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First Time Buyer Advice

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Hi everyone, I wanted to start an up to date topic on this.

 

Me and my partner are off to view a house tomorrow we came across by accident but ticks all of our boxes (all our needs and quite a number of wishes). Because of how we've came across it and work we've not been able to get a mortgage in principle, however have been informed that we can get a mortgage above the cost of this house. If the house is as perfect as it is on paper can we make an offer on condition of our mortgage being approved?

 

Also what should we look out for? Our family lives down south so we can't get a family member to nip round for a second viewing with advice on what to look for (and over the phone have been told a few things but a lot "is different to how it was 30 years ago when we brought ours").

 

I've got things down such as power points, what year boiler installed, any structural issues, but not sure what else to ask? Any advice would be great!

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An offer is simply that, the estate agents will probably ask about the mortgage situation, just tell them the truth I'd suggest, although they've no way of knowing if you have or have not been offered a mortgage in principal or of checking up on what you tell them.

 

You're unlikely to spot structural issues yourself, that's what the survey is for. Try to see past the decoration, and if you have chance have a walk around the area, get a feel for it. Maybe visit the area at several different times, including 1700 if you can to see what the traffic is like.

What to look for depends on what you're looking at and what is important to you. For example, which way does the garden face and will it get sun in the morning or evening. Where is the closest bus/tram stop. How is the parking. How busy a road is it on. Is the master bedroom facing that road (matters if it's busy). Is there a corner shop for when you run out of milk.

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The agents asked on Thursday night when the booking was arranged and I was quite honest about them, we had planned to wait a couple more months before looking round places but we have the funds ready so why not. Just going to ask work if I can leave early/come in late one day if it's the right house for us.

 

The area thankfully I've been to a few times on many walks, won't be able to get there for 5 with our jobs but have arranged an evening viewing so we can see what it's like when people will be arriving home (think it helps the weather is nice as we'll hear more noise from neighbour's in the gardens). The garden is north west facing, but my partner struggles with the sun so I'm happy with that and done checks on public travel as neither of us drive yet (although there is off road parking) so I'm used the that being one of the big things to check.

 

Although I'm not sure if it's good but I can normally ignore decoration as we've moved around with rentals a lot (partners old job had a lot of us travelling involved). But the house is decorated as we like apart from two walls which is amazing to us

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Guest makapaka

In my experience the agents normally ask for your mortgage in principle before they'll put forward your offer.

 

A mortgage in principle is usually quite quick though - a mortgage broker should be able to do that for you over a few days (assuming no issues with borrowing amount etc)

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Ah that's alright then, the owners are showing us round tomorrow so we are going to be honest with them if we want it. That way they know the situation if the agents want to want until we have the mortgage on principle.

 

Am I right in guessing my partner won't be able to apply for it without me? His work is very flexible with when their staff start or visit, whereas mine is set hours and the same hours banks and I assume mortgage brokers work

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No.1 is carefully check all the boundaries are clear cut, ask them who owns which, and whether there has been any problems with neighbours over the boundaries/fences.

 

Not sure whether its an old property, but look up at the roof for any missing tiles, chimney stacks can be bad but you'll need binocs.

 

Have a close look around the window frames outside for any serious cracks in the brickwork.

 

Homebuyers report for mortgage purposes is far from a full structual survey which is, I believe, very expensive. In this they test the drains and many other things.

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Guest makapaka
Ah that's alright then, the owners are showing us round tomorrow so we are going to be honest with them if we want it. That way they know the situation if the agents want to want until we have the mortgage on principle.

 

Am I right in guessing my partner won't be able to apply for it without me? His work is very flexible with when their staff start or visit, whereas mine is set hours and the same hours banks and I assume mortgage brokers work

 

You'll just need to give the broker information on who will be applying for the mortgage and income levels / current outgoings etc.

 

They will then give you a figure which the bank/building society are willing to lend you. Just bear in mind that figure might change when they do checks following a full mortgage application so if you're right up to the agreement in principle amount just be wary of that.

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Oo, I hadn't even thought about asking about boundaries, thank you! I reckon it was built in about 1940's but yes I'll take some binoculars to look up at the ceiling.

 

Oh that's perfect then, I'll give him my last couple of months payslips but we only have a joint account and savings account so he'll have access to all of that when he goes in.

 

So would it be better to go for a higher mortgage in principle incase they decrease it as we only really want to get the mortgage in principle for how much we want to borrow? The figure they said they'd be able to offer us is a lot more than what we can budget for with household and mortgage costs so we don't want to get a mortgage in principle that high.

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Guest makapaka
Oo, I hadn't even thought about asking about boundaries, thank you! I reckon it was built in about 1940's but yes I'll take some binoculars to look up at the ceiling.

 

Oh that's perfect then, I'll give him my last couple of months payslips but we only have a joint account and savings account so he'll have access to all of that when he goes in.

 

So would it be better to go for a higher mortgage in principle incase they decrease it as we only really want to get the mortgage in principle for how much we want to borrow? The figure they said they'd be able to offer us is a lot more than what we can budget for with household and mortgage costs so we don't want to get a mortgage in principle that high.

 

Just give them the info and they'll give you the amount - it doesnt really matter it's more than you want to borrow Only reason I mentioned it is that we once put an offer in at our maximum agreement in principle and had it accepted. When we applied for the mortgage they would only give us £5k less than the agreement in principle figure.

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Ouch, that's so close! It must have been really annoying.

 

I know I had some debts in the past but cleared them over 3 years ago so hoping it won't be my past that stops us getting it which is what I'm worried about. He's got a really good credit score and the broker did "this is how much you could borrow" based on just his income when we went and had a chat a few months ago

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Guest makapaka
Ouch, that's so close! It must have been really annoying.

 

I know I had some debts in the past but cleared them over 3 years ago so hoping it won't be my past that stops us getting it which is what I'm worried about. He's got a really good credit score and the broker did "this is how much you could borrow" based on just his income when we went and had a chat a few months ago

 

Don't worry about old debts if they've been paid off and didn't result in any ccj's or anything. Sometimes having had loans etc which were paid off is not a bad thing cos shows you serviced them.

 

They'll just look at what existing liabilities you have and how much you've got going out each month.

 

They're basically just checking you can afford to pay monthly.

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Oh that's much better then :) we are putting aside more than what the mortgage payments would be into the savings account each month, even with our rent at the moment so that seems promising.

 

I must admit it's exciting as we did live in London for 6 years and I thought we'd never get on the property ladder so when the chance came for us to move back to Sheffield we jumped at it.

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