Buying your very first home is very exciting, but it can be a daunting process if you’ve never done it before, especially with so much money changing hands. Here, we give you a general guide on how to approach buying your first home.

How to Choose

First of all, you need to be sure of your budget so that you don’t waste time looking at houses that you will not be able to afford. It is possible to negotiate on price when buying a house but the chances of it reducing by more than £10,000 are slim. Your house is one of the most expensive things you’ll ever buy so it is important that you make an extremely sensible choice. When it comes to houses, location is the most important aspect to take into consideration, as it is the only thing you cannot change. You can renovate a home to increase its value, but there will always be a ceiling on what you can sell it for if it is not in a desirable area. This is why it’s important to initially search for homes by location, rather than by price. For example, by doing a Florence Home Search, you can find homes in that specific location, then you can filter these by price! If you don’t want a house that needs much work doing to it, make sure the layout is to your liking, so you only need to do cosmetic work.

Finances

Before you even begin to look, you need to make sure you can either afford to buy a house outright, otherwise known as being a cash buyer, or that you will be accepted for a mortgage. It’s best to shop around for mortgages to see how much of a deposit you will need. The more deposit you manage to raise, the less your monthly repayments will be or, depending on what you prefer, the sooner you will be able to pay off your mortgage. However, if you’re desperate to move, you may prefer to pay more monthly rather than continuing to save.

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Other than having an acceptable deposit amount, you need to make sure that you will be a safe bet for lenders. If you’re self-employed you will be able to provide tax returns to show the health of your company, and if you have any outstanding debts of any kind you need to make sure they are paid off, as those with a bad credit history will not be accepted. Do your research on the other costs involved with buying a house too, for example stamp duty, surveys cost, and estate agent and solicitor fees. Usually, estate agents can offer you reductions if you use solicitors they recommend. If you’re struggling to find the money, take a look at how GoBear could help you.

Putting in An Offer

When you finally find a house you love, put in a low offer to start off the negotiations. Be honest with your estate agent regarding what you can afford as they will be doing the negotiations for you. When you agree on a price, you will need to arrange your mortgage and choose your solicitor. Then you will need to pay for a survey to be carried out on the property. It can be tempting to avoid this step, but it is crucial in case there are hidden structural issues with the property, which could cause bigger problems for you further down the line. It might also lead to the price of the property being reduced further. Your solicitor will look after the legal changing of hands, before the sale is completed.  They may ask for your input on some final points for example if the sellers want to leave any furniture behind.

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As long as you are financially prepared, as well as having realistic expectations of what you can afford with your budget and the amount of work you may need to do to your new home, buying your first property can be very rewarding. For more property finance tips, take a look at bestfinance-blog.com.