Buying your first home is an exciting yet daunting prospect.
You’ve finally saved up enough for a deposit, and you’re ready to get a mortgage and start house hunting. But it’s taken you a long time to reach this place, and you don’t want to mess it up now.
Spending more than you need to on your first home would be a disaster, so you have to be careful. It might be an expensive thing to do, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t save money.
There are several things you can do to ensure you stick to a budget.
Compare Services
At every stage of the house buying process, you need to remember to shop around. Don’t just take the first offer you get when you could find a better deal elsewhere. This goes for everything from mortgages to solicitors and estate agents.
When you’re looking for a mortgage, you might panic a little and be tempted to take any offer you’re given. But it’s unlikely that there’s only one lender who will approve your mortgage.
Take your time and compare everything before you accept. Get quotes from solicitors, surveyors, and other professionals before working with them.
Don’t Always Accept the Maximum Loan
You’ve probably set a budget for yourself based on the size of your deposit. When you’re shopping for a mortgage, keep in mind that some lenders may offer you more than that amount.
You might decide that you want to take out a larger mortgage and look for a more expensive property. But much of the time it’s better to stick to your original plan.
You don’t want to end up with a mortgage that you can’t really afford to pay. Perhaps you can make the installments each month, but it could leave you with few savings or money for other things.
Buy New
Sometimes you might think you’re getting a good deal on a property, but then you spend a long time doing it up. If you buy a home that needs some work, it can be difficult to estimate how much you’ll spend on it in the coming years.
One of the alternative options is to look at new build homes for sale. If you buy a newly-built home, you can be reasonably sure you won’t be doing any major repairs anytime soon.
Everything will be recently installed and built to last, so there’s no danger of the house coming down around your ears.
Check Everything
Whether you’re buying a new home or an older one, it’s important to check everything is in working order. Having a surveyor perform a survey is just one of the things you should do.
Don’t forget to check the Energy Performance Certificate to see how energy-efficient the property is. You need to make sure that you’re not going to be spending even more money once you’ve moved in.
Ideally, you can move in without having to spend a lot on repairs or decorating.
There’s no getting away from the fact that buying a home is expensive. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to save money if you want to.
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