Your first home starts here
You have never done this before. That is the normal case, not the awkward one, and most of what people have told you is out of date.
Buying your first home is the largest financial decision most people ever make, and almost nobody explains it properly beforehand. The two questions everyone actually arrives with are whether they will be accepted and what it is going to cost. We answer both in the first conversation, before you have committed to anything.
A small deposit, a missed payment a few years ago, a short time in your job, or income that varies month to month are all normal. They change which lenders will look at you, and they are rarely the thing that stops an application on its own.
The things people are too embarrassed to ring up and ask
I have only got a 5% deposit.
Some lenders work from 5%, and there are guarantor arrangements below that. A smaller deposit narrows which lenders will look at you and generally costs more each month, but it is not the wall people assume it is. It is worth knowing what changes at 5, 10 and 15 percent before you decide how long to keep saving.
I missed a couple of payments a while back.
Age matters far more than size. Something from three or four years ago is treated very differently from something from last month, and lenders differ enormously in what they will look past. Tell us before anyone applies, because a declined application leaves a mark that makes the next one harder.
I have only been in this job a few months.
Plenty of lenders will consider you inside a probation period, particularly where you have moved within the same field. A few want twelve months. This is one of the clearest examples of the same facts getting opposite answers depending on where they are sent.
My income changes month to month.
Commission, bonus, overtime, zero hours and self-employment are all assessable. What varies is how much of it counts and how long a history a lender wants to see. Some take an average, some take the lowest year, some ignore parts of it entirely.
Will asking damage my credit file?
No. A conversation with us involves no credit search at all. Only a formal application does, and we would not put one in anywhere until we already expected it to be accepted.
What buying actually costs, beyond the deposit
The deposit is the number everyone saves for. These are the ones that catch people out, usually about three weeks in. We would rather you knew the full picture early.
- Solicitor or conveyancerPaid to your solicitor. Some of it up front, the rest on completion.Roughly fixed, varies by firm
- SearchesLocal authority, water, drainage and environmental checks on the property.Set by the local council
- SurveyYour choice of level. The lender's valuation is for the lender, not for you.You control this one
- Stamp dutyFirst-time buyer relief applies below a threshold. Check the current figure, it moves.Scales with the price
- Lender arrangement feeSometimes payable up front, sometimes added to the loan, sometimes nothing.Depends on the product
- Removals and the first monthThe van, the deposit on utilities, and the things the last owner took with them.Always more than expected
We are not putting invented figures against these, because the honest answer is that they depend on your property, your solicitor and where you are buying. We give you the real numbers for your purchase in the first conversation.
What we actually do for you
- Work out what you can genuinely borrow
- Not the number a comparison site guesses at. Lenders assess income in materially different ways, and the gap between the most and least generous on the same salary can be tens of thousands of pounds.
- Deposits and government schemes
- How much you actually need, what changes at each threshold, and which schemes you may be eligible for. Some lenders work from 5%, and there are guarantor arrangements beyond that.
- Handle the paperwork and the lender
- The application, the documents, the chasing, the surveyor. You get told what is happening without having to ask for an update.
- One person, start to finish
- You deal with the same adviser from the first conversation to the day you get the keys, rather than a case reference and whoever picks up the phone.
Let's find out where you stand.
One conversation, no cost, and no obligation to go any further. We will tell you honestly what is possible before you commit to anything.