First time buyers, unsure on what to do.

Pyro.

Hi MSE,

My partner and i are currently tenants privately renting. We are desperate to move on now and start putting our money towards our own home. We are currently searching and viewing properties.

I am in the Forces and hoping to snap up the Armed forces help to buy scheme (up to 50% annual wage towards a first buy)

My parter has £7,000 saved which she will transfer to me to pay some of the above payment off.

The problem we have is we do not know the right procedure? We've spoken to sales/letting agent and spoke about possible what mortgages we could get but that was about it.
Do we need to find a mortgage first then put offers in for houses? or can we carry on viewing and then go for the talk about mortgages?

The army help to buy scheme cannot be applied without providing solictors details.. something we do not have yet as we thought that was not needed until further on.

Any clear steps/advice/pointers would be greatly appreciated. We just do not feel we are doing it the right way at the moment?

Neverending_Story

Apply to the lenders for a decision in principle, THEN look at houses once you know how much they will actually lend you. Once you find one, let the lender know and they'll do a full credit score and mortgage offer.

Neverending_Story

...and don't forget that £7k won't go far once you have paid stamp duty, solicitors fees, removals costs and so forth. Unless you have some savings as well I would say wait a while.

Pyro.

So speak to whichever lender first to get a principle then we can look?
Does that mean we need to make our mind up on who we're going to lend from first? We still do not know who to use for a mortgage as many people have told us to pay for a mortgage advisor whilst others say just look on comparison sites.

As for fee's and what not, I'm hoping to pay the 10% deposit and use the 7K for all of the above.

marksoton

Pyro. wrote: »

So speak to whichever lender first to get a principle then we can look?
Does that mean we need to make our mind up on who we're going to lend from first? We still do not know who to use for a mortgage as many people have told us to pay for a mortgage advisor whilst others say just look on comparison sites.

As for fee's and what not, I'm hoping to pay the 10% deposit and use the 7K for all of the above.

I'd suggest you use a broker who deals in this sort of help to buy, they'll know which lenders will be best.

Just to clarify, where's the 10% deposit coming from?

Pyro.

The army help to buy. (FHTB scheme) would be the deposit.

As for a broker, does a housing/letting agent have individual brokers as we have been asked many of times to speak to them about mortgages?

Is it worth paying for one?

marksoton

Pyro. wrote: »

The army help to buy. (FHTB scheme) would be the deposit.

As for a broker, does a housing/letting agent have individual brokers as we have been asked many of times to speak to them about mortgages?

Is it worth paying for one?

NO,NO,NO!

Do not use agents services (mortgage or legal). You need a fully independent broker. And yes,if you choose a good one it will be worth paying for. How they charge varies.

You'll also want your own independent solicitor/conveyancer.

p00hsticks

Pyro. wrote: »

The problem we have is we do not know the right procedure?

Pyro. wrote: »

Any clear steps/advice/pointers would be greatly appreciated. We just do not feel we are doing it the right way at the moment?

My advice...

Google 'buying a house in the UK' and you will get links to a number of online guldes from the likes of Which, Nationwide etc...

Read them - if you can, print them off and read them, or borrow a book from the library or buy one from a bookshop. Don't rely on just one, but read them all to get a balanced and complete view. And read them again.

When you arrange a mortgage, or engage a solicitor / conveyancer, chances are they will also give you a load of background paperwork. Read it all. Carefully.

And make notes, and ask (the estate agent, the mortgage company, your solicitor, on this board) if there are still things you aren't sure of.

You will find it invaluable to familiarise yourself with exactly what's involved in the housebuying process, Buying a house is probably the most expensive decision you make in your life (apart perhaps from having kids) and is pretty stressful. The more you know about the process, the better prepared you will be.

and good luck!

tlc678910

It might be worth your first move being speaking to the army help to buy people and asking if they have a list of lenders you can use with this scheme. It's possible not all lenders accept it.

Can the help to by people recommend a list of brokers also?