Housing with Hannah - Part Three | Starting the Process
It's not actually been that long since I decided I wanted to buy a house rather than rent and wow, have I learnt a lot in those couple of weeks. I thought it would be useful for some people to just write down some of my top tips for when you first decide you want to buy.
I started by going to my own bank. I told them about my income and what I have to spend each month and from this they could tell me a rough figure of how much money they thought they might be able to lend me. I think this is a great way to start as it gives you a figure to work with and an idea of just what kind of property and area you'll be looking at.
From this I worked out what my total budget was with a 10% deposit and went onto zoopla and right move. I filtered my search so I didn't see anything way out of my price range that I could have fallen in love with. For me the area I live in is not a big deal. I have no family here I need to be close to and so I opened up my search to the whole of Hull. I knew there would be certain areas I couldn't afford to live in but for me that's okay.
I think it's so important to be realistic. For example, because I drive it would have been nice to get a place with a drive or a garage but in actual fact with my budget that's not 100% viable. There's quite a few things I'd like to put a big fat tick to but I know that this might not all be possible. Sometimes what you would like and what you can actually have are two very different things and this is so important. If you aim too high you'll literally never find somewhere you are happy with.
Have a good look around. There is a lot of variation in the kind of place you can get, varying mostly on the area in which you are looking. So if you're not tied to one area shop around. Also, don't only look at a couple of properties. I think you need to see a good number to get an idea of what is really important to you, the area you want to live in etc. If you narrow down too much, you may miss the perfect house for you.
Don't get too attached or disheartened. Sometimes things don't work out how you hoped or planned. That's okay, it's not the end of the world. It might be stressful but it just means it wasn't right.
Be prepared to spend every minute you can chasing up the 6 million voicemails you've had since you last checked your phone. Once you say you're interested in a property, the estate agents tend to not leave you alone. They ring to check you still want to view, they ring to see if you even liked a property...to me that'd be pretty obvious. Surely if I loved a property I'd be making an offer or asking to view for a second time?!
Yes, it is stressful and yes it's tiring. Be prepared if you work to have to view houses at silly times and have people ask you the same silly questions, their opinions and things you quite frankly do not give a crap about. Be prepared to get chased by dogs, be looked at funny and told too much about some peoples lives. It's all a game in the end and so it's best to try and enjoy the ride!
I started by going to my own bank. I told them about my income and what I have to spend each month and from this they could tell me a rough figure of how much money they thought they might be able to lend me. I think this is a great way to start as it gives you a figure to work with and an idea of just what kind of property and area you'll be looking at.
From this I worked out what my total budget was with a 10% deposit and went onto zoopla and right move. I filtered my search so I didn't see anything way out of my price range that I could have fallen in love with. For me the area I live in is not a big deal. I have no family here I need to be close to and so I opened up my search to the whole of Hull. I knew there would be certain areas I couldn't afford to live in but for me that's okay.
I think it's so important to be realistic. For example, because I drive it would have been nice to get a place with a drive or a garage but in actual fact with my budget that's not 100% viable. There's quite a few things I'd like to put a big fat tick to but I know that this might not all be possible. Sometimes what you would like and what you can actually have are two very different things and this is so important. If you aim too high you'll literally never find somewhere you are happy with.
Have a good look around. There is a lot of variation in the kind of place you can get, varying mostly on the area