Steps to Take When You’re Planning On Buying a House

Hello World!  Welcome Friends!  One of the biggest financial steps that any of us make during our lives is buying a house. Sure, we all need a roof over our heads. But properties don’t tend to come cheap and chances are you’re going to spend a large proportion of your life income paying this off. So, you’re going to want to make sure that you get the best property available the first time around when you decide to take a step onto the property ladder. At the same time, you’re going to want to save as much money as possible in the process. So, to help you along the way, here are a few different things you can do to secure the home of your dreams!

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Save a Deposit

The first step that you’re going to have to take in order to secure a mortgage is to save a deposit. Now, there are all sorts of mortgages out there that have different requirements when it comes to deposits. There’s everything from a zero percent deposit to a 5% deposit mortgage or a 10% deposit mortgages out there. These tend to be the most common types. But remember you can always save more towards the final cost of your home to make buying easier in the long run. If you take the time to save up a larger deposit, you’ll likely be able to significantly reduce the cost of your monthly payments going forward. You’ll have essentially cleared a larger chunk of the cost of the house and reduce pressure in regards to how much you have to deduct from your monthly income in the future. Now, saving any sort of deposit may seem difficult, or even impossible. But there are so many different steps that you can take to achieve this. A key is to cut the cost of day to day spending in your life. When your energy contracts or insurance contracts are renewing, make sure to use price comparison sites to check you’ve got the best deal on the market. This can go for anything from electric to gas, life insurance, contents insurance or car insurance. You can cut costs like grocery shopping by opting for unbranded products rather than branded household names. Often, people can’t even tell the difference with a taste test, so this is a really simple saving to make on a weekly basis. If you don’t use much data in your home, try cutting out the cost of WiFi and connect to your phone’s data hotspot instead. This completely cuts a bill out of your monthly budget. Whatever money you manage to save can be added to a savings account for your mortgage.

Find a Good Savings Account

Having a good savings account is key to saving your deposit as quickly as possible. Firstly, having a separate account for this money makes it a lot less likely that you’ll dip into the funds than if they were in your bank account. On top of this, there are many savings accounts out there with impressive interest rates. In short, the provider will give you a set percentage of money that’s in the account when you leave it in there for an extended period of time. This means that you can make money towards your deposit while simply saving for it. Consult a reliable financial advisor to find the right account for your needs!

Find the Lowest Interest Rate Mortgage Possible

Very few people pay for a house outright. After all, this is a huge amount of money. Paying mortgage installments is much easier, makes the purchase much more feasible and also ensures that you can live in the property while you’re paying for it, rather than paying rent and trying to save at the same time. But remember, this service that mortgage brokers provide isn’t free. Sure, if you’re approved they’ll give you the money to pay for your house. But they’ll add interest onto your repayments to earn something from the transaction themselves. So, you’re going to want to find the lowest interest rate possible in order to reduce the costs of buying the house for yourself. Make sure to take a look around before applying for any given mortgage. Different lenders will have different rates. Many will also price match, so if you have your heart set on a specific lender for some reason, shopping around could still help you to secure a better interest rate.

Choosing a House

When you’re spending so much money on something, you’re going to spend a lot of time looking around before you find one that ticks all of your boxes. It’s a good idea to have a checklist of all the things you want from a property. This may include being in a specific area. It could mean being close to public transport options. It could mean having a set number of rooms, a garden, an en suite to the main bedroom, a garage, or any other number of features. Make sure to conduct viewings on anything you’re remotely interested in. You can never simply go by estate agents’ pictures. Remember that these are taken with the intent of selling the house. They’ll be flattering. They’ll use clever angles and lighting. They will cut out details that aren’t positive – such as damp, structural damage, aesthetic damage or anything else. They also won’t highlight potential issues such as road noise, problematic neighbors and more. Only by visiting can you really find the house that’s perfect for you and in good condition.

Consider Renovating

Of course, not every single property is perfect in the condition it’s already in. You could save money by settling for something that’s less than perfect and then investing in renovating it. Put simply, renovations are any alterations that are professionally made to a property to improve it. They can range drastically. If you have a bad quality roof, you could reach out to Hometown Roofing ATX to alter or repair it. If you have one large room, you could have a dividing wall put in to make two separate rooms. Alternatively, if you have two small, separate rooms, you could have dividing walls taken down to make a larger, more open plan living space. If you want an en suite, you can have one added. If you want an extra room, you could consider a loft conversion. Just make sure to ensure you can get planning permission before buying a property with the intent of renovating it. Most local governments or councils have planning policies in place to ensure that people don’t make any outrageous changes to their properties that could impact the value of neighboring properties. Whether you are granted permission to renovate your property or not will depend on whether your planning permission proposal is successful. Generally speaking, small changes to a property that don’t have any effect on its structure or outer appearance won’t usually need permission or council approval. However, it’s better to be safe than sorry, as any changes that are not permitted could be forced to be reversed later. This would be costly and a huge waste of time for you.

Bargain

Remember, the price listed on properties for sale is generally a guideline. You can usually bargain or barter to secure a lower price. Just be wary that you might not be the only person interested in the property and someone could outbid you. Generally speaking, bargaining can be carried out through an estate agent. But remember that if the estate agent is a client of the person selling the house, they may push for a higher price, as they’ll be getting commission on the sale. If you’re unsure as to whether a price on a property is fair or not, you can always call in an external party to value the property.

Conduct Surveys

It’s also a good idea to have surveys carried out on any property before sealing a deal. This will ensure that everything is as it appears. Surveys can identify hidden damage that could cost you a lot of money down the line, such as structural damage to areas such as the foundations, or water or damp damage. Again, it’s good to have this carried out by a third party who will give you genuine and honest advice. The same way in which you would use an ecological consultant if you were building your own house, you need to speak to a professional about pre-built houses. This will give you confidence in your purchase and will ensure that you don’t end up with a property that has endless problems to resolve.

Sure, this may seem like a whole lot of information to take into account. But getting onto the property ladder can change your life for the better. It gives you security. It gives you a home to call your own. It means you’re paying your own mortgage instead of someone else’s. So, it’s worth putting the time and effort into doing it right!

Click the links below for any posts you have missed:

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