8 Top Tips for First Time Home Buyers in Essex

Buying a home is one of the most significant purchases you will ever make. As a first time buyer, you are likely brimming with excitement and anticipation. You may have even set a deadline for when you’d like to move. It is understandable that you would also be nervous about the process. There are many factors to consider with this new responsibility.

As a first time home buyer, there can be a lot of things you don’t know. If you are trying to find your feet, however, then the following tips should help you.

Check your credit score and report regularly

Checking your credit score is important for many reasons. It helps you understand your financial situation, whether you’re managing it properly and how it impacts the things that are important to you.

As a first time home buyer, do you know why you need to check your credit score and report regularly? Lenders run your credit report and use it as the basis of their approval process for a loan. If there are any errors on your credit report or if there are items missing from your report, this could cause you to lose out on the loan that you may have qualified for.

Review your budget before looking for a home

If you are planning to buy your first home in the next few months, reviewing your budget before you start looking for homes is a wise choice. You probably have done all of the necessary research for understanding the rules of buying a new house. Having a budget in place before you start looking will help you avoid spending more money than planned.

Find out about available saving accounts for first-time buyers

There are help to buy cash isa's and other government schemes in the UK that you may be eligible for. Check the government websites, ask your local estate agents and speak to your bank to see if there is anything you can do to help you save and potential get more money for your deposit.

Choose a property in an established area

When looking for a first home buyers you need to consider a few things. You need to look at the area and see what is around, where are the shops, the schools and work. You want to look at what type of properties are available for sale for first time buyers, whether it is more houses or apartments.

Research the market

Knowing where to begin with all the available houses can be overwhelming, especially if at first glance you don't know what you're looking for. However, the first step in true property bliss is researching the market as a first time buyer. This is where Lawrence Antony Homes begins its research so that each home buyer can be fully informed of all of the available properties in their area and determine one or more candidates that meet their criteria.

Avoid impulse buying

The biggest fear for a first-time buyer is the impulse buy. Even if you know perfectly well what you want and what you don't want, it's very easy to get caught up in advertising and pricing - and you feel like you're being pushed into something.

When purchasing your property for the first time, there are many factors you need to consider when choosing a property. You can have everything, but a couple of factors can stop you from being happy with your purchase in the long run. Once you have decided which kind of property you want, it is important that you time your purchase well so you can be in a favoured position before making offer on the house.

Keep daily household expenses in mind

If you are a first time home buyer, you should be aware that all homebuyers have different needs and wants. This makes it important that you set aside some money for your first month's expenses. These may include:

- cheeky takeaways as you've been working then coming home and decorating / renovating and may not have time to cook

- aesthetic purchases! A short trip to B&Q or wickes will soon have you racking up the expenses from paint, furnishings, lightbulbs (especially if you go for those light changing ones you operate via your smartphone!)

Bonus Tip! Look to friends and family for advice

Let me tell you a secret. Once you've find your dream home chat it over with your parents, friends and family. And then keep on asking for their advice! There are so many things from knowing how to properly drill into a wall and not in a place where they might be pipes, electrics etc to figuring out how your boiler works (honestly, most adults still get baffled by the thermostat just randomly turning on when it wants!)

Owning your first-home is a fantastic experience and full of learning curves that others may have already stumbled across, so never feel silly for reaching out and asking! If you ever get stuck send a DM to us as @lawrenceantonyhomes and we'll help out as best we can or signpost you to someone who can solve it!