First time buyer in 2024

Brushes

Hi everyone I'm new here, I tried to look for an answer in the forum but didn't see much.

I'm planning to buy this year with the "lend a hand scheme/ family boost" from Halifax or lloyds I don't know much about mortgages I'm just starting to look really but my family will say they will lend.

Do first time buyers get good interest rates? Any tips for smooth sailing? I know stamp duty is exempt for first time buyers so that's a plus any other positives? 
Thanks 

Archerychick

Exciting!

Before I bought my first property I read the MSE first time buyers guide which gave me a good foundation of knowledge. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/first-time-mortgage/

From there once I had decided on the type of mortgage I did my own product research and applied directly without a broker.

Brushes

Thanks Archerychick!

lojo1000

Please don't borrow more than you can afford to repay.

amnblog

I imagine the Lender has that covered

Bigphil1474

We went for a fix at first - gave us piece of mind for the first 5 years. After that we went on to a tracker when rates were low which helped us pay off the mortgage much quicker.

Agree with Lojo - it's about borrowing what you can afford, not necessarily as much as the bank will lend - they aren't always the same thing. The good news is that as the years go by, that big mortgage payment you have will gradually seem to get much smaller. 

Brushes

lojo1000 said:

Please don't borrow more than you can afford to repay.

Hi    thanks for the advice, I think we are being quite sensible with the houses we are looking at. We are both in employment at the minute so that helps. 😊

HaveIt

Stamp duty is only exempt to a point (£250k I think?) after which it’s discounted to £625k. Beyond that you lose your FTB stamp duty relief. 

Other advice would be to prepare yourself for a little frustration and disappointment along the way. I don’t mean that to take the wind out of your sails at all - it’s just that it can be a bumpy road between finding a house you want and moving in, even if everything is as it should be. If you go in expecting hiccups you’ll be in a good place! My first purchase involved two houses we had offers accepted on, spent money on solicitors/searches/surveys, and then the sellers just changed their minds. Aargh!

Watch out for those costs of purchasing like conveyancing (solicitors) and surveying I just mentioned. Wise to budget about £3k for costs aside from the deposit and stamp duty. 

Once you come to exchange of contracts (when you legally become the owner but don’t yet move in) make sure you have insurance for the house you’re buying. In the very unlikely event of a problem, you’re the one legally responsible. 

Otherwise the only advice I’d have on the mortgage front is use a broker. They charge a fee (usually about £495) but it’s money well spent with a good broker. Someone local with good reviews is probably best. 

Good luck!

morgmonster

We bought our first house back in 2009 with a Lloyds lend a hand mortgage. Some of my parents' savings were used to bump us over a LTV boundary (think we had about 9% deposit and he added enough to get us to 15%). My dad was stoked as he got a great interest rate on his savings, much better than he would've got anywhere else at the time; and he was happy that he was able to help us out without having to give us a huge lump of cash or having us pay them back for years. We were lucky as value went up in the 5 years we lived there. he got his money back when we sold/remortgaged to a regular product, and we still had a lower LTV from the increase in value. He was actually so pleased he asked if we could do it again haha. We were obviously very lucky with our timing though in the end, although it felt depressing at the time trying to buy just after the credit crunch.