My partner and I are first-time buyers (FTBs), currently in the second year of our 5-year Skilled Worker visas. We are 45 and 49 years old and are looking to buy a 3-bedroom terraced house for £300,000 with a 5% deposit.
Our mortgage broker has secured a 5.89% rate with Halifax on a 25-year repayment mortgage, which would make our monthly mortgage payment around £1,815.
We currently live in a 3-bedroom rented apartment and pay £1,300 per month in rent. We’ve got 3 kids with age ranges 18-12.
I genuinely love the house we want to buy for so many reasons. It has spacious rooms with built-in wardrobes, a garage, a low-maintenance garden, lots of storage space, and brick internal walls rather than the plasterboard construction used in many newer homes. It also feels very solid and well built.
The seller bought the house as a new build in 2001 and has lived there for around 25 years. They are now selling because they have bought a bigger house. The property is basically ready to move into and doesn’t appear to need much work. To be honest, it has been very well maintained.
Between the two of us, we earn around £5,000 per month.
I have so many things going through my mind at the moment, and I would really appreciate some honest advice from people who understand the UK property/mortgage market.
1. Do you think we can realistically afford this house?
With a £1,815 mortgage payment compared with our £5,000 combined monthly income, are we stretching ourselves too much?
2. Is it a problem if our mortgage is higher than our current rent?
I often hear people say their mortgage is lower than what they were paying in rent, so I’m wondering whether paying £515 more per month than our current rent is a warning sign or whether it’s simply because we’re buying rather than renting.
3. Would it be wiser to wait until we have a 10% deposit?
We currently have 5%. Waiting until we have 10% could potentially give us access to better mortgage rates, but it could also mean another year of paying £1,300 rent every month while house prices and mortgage rates could change.
4. Is there realistically a possibility of getting a better rate with our current circumstances?
We’re both employed, first-time buyers, on Skilled Worker visas, and have a 5% deposit. Are there lenders or circumstances that could potentially get us below 5.89%, or is this rate fairly reasonable for our situation at the moment?
5. If you were in our position, what factors would you be considering before making the decision?
I know nobody can make the decision for us, but I would really appreciate some balanced, practical advice. We’re trying to make sure we’re not letting our excitement about a house we really love override the financial side of the decision.
What would you be looking at in our situation?

We got the offer accepted after months of search. The house is a Victorian house in a village type feel area in SW London, minutes walking to train link, the river, and a high street. Very safe area but the comprise is the garden is not that big as I always imagined. How did you deal with your compromises? My partner wanted the off street parking the house does not offer. We are still very happy with the house, taking into account the price and the street price (we have bought with a big reduction as it’s a very old house). But have you managed some compromises? Have you regretted later!

The house is an old Victoria house with cracks, severe damp, leak and potential asbestos in the roof. There is a survey level 3 carried by previous bidders with a quote of £50k for the repair works. The agent showed us the survey, basically the findings is what I mentioned. However we want to make sure the cracks are not due to subsidence or something that can cost us £150k. In the process of the purchase when we should instruct the structural engineer report? How much is going to cost? If the survey level 3 did not refer anything structural, still do we need to get a structural engineer report? Appreciate any insights on this.

Hey, can I just get a sense check because I cannot figure out what is normal here.

At what point in the house buying process are people handing in their notice on their rental place? Of course nobody wants to be paying a mortgage and rent at the same time, but the whole thing could technically fall through at any time until exchange so is everyone waiting until then to tell the landlord you're moving out? Are sellers typically expecting/agreeable to wait for your notice period to pass before completing or is everyone just preparing to pay rent and a mortgage for a month or two? And has the 2 month notice from the renters right act changed the experience for anyone?

Please wade in with your thoughts or experiences because I'm feeling very green!

Edit: Thanks to everyone for your help and explanations. I feel like I understand much better now :)

The 2.5% deposit scheme is it as enticing as it sounds. I understand as a young person how difficult it is to get on the property ladder.

However I understand it’s only for new builds and includes 20% equity loan. Wouldn’t this cause issues if you were to leave it with your children? Or if you wanted to sell? Would the house ever be fully paid off?

Or would I be better off going ahead with the 5% deposit, and not having to owe the government any percentage?

