Buying Your First Home Without Going Mad!

For a lot of people, there are few things more exciting than the idea of being able to get onto the property ladder. Of course, that’s always a whole lot easier said than done. The truth is that there are few things quite as challenging or intimidating than trying to buy your very first home. In fact, for a lot of people, it can often feel as though buying a home at all is never going to be much more than a fantasy. However, it’s entirely possible to take that fantasy and bring it into reality; you’ve just got to know what you’re doing. If you don’t then there’s a good chance that you’re just going to end up getting stressed out and overwhelmed. Sure, buying a house might be exciting, but it’s most certainly not worth making your life overly difficult or unpleasant for. With that in mind, here are some of the things that you need to consider when trying to buy your first home without going totally mad.

Do your research

The biggest mistake that the vast majority of people make when it comes to buying their first home is that they try and jump into the process without really knowing what they’re doing, assuming that they’ll be able to pick it all up as they go along. Sure, there are always going to be things that you’ll learn along the way, trying to dive in head first without the faintest idea of what buying a house is actually going to be like a serious mistake. There are so many questions involved in buying a house. What can you actually afford? How much should conveyancing cost? Will you get stuck in a chain? Which solicitors should you work with? These kinds of things need definitive answers before you try and move forward. If you try and buy a home without knowing what you’re doing, not only are you going to end up confused and stressed, but you could end up making mistakes that have serious ramifications, like delaying the purchase or losing you a lot of money.   

Get some help

If you really want to be able to navigate the complicated and murky waters of buying a property, then the best thing to do is to get some help. The best place to look in the early days is estate agents. Finding the right estate agent can make the process of finding your perfect home much easier. Not only that but you’re going to need a solicitor to take you through the process of buying and finding the right one can make a huge amount of difference. If you’re not in a position to pay for things like mortgage advisors and other qualified professionals, it’s often a good idea to speak to people who have more experience than you when it comes to getting onto the property ladder. Even though a friend or family member might not have all the information you need, having someone with experience alongside you can make the entire situation a whole lot less intimidating.

Give yourself enough time

Another common mistake that people make is that they decide to start getting the ball rolling on their property purchase the moment that they decide that buying a home is what they want to do. Sure, this may not sound like a terrible idea on the surface, but the truth is that it’s a recipe for both stress and disaster. Trying to get all of the appropriate paperwork signed, mortgages approved, and documents submitted is stressful enough without the feeling of a time limit hanging over your head every second of the day. Not only that but trying to rush the process is going to make it much more likely that you make ill-informed financial decisions or that you’re going to settle for a home that you don’t really care about. Make sure that you think carefully about the kind of time frame that you’ve given yourself. If you decide that you want to buy a home for yourself, don’t be tempted to try and get through the whole process as fast as possible. That’s just going to make your life much harder than it needs to be.

Be realistic

There’s a decent chance that you have some kind of idea in your mind about what your perfect home is going to look like. Now, it’s always good to have a list of boxes that any potential home absolutely has to tick. However, it’s a serious mistake to be overly limited in terms of what you’re willing to accept from a home. While it’s great to have a some must haves and must have-nots, you should also leave some wiggle room in the middle as well. If you don’t do that, then you’re just going to end up in a position where no home will ever be good enough for you and those that are just end up being out of your price range. Consider your budget carefully and do everything that you can to marry that up with the specific needs that you have in a property. If you’re mostly concerned with location, then don’t be afraid to sacrifice on space. Or if your main focus is on a particular style, you may be willing to settle for a less than ideal location. The factors that influence your decision will, of course, always be personal and specific for you. Just don’t let them get in the way of you actually being able to buy a home at all.

Plan ahead

For a lot of people, the idea of even being able to buy a home just seems totally unrealistic. However, the truth is when a lot of people “I can’t buy a home”, what they really mean is “I can’t buy a home right now.” Those two things might seem similar, but they’re actually very different. One is a permanent problem while the other is one that is built around some very specific factors. Sure, you might be in a position where you’re not going to be able to buy a home in your current circumstances, but not only are those circumstances able to change, that’s something you have control over. If you want to improve your financial situation in order to put down a deposit, then you should start saving right now. Or perhaps your credit score isn’t good enough to buy a property? Well then now’s the time to start improving it. It may well take a while, but it’s better to be patient and work towards the possibility of owning a home in the future than it is to ignore it and end up it impossible to buy a home at all because you’re only concerned with the present.

As nice as it would be to be able to promise some kind of bulletproof plan for taking all of the stress out of buying a home, that’s simply not the case. The truth is that buying a house is always going to be a complicated endeavour and one that often comes with no shortage of stress. However, knowing what you’re doing can make the whole experience feel a lot less intimidating, and few things make the whole process less stressful than careful planning. As long as you’re not trying to figure things out as you go, you’re going to be able to get through the process of buying your first home and get started on the process of actually living in it!