Tips for a first time buyer

claire738

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a house in late 2008. I've not researched anything much yet, i just know this is when i want to buy. In hindsight, what do you wish that you had known/done/realised when you were first buying a house?

Thanks,

Claire

firesidemaid

know your area and visit it at different times of the day and night.

really look at all the nooks and crannies of the house, behind things inside things etc etc - it took until my third property purchase to get this right!

don't fall in love with a property - if you're in no rush, make cheeky offers and maybe one will get accepted. start lower than you would imagine....

PoorDave

Location, location, location. It really is vital!

Look on upmystreet to get an idea of the area you're moving to, if you don't know it from your own experience.

Buy with a deposit - you get better rates, and are more protected from losing your house if interest rates rocket, althought you stand to lose the deposit money.

The market generally values things about right, so if you find a place in your budget that comes with a garage and an extra bedroom for the same price as those without, something is "worse" about it somewhere!

Ask lots of "stupid" question when you view "where's the boiler?" etc. Saves you finding things are "a bit weird" after spending a lot of cash - beware the curse of strange DIY!

wymondham

buy as big a place as you can reasonably afford to avoid having to move again for as long as possible....

helping_hubby

In hindsight...I wished my hubby had admitted his debts to me prior to putting an offer in on a house. Then I would have helped him sort out his finances before applying and getting a mortgage would have been far less stressful.

So my tip is to make sure your on top of your finances and pay everything on time etc to the months leading up to the application.

JillD_2

with regard to the mortgage I wish I hadnt taken amortgage with a big early redemption penalty. Two times in a row I solda house after a couple of years,unexpectedly. The first time was because my then husband and I moved from Scotland to England for work, the second time was that the then husband and I split upo and sold the property. Both times because we were redeeming/paying back the mortgage before a certain amout of time, 3 or 5 years or so, we had to pay something like 6 times a months payment which worked out about £3000 each time. so essentially we lost £6000 because of this. Truly truly gutting.

Since you know a way in advance of when you are going to be buying, I would spend loads of time researching your chosen area, look at other properties to see what you can afford and get to know what you can expect within your budget.

trets77

buy as big a place as you can reasonably afford to avoid having to move again for as long as possible....

i disagree with this statement up to a point.

Location Location Location is the most important thing in your choice, however you are unlikely to afford the last house ( or biggest) you will buy in your number one location.

it is envitable that you will comprise on some part of your purchase. bad location - big house or Small impractical house - great location.

the answer lies somewhere between the two. big houses that are cheap are cheap for a reason. and vice versa with expensive houses.try to get a reasonable house in a pretty good area and sit tight and get some equity behind you is my advice. nobody except the very rich or very low of society buys their last house on their first purchase. hence the The propery ladder

the thing i wish i had done the most with my first house was pay for my own house buyers survey. Your Building society will make you pay for it's valuation survey however this is of little benefit to you , it only benefits your lender ( even though you will pay for it , nice isn't it ) . dig deep and get your own survey for your protection. anything it finds you can then be sent back to seller and negotiated of your agreed price. also you will know what you are buying , the things i found after i purchased my first house that needed sorting really made me regret not getting my own survey.



Good areas tend to increase in price much better than Bad. making them even more desirable and increase even faster. Bad areas can come up ( espically now) but there is no guarantee. good areas very rarely become bad areas without exceptional circumsatnces.

ailuro2

Save up as big a deposit you can get which means you may get a better interest rate on your mortgage because of the lower LTV (loan to value ratio)

Don't just go to your local branch oand ask what mortgages they can give you- we did because we are from a generation who saw their parents go cap in hand to the bank to ask for a loan.
Shop around, read Martin's articles:money:

Get savvy before you buy, keep old property papers-the free ones advertising houses- so you can remember what was for sale and look it up in ourproperty.co.uk to see how much it sold for- that will give you an idea when putting in offers of what is realistic.

maka_2

Try and talk to the neighbours we bought are first house bout 12 months ago and the first night we stayed there the guy beside us had his music on so loud, after speaking to a few people on the road they said he does it all the time.
No one ever said anything to him because he was a fairly big and aggresive chap. But like my old man use to say to me yes maka you are big but there is always someone bigger. Lets just say this time i was that someone bigger. and he no longer lives near us.
In fact its very nice now at the back of us is a shared access bit and all the kids just run from one house to another playing with each other
all im trying to say is check day and nite dont ask the vender what the neighbours are like he he will say they are fine.

ifstar

Try not to judge places on how they currently look when you walk in. I know it is said that you will know within the first 30 seconds whether you like a place or not but try and give it some serious thought before making your mind up.

When I walked into the viewing of my flat for the first time I could have walked straight back out. The place didn't look like it had been lived in for years, everything needed painted, new carpets etc. After a couple of mins walking about I was able to see past that and could tell that a little bit of work would make the place look amazing. When I moved in, I had a week overlap between my rented flat and my new flat so in this time I ripped up all the carpets and painted the whole house so by the time I moved in, it was exactly the way I wanted it. It's pretty unlikely that a place will be decorated exactly the way you want anyway, so it's sometimes better if it is a blank canvas.

If a place needs some serious work, then fair enough but if it is just needing some painting and decorating and a bit of a clean out then don't write it off, especially when it is your first house as you may be either getting the place cheaper than you would get it if it was all finished nicely or you may be getting somewhere that is a bit bigger than you would otherwise be able to afford.

looneyleo

My biggest tip to you would be to buy in the best location that you can but don't over-stretch yourself. When considering your mortgage, always think about how your finances could be in the future (good and bad). When we bought our house and remortgaged to renovate we never anticipated how much having a family would cost us a few years down the line! 2 kids and working part-time really plays havoc with your salary and it has meant that we are really stretched with the mortgage. Don't get me wrong, we are comfortable, but it is tighter than I would like and we're just hoping the interest rates don't go up too high!!! Anyway, good luck in your house purchasing and have fun choosing!