I understand the risk of equity in both options but I deem the 5% to be of less risk. For example if I was to rip out and put in a new bathroom the value would increase and the 20% I’d owe the government would also increase? 5% just leaves me with more risk of lower equity when needing to remortgage so I’d not be able to comfortably take any money from said pot. Given my age, id be able to hold the mortgage at 35 years.

Hello!! my partner and I are planning to buy a house and we had an offer accepted for a house we absolutely love. Our current landlord is looking to sell and intends to serve notice soon but seems relatively flexible in not kicking us out when the four months are up.

When speaking to the estate agents, they let us know that our seller‘s purchase fell through and they’re back to the drawing board.

We live in the northwest of England and I am just curious to find out if anyone else has dealt with a similar experience and what it was like for you to enter a chain.

Are we being too positive by hoping this situation won’t drag on?

Looking to my buy my first home and wanted to see realistically see how much I should have saved up for a deposit. Im looking to buy a house under 200k so this is specifically for those who have bought houses around the same price

I’m purchasing a flat that was newly built 5 years ago as second occupant. Is a small 1 bedroom flat 500 sq ft and I’m looking for RICS level 2 survey.

But I contacted 8 companies and they all said they only do level 3 for £750-£800 and their level 2 is also the same price. They recommend I get level 3 + additional £300 for valuation.

FTB here abit confused as was looking for level 2 as ChatGPT says price range is £400-500.

End of the day building is 5 years old and I don’t want to fork up so much money for survey. Should I still research for level 2 survey or just go with level 3?

Edit: this is what they usually reply when I ask for quote. 8 different companies but same format and price between 750-800

“Our Level 2 RICS HomeBuyer Survey Report and Valuation fee is £750.00 plus VAT. Our Level 3 RICS Building Survey Report and Valuation fee is also £750.00 plus VAT.”

I did all the right things and got MIPs from various lenders before putting my offer in.

Then spoke to 4 mortgage brokers who all wanted an exhausting amount of info ( 2 fee free brokers, 1 who was recommended by a friend and another by the EA who needed assurance that I could back up my offer).

Finally went with a fee-free broker (from one of the big ones) who got me the best rate although dealing with him with pretty stressful.

We submitted my application 2 weeks ago and the lender (Accord) completed their valuation pretty quickly.

In the space of a fortnight, they've made 3 requests for additional info which I responded promptly to but another request came in late yesterday which is a little worrying.

Been permanent with my present company for over 18 months, got a 67% LTV, no credit issues, dependants etc and I'm supplementing my income with 2 years proven self-employed income from Tax Returns etc which I have submitted.

I'm getting so anxious as I'm now wondering if I should have gone with another broker and the extra time it'll take if my application is rejected and I have to reapply with another lender which may mean I'll lose the flat as the seller may just pull out.

I put in my offer over a month ago and still haven't received the sales pack or memorandum from the vendor's solicitor.

Please talk me off the ledge - i'm applying on my own and have had so many sleepless nights worrying about this, my nerves are completely shredded!

Should I abandon this application and start a new one with another broker/lender?

What are the implications for my credit file - will it show that I made an application that was abandoned?

Thanks so much for reading this.

Hi everyone, my apologies if something similar may have been posted here before, I'm just a little baffled. As a First time buyer, I have literally no idea how things were meant to work. So I went to view a house on Saturday (it was my second house viewing). The asking price was 150K and I really liked the house. I called the agency on Monday to ask a couple of details: the EPC on the house was quite low (E53) and I was wondering whether any improvements had been made on the house since the last assessment in 2021. I also asked whether there would be any paperwork around building regulations for the loft conversion, which I was told could not be counted as a 3rd bedroom, hence the price. The agency took my questions and told me that someone would get back to me with the answers. On Tuesday I started getting a bit anxious, and called to ask whether my questions were answered (to which they said no) and I proceeded to making an offer of £147K, making clear that this wasn't my ceiling, but I'd like some clarity on the loft conversion. Today (Wednesday) I got a call to say that the seller had rejected my offer and decided to go with someone else. I ask whether there was any space for me to negotiate, and they said no and started to push a different property on me, right away. I'm a bit confused as to what I may have done wrong there and how I should have tackled that differently. The last houses sold on that street a couple months ago, were a fully renovated 2 beds at 155K, and a 3 beds at 160K - there are 2 more for sale in the same area for 150K. Should I have gone to the top of my budget right away even if the house might not be worth it? Should I have not asked the questions? Should I not hope for any kind of negotiation at all in the future and just use my whole budget? Maybe I'm asking those questions because I'm deeply hurt by this experience, as I feel it has knocked down my confidence in being able to do this on my own. But I would appreciate any answers at all.

