Tidylife

Interior & Lifestyle

  • Home
  • Shopping
    • My Directory
  • About
    • Work With Me
  • Home Inspiration
    • Kitchens
    • Bathrooms
    • Bedroom
    • Flooring
    • Furniture
    • Home Office
    • Lighting
  • Home Improvements
    • Furniture Makeovers
    • DIY
  • Lifestyle
    • Beauty
    • Cars & Motoring
    • Eco
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Finance
    • Fitness/Running
    • House Plants
    • Kids stuff
    • Money Saving
  • Home Maintenance
  • Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Lifestyle · September 29, 2019

Top Tips For First Time Buyers In London

Buying your first home is an incredible, exciting milestone. Finding the property, getting a mortgage and jumping all the hurdles of paperwork can present some challenges though. Buying in London can be even more difficult. Prices are high in the capital and the competition for affordable homes can be fierce. If you’re a first time buyer with your heart set on London, follow this guide to help you find your dream home. 

living in London
Image – free for commercial use

Start Saving

Prices in London are always higher than elsewhere in the country, so you’re going to need some serious savings behind you for your housing deposit. If you don’t have one already, open a Help To Buy ISA. This government scheme for first time buyers is about to be scrapped, but you can still open one until November 30th. With this ISA, you can get up to £3000 from the government on top of your own savings. 

Get your ducks in a row with your finances, so you’re ready. Check your credit scores, set a budget and deal with anything that might put off a mortgage lender. 

Consider A Property Finder

A property finder is like an insider contact. They can use their network to find new properties on the market and get you in first to see them, which can help you secure a lower price. Once you’ve found a property you like, they can help you to negotiate too. 

If you can, visit some estate agent’s offices in person to see what properties they have that would suit you. You can spend some time with an agent this way, who will get a better idea of what sort of property you’re looking for. You’ll be top of their list if something suitable lands on their books. 

Do Your Research Into Mortgages

There are many mortgages out there, and they won’t all suit you. Do plenty of research to find the best deal for you. Make sure you understand about interest rates, borrowing periods, fees and exit penalties. Do your homework and work out what kind of mortgage will suit you. From there, play with some mortgage calculators to find what sort of deal you might get. Visit a mortgage broker who can help make sense of it all and get some idea of where to go next. 

The mortgage loan is for everyone, individual or professional borrower, as long as you own at least one property. Then, its operating methods are similar to those of a traditional loan: the lending institution establishes an amount, a duration and a schedule of amortization. A mortgage loan can be at a fixed or variable rate, flexible, repaid early, long or short term. The amount granted is proportional to the net value of the mortgaged property (itself determined by an expert). You can calculate your mortgage by using a professional service, such as a mortgage loan calculator. This way you can work out a budget. 

When you buy a home, you will first need to be able to pay off the monthly mortgage payments. Popular wisdom says that monthly payment amount cannot exceed 1/3 of your monthly income. However, it is a little more complicated than that, hence the interest in calculating your budget. Start by making an inventory of your expenses, if you are not used to doing so. How much do you spend each month at the supermarket, at the restaurant, how much is your car loan repayment, how much is your telephone bill, the price of your insurance. Be as generous as possible. Your current rent will not be included, of course, as it will be replaced by the loan repayment. You can do the opposite, by checking whether the savings you were able to accumulate as a tenant are much greater than the difference between the future monthly payment and the amount of your old rent.

Be Ready To Negotiate

Look at properties a little under your maximum budget. If you find somewhere that you love, you’ll have some room to offer a higher price to force out other buyers. On the opposite end of the scale, don’t be afraid to look at properties a little over your budget too. If you have all your paperwork and a mortgage offer lined up and are ready to move quickly, you might find a seller will take a lower offer if they can get a faster sale. 

Be open to viewing a property that you might usually have considered. Trust your agent to send you properties that will suit you, so if they suggest a flat when you were thinking of buying a house, go and see it anyway. You never know; it might be the one. 

Featured post

© Copyright 2019 Antonia, All rights Reserved. Written For: Tidylife

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Posted By: Antonia · In: Lifestyle

Everything You Need to Know About the 10-Step Korean Skincare Routine
Modernizing A Period Home – 3 Things You Should Know

You’ll Also Love

Improve health and wellbeing with a standing desk from Varidesk
Marriage Trends Over the Years
7 Tips for Maximizing the Efficiency of Your Home Office

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Primary Sidebar

Hello! I'M ANTONIA I launched Tidylife to provide interior, garden & lifestyle inspiration. Love home decor and budget friendly improvements? Me too! You'll find them all here. Plus decorating, styling & upcycling ideas. I also love to share fitness, fashion & beauty features, so I hope you enjoy visiting Tidylife.

Subscribe to my newsletter

Name

Email


Copyright © 2025 Tidylife · Theme by 17th Avenue

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept All Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT