Buying our first home- perils and pitfalls ?

[apostle51]

Well, The time has come to finally start looking for our first house. Got a deposit on standy and awaiting an appointment on monday with a mortgage advisor whos a partner of a work collegue so thats a plus.
Being a first timer i'm completley ignorant of what i should be watchingnout for, any hidden costs or things i should be asking the advisor and estate agents. So if anyone has recently moved home then any advice on what to expect and ask would be gratefully recieved

[beeman]

The best tip is if you don`t understand anything ask and ask again until you do understand
2nd tip is spentd the next 10 to 15 years living like monks every single penny you get pay it off you mortgage and i mean every penny
you will save 10s of thousands of pounds in the long run and when you are mortgage free its fantastic and you will have no worries regarding money for the rest of your life and thats a lot longer than the few years paying off your mortgage

[Jen]

We get the keys to our first house on Friday - whatever you think you need in terms of moving money, double it! The mortgage adviser will provide you with financial illustrations of your mortgage and the interest you'll need to pay. The real costs, we've found, are the solicitors. They charge you for *everything*. The bank will also carry out their own survey of the property and charge you for the privilege. Ours cost £100 more than the full structural survey we commissioned (Miller Metcalfe, btw, £300 )! In the end, it's a lot like organising a wedding - you have to take a deep breath and be prepared to spend a whole bunch of money for formalities!

When looking for houses, prioritise whatever it is you want and how much you want to pay for it. Driveways, big kitchens, open plan, big garden, small garden, bedrooms, bathrooms, proximity to schools, transport, shops... And then forget it, cos you'll know the right house when you see it

Most of all, try and enjoy the process. We got very disheartened at times, and we had to up the budget, but it's totally worth it in the end

[lenny59]

If it means paying extra for a extensive survey of the property you are planning on buying then do it !

I'm in the construction industry and seen so many problems with houses AFTER people have bought them

But I will say this.......You will enjoy the experience of having your first home....Good luck

[djs]

Can't really offer any wise advice, it's much harder these days in so many ways.

The only house I regretted buying was a brand new house. It turned out that every last fitment and fitting (is that the expression) was cheap (well, cheaper than cheap) and, excluding the radiators, has all been replaced.

Mostly, I'd say that estate agents do quite a good job of pricing a house (I know, hard to believe I would say such a thing!) and although things tend to jump up and bite you, unexpected costs do even out over time. Just try and have a savings account somewhere to fall back on. I thought we were sorted with our first house until we needed to replace most of the windows and the roof, and then the boiler. I didn't have that sort of cash, so we took out an extra mortgage. That worked out fine until we moved and the mortgage company wanted to impose penalties for effectively paying the extra mortgage off. These lenders often try on all sorts of tricks....and it's only getting worse.

Watch out for fixed rate on small(er) mortgages. Watch out for tie-in periods, for example, if you are offered a discount, find out if you get a penalty for moving before that expires, even if you stick with same lender. Thankfully, our lender backed down.

[addict]

Lots of info on this website: www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/

The members there can be a little on the sceptical side which is no harm when you're making what will probably be the biggest purchase of your life. Good luck.

[Chrissie]

I've lost track of how many properties I've bought over the years (some to live in, others buy to let). I jointly bought the first one when I was 18 - it was so much easier back then.

I completely agree with Lenny, get a full survey done, but before you even splash the cash on that, try having a chat with the neighbours of the property you are interested in

[apostle51]

Thanks guys, like i say im completley in the dark about pretty much everything, been a mad past week googling about as much as i can but its always good to hear about peoples personal experiences.

[Chrissie]

Apostle, just ask about any issues/concerns you have. I'm a tad out of date on some of the current legislation, but still hope I can help

[Jen]

+1 on the neighbour talking thing, you can get an awful lot of useful info from them

[lenny59]

Even view the property at night....Park the car up and wait for 10 minutes.....You never know whats lurking on your street at night.

Building Regs are way over the top nowadays.....Thats the beauty of being in the EU I suppose.....Hmmm strange ...I'm sure there is something else about being in the EU that could affect our lives in the future........Let me get back to you on that one

[Morag]

As I'm in Scotland & it's a whole different ball game here I'll avoid giving advice except to say when we moved a couple of years ago I trawled moneysavingexpert site alot, you will come upon most scenarios on that site and a variety of opinions, I found it helpful.

Oh and most important it's going to be your new home so you need to be happy with it on that basis as well as an investment with refurb & running costs etc. Anyway I hope you find the perfect pad Good luck!

[Skwoddy]

Potential flood area is a big one nowadays, also worth doing a 10 year search as you might get a supermarket as a neighbour in 5 years, good advice above is to patrol the area at night for an hour. Obvious ones are how good is schooling in the area and what is the catchment area for a given school, areas for dogs are handy but not too close as youll be scraping dog poo for years. Its never too far to go to a supermarket nowadays but a local shop pays dividends for sundays etc, again not too close as they attract youths in evenings.

Mosst of all relax, youre paying other people to get stressed for you, all you need to do as your not in a chain is collect the keys. its the best thing youll ever buy.

Good Luck!

[Deleted]

My only advice is be sure to take out a life assurance policy , I'm so glad we did it has taken a lot of pressure off me in my current situation

[mully]

+ choose a good solicitor and don't be shy about badgering them if completion is taking longer than expected.