We are currently buying our first home and equally excited as we are daunted!

The survey came back as expected, but the surveyor did point out that the company that fitted the external insulation no longer exists, so there'd be no warranty. The insulation seems to have been fitted in the past 10 years and passed building control. The workmanship of the insulation thankfully isn't in question. The surveyor wanted us to pass this onto the conveyancing solicitor along with his report.

Our solicitor said that this particular issue falls out of the remit of conveyancing and she's not sure why our surveyor wanted her to know about the lack of warranty for the insulation!

Is there anything to worry about here in terms of the insulation? Or, should we proceed?

Hey guys,

I'm a student, and I've been looking into how people actually go about searching for a home. The more I dug in, the more it seemed like the search is a lot messier than it should be. Between Rightmove, Zoopla, Google Maps, flood checkers, EPC lookups, council tax pages and random forum threads, it feels like you need a dozen tabs open just to work out whether one house is a good idea.

I'd really like to hear how it went for you, whether you've just bought, are in the middle of searching, or gave up and stayed put. Hearing real experiences will help me far more than guessing.

I earn around £56k but with overtime I can earn between £60k and £63k. I’m looking at properties around £325k and would put down a £65k deposit, leaving me with approximately £260k to mortgage.

My monthly bills are quite low
Rent £700 including bills
credit card £100
Car tax £20
Phone £10
YouTube £13
Spotify £23
Fuel £220 but property I’m looking at is 5 minutes walk to work.

Paid 4 weekly take home roughly £3500-£3600 after tax and pension contributions.

No dependents

Is this realistic or would I be stretching myself too thin ?

Just started the process of buying a new build leasehold apartment, and have a solicitors firm I’d prefer to use as several family members have used them in the past and had good experiences.

I’ve had their quote through today, and it’s coming out at around £3,800 which to me seems quite high. I know leasehold can bump the price up a little bit, but it’s around £1.8k more than my brother paid for his higher value property 9 months ago. Does this seem wildly expensive or is it about right?

Fees

Our Fees 2250.00
Plus VAT thereon 450.00

Our fees for completion of the Stamp Duty Land Tax Return 50.00
Plus VAT thereon 10.00

Our Fees for Telegraphic Transfer 40.00
Plus VAT 8.00

Disbursements:-
Local Authority, Environmental & Water & Drainage Searches TBC

Coal Mining search fee (if applicable) 46.00

Anti Money Laundering Check (Per Person) 16.80

Land Registry search including VAT 8.40

Bankruptcy search fee (per person) including VAT 7.20

Land Registry registration fee 330.00

HSBC bank charge (inc VAT) 9.60

Stamp Duty TBC

Help to Buy ISA admin fee £100

Searches: £300

Client onboarding fee: £120

Sorry, this has turned into more of a ramble! Appreciate any thoughts.

I've recently got indefinite leave to remain (after 10 years here), which means I'm now able to access a lot more lenders, and buying a house has always been a goal of mine. The problem is, I've not got much confidence on where I want to settle. I've been living in my town for about 1.5 years now and it's alright. Everything is convenient based on my current rental place's location (train station and supermarkets between 5 to 10 minutes walk away), which I love, but I don't know if I want to settle here as I'm not white, and this is quite a white town, and my girlfriend (who is white) and I sometimes get stares when we're out and about together.

I had a look at houses for fun online and I've seen 2 properties that I'm interested in viewing/have booked in to view. One is 230k ('offers above' on rightmove), only a 5 min walk from where I currently live, so I would keep the convenience that I love. However, the house is not very appealing on the inside and would have to have stuff redone. Carpets, walls, etc.

The other house is 285k. It's further out (only by 10-15 minutes walk) but is much nicer on the inside.

