to tell me! So another trip to the bank (May have been worth sending as much as you can the first time round? Pre-empting their request?)

14 August
Solicitor informs me that they have the draft contract from the sellors solicitor. Good news is HIP is quite recent so will reduce the amount of searches needed (which will result in a saving!)

18 August
Mortgage approved subject to survey! Finally!!!

19 August
Touch base with Estate Agent (EA) to make sure they're happy. They expect surveyor to go in late this week early next.

olbigead

That's us up to date - I will add more as things pop up and progress. Hope some fellow FTBers find it useful!

amalis

thx a lot! it is very interesting for me and i will be waitign for updates

waltermitty_2

Thanks for the reports, its always good to hear other peoples stories Hope it is plain sailing for you.

olbigead

20 August
Note to self - "don't have your heart set on a move in date before you enter this process." I've now realised that it is good to have a target date, but don't make it the be-all-and-end-all if it doesn't work out to plan. I've had my heart set on a move in date of mid-september (for various reasons) but this is cutting it fine. Handcuffing myself to this date might mean I rush things which is the worst thing that I could do as a FTB. I 've got to accept that it's more important that things are done properly, and if the survey highlights anything then it will need to be investigated in full. I'm guessing that once that's all ironed out, then I can bug my solicitor and EA into speeding things up!

As there is no chain either way, I also thinking about exchange and complete on the same day. There are some useful threads about this practice on the MSE forums outlining the pros and cons.

olbigead

21 August
Notification received from EA that Surveyors would be in on Monday. I decided to make contact with the surveyors (we are paying them so they are acting on our behalf as well as the lenders!). I knew I would be telling them what they knew already, but as a FTB - I wanted to be extra sure; so i highlighted a couple of specific areas of concern to ask him to take an extra look at. The reply received was very amiable so fingers crossed it will all go smoothly!

homehunter

Hi,
Oo, we are a bit similar, though you are a bit ahead of us now! Work is getting in the way of finalising the mortgage stuff! Anyway...

FTBs, joint inc £59k ish
Offer accepted on 3 bed detached
Putitng down just over 20% deposit
Applied for a Natwest 5.69% 5 yr fix, agreed in principle and taking the docs for certification tomorrow first thing, then posting all the paperwork ourselves to reach mortgage centre ASAP next week. (would love to have done this earlier this week, but we can;t be out of work in the day to do it :rolleyes:)
Solicitor all sorted, waiting for our paperwork and initial payment.
Just comparing buildings and contents, and life insurance - should be able to get better quotes elsewhere rather than going with Natwest...

gemstars

homehunter wrote: »

Just comparing buildings and contents, and life insurance - should be able to get better quotes elsewhere rather than going with Natwest...

Definately!

I've just bought our home insurance (buildings and contents) for just under £170 for the year, the best Natwest could do to match this like for like was £568 :eek:

olbigead

I've just bought our home insurance (buildings and contents) for just under £170 for the year

Can I ask where you got this deal from?

We're not sure what to go for with life assurance: whether to go for level term and if we should include critical illness. I understand the pros and cons for each, but the critical illness cover easily triples the premium.

olbigead

agreed in principle and taking the docs for certification tomorrow first thing

homehunter - If you find out that the Mortgage center want even more documents than you send in originally (which we experience a few times!) then you can always take the copies into your NatWest branch to get certified then they can fax it straight to the mortgage center. Just make sure they note your mortgage reference number on the docs.