First Time Home Buyer Mortgages

First time home buyer mortgages are available to those who are buying their first property to live in.

When applying for a first-time buyer mortgage the lender will undertake an affordability assessment just the same as they would for anyone else. This involves looking into your annual salary and any other income that you receive, as well as your outgoings, including credit card and loan debts, household bills, general living costs, childcare and travel.

Your credit history will also be reviewed when applying for a first-time buyer mortgage scheme so the lender can evaluate whether you are a likely to be a reliable borrower. This will then be used in the assessment to decide how much you can borrow.

With first time mortgages, providers will use these assessments to work out what they will lend but often these type of mortgages are available up to 90/95% loan to value (as with other types of borrowers).

Sometimes lenders will offer additional incentives like free valuations, cashbacks or lower arrangement fees.

View our blog for 10 Tips for first time homebuyers to help secure a mortgage.

First Time Mortgages

Before you begin with viewing properties, you should speak to us so we can obtain an ‘Agreement in Principle’ (AIP or DIP) from a lender.

This will provide you with an idea of how much you are able to borrow and it also shows estate agents that you are serious about buying. It will also potentially help put you in the most favourable position when making an offer and might help you get an offer accepted over other potential buyers as you are able to demonstrate your position more clearly.

Some lenders will carry out a hard credit check which will appear on your credit file so it is important that not too many of these are carried out as it could impact on whether you are eventually accepted. Other lenders will only run a soft check which will not affect your credit score, we can advise you on this before applying.

Any Agreement in Principle will last between 30 and 90 days, but you should remember that this is just an indication of acceptance (when you full apply) rather than a guaranteed mortgage offer.

Once we have covered with you how much you can borrow we will also talk to you about the monthly cost to help you work out whether this fits within how much you can afford to pay for your new home. You will then have a better picture of your price range when it comes to viewing properties.

There are other factors to take into account such as life, critical illness, income protection, redundancy cover and buildings and contents insurance. We will cover these all with you to give you a full overview of the prospective cost per month of your planned new home.

It is very important to cover all these areas before making an offer so you can make sure that you are able to afford the monthly payments and are looking at properties that fit within your acceptable budget.

If you require further advice on first time home buyers mortgages, contact us today for guidance from our experienced mortgage advisors.

Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up the repayments on your mortgage.

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