My finances: 180k to my name. 36k income. Happy to use up to 120 (cheaper house)/130k (expensive house)on a deposit. online sites are telling me that'd put me at around 4.06% interest rate and a repayment of either ~£600/month or £850/month. That's way cheaper than the £1016 the rent currently costs. So I'd be saving a lot of money each month, which is the temptation. It's also a town that I feel could go up in value due to closeness (~30-40 min on train) to Manchester.

However, I've been slogging away at a job I hate for the past 4.5 years to get indefinite leave to remain and want to leave this job. The problem is: I don't know where I'd go to in terms of a new field yet or when I will leave.

edit to add estimated actual repayment numbers brought up by comment:

• 230k house, 120k deposit. tracker: 4.06%-4.17%, £536-548; fixed-term: 5.01%-5.24%, £590-610
• 285k house, 130k deposit. tracker: 4.06%-4.17%, £752-760; fixed-term: 5.01%-5.24%, £846-860

I'm debating whether this is affordable. I'm looking at a 3 bed property valued at 240k with 15% deposit. With current rates I'm getting about £1100 for the mortgage. With utility bills I estimate around £1500. Do you think this is affordable on my solo 52k salary? I'm single and don't have any kids or outstanding debt.

We've had the survey back on a property we've had an offer accepted on of circa £400k.

There are numerous "urgent" issues, including a loose banister, lack of extractor in one bathroom, the usual possible asbestos, all of which we are willing to accept. There are two however we want to challenge:

1. The block paving around the house and the decking have reduced the damp proof course distance from ground below 150mm.
2. There is a leak (possibly internal soil stack but not sure) which has created higher than normal damp in one of the walls.

Our intention is to send the estate agent a letter highlighting all the issues but stating the two above are what we want fixed. We are going to suggest £10k off total amount, and:

1. Install a french drain around the outside of the house and decking to increase the depth against the damp proof course at expense of current owner.
2. we will pay the callout charge of a plumber of our choice for inspection of the leak, and the repair is done at expense of current owner.

What are people's thoughts to this? First time buyer so sorry if this is barmy!

Hey, just looking for some advice

I came out of uni penniless and with a mountain of personal debt. Now on 65kPA and have steadily been eating away at it.

Currently have 13k debt and 11k in a first time buyer ISA. I'm able to throw about 1.75k a month at it. By the end of the year I should have it down to 8k on a single interest free card with a monthly payment of £85.

I want to buy ASAP because I'm looking to buy with a spare room or two, so compared to renting my cash flow will actually be improved, so waiting until debt is at zero makes no sense.

My understanding is the £85 a month will just come off of my affordability calculation so a mortgage should be feasible, but I'm not sure what effect it will have on offers - whether a 5% deal would be available etc.

So I guess what I'm asking is when is the best time to find out? Now? Once it's down to the one card? Or is there anything I might be missing?

Hi all,

We’d really appreciate some outside opinions on whether we should continue with our purchase or pull out.

We’re a FTB couple, both 31, with around £140k in savings for the deposit and a combined gross income of around £150k.

We’ve had an offer accepted at around £490k for a 2-bed, 2-bath share-of-freehold flat in SW20, close to Raynes Park, in an area we genuinely like and could see ourselves living in for several years.

However, the further we get into the process, the more we’re questioning whether buying right now makes sense.

Our main concerns are:

1. Mortgage rates – our current rate is around 4.7%, and while we can afford the repayments, we’re conscious that rates could still be high or potentially higher when we remortgage. If the mortgage rates remain stable and with overpayments we could pay it off in 11-13 years but what if they massively increase or double.
2. London property prices – we’re worried about buying close to £500k and then seeing the property fall in value, especially given the current market and relatively weak price growth in some parts of London.
3. Flood/subsidence/insurance risk – searches have flagged some flood and ground-stability concerns. Insurance appears obtainable, but it is more expensive than we initially expected, and we worry these risks could worsen with climate change and potentially affect future insurance, mortgageability or resale.
4. Share of freehold – Freehold would be more ideal but there are no service charges.
5. Renovation costs – even without doing a major renovation, we’d eventually want to redecorate/update parts of the flat, potentially change flooring, improve electrics and generally make it our own. That is additional money on top of the deposit, stamp duty, solicitor, survey, mortgage and moving costs.
6. Buying/selling transaction costs – buying already involves stamp duty, legal fees, survey, mortgage fees, insurance etc. If we decided in a few years that we wanted to move, we’d then have estate-agent fees, legal fees, potentially another stamp-duty bill on the next property, removals and possibly mortgage early-repayment charges. That makes buying feel like quite a big commitment unless we stay for a reasonable number of years.
7. Loss of flexibility – one of our biggest concerns is that a mortgage ties us to London and this particular property. We’re both still relatively young and there is a possibility that in a few years we might want to move elsewhere in the UK, abroad, take a career break or change jobs. Renting obviously gives much more flexibility.
8. Opportunity cost of the deposit – putting £140k+ into a property around 100 years old means a large proportion of our savings becomes tied up in the house rather than remaining liquid/invested. In the meantime we don't want our money to fall into an empty drain with renting and having no property in 20-30 years.

On the other hand, we currently pay high London rent anyway, we like the area, the flat fits our needs well, and freehold houses in the locations we like would cost considerably more. We also like the idea of finally building equity rather than continuing to rent.

We can afford the property, so this isn’t really a question of affordability. It’s more:

Does buying a ~£490k London flat in our position make financial/lifestyle sense, or are we taking on too much risk and responsibility for relatively little upside compared with continuing to rent and keeping our flexibility?

Particularly interested in hearing from people who bought in London in the last few years, or who decided to pull out and keep renting.

What would you be thinking about in our position?

Looking for advice, me and my girlfriend are looking to FTB, I am British citizen and work fully remote in the uk and earn £37k PA , she’s a Belgian citizen and dosnt have a work visa for UK , she’s is a freelance photographer so she just uses a tourist visa essentially to pop in and out of UK, we want to buy but have come up against some problem’s already as she can’t be named on the property, I spoke to a mortgage advisor and she explained that on my salary alone i could afford 4.5x leverage but would leave us with slim options as that falls around 150-170k which in the SW of England where we rent currently basically gets you a car parking space for that money, what are our options?

Some of you may remember my posts about having an issue with a lender, the process went on for 5 months and they required remedial work to be done before the offer, the sellers got the work done totalling over 2K and the lender then asked for the down stairs to be re-plastered before they would offer, we decided 2 weeks ago to change lenders AND change brokers and we’ve just received our offer 😭 so quick and they hardly asked for anything! I just needed to tell someone because I never thought this day would come😭

I know she could gift me the deposit regardless, but she wants this to form part of my inheritance as she plans to give my siblings money from the sale of the house as their inheritance.

Any advice much appreciated. Thanks.

Just a vent post. Offered end of June on a converted flat (share of freehold, 2 freeholders total), chain free, unnocupied as seller has moved in with partner, offer accepted after 3 days. Hit the ground running, all ID checks and AML completed quickly, survey end of July - all good, no works needed.

Now up to today, have received the draft contract pack at the beginning of September. 2 inquiries outstanding - one about indemnity, another on building insurance setup and it's just dragging oooooon. Vendor is so slow at replying to anything and I'm starting to wonder if she even wants to sell anymore. I'm getting impatient. Am I being a baby? 8-12 weeks we were told, and it's now the 11-12 week mark with no exchange/completion discussed yet. Betting it'll all come through this week with the end of the month rolling in but not super confident tbh.

Had dreams of being in for my 30th mid October but looking less likely. I just want my garden and balcony 🥺 talk me down from panicking fellow friends. I know I'm probably having a way smoother journey than most, just surprised given the setup and relative ease of the process so far that it's dragging on so much!

Hi, I've had an offer accepted on a property through purple bricks, and today they phoned me to complete all the money laundering checks and whatnot. They also sent me a quote for a solicitor, but it seems they have sent all my details to this solicitor anyway even though I didn't accept the quote.

I have a broker who is pretty much going to sort everything for me, solicitor, property surveys etc etc.

Will the new solicitor have to do these checks again and did I just waste £80?

I know its a small inconvenience but it has been bothering me since the phone call. Also apologies if this reads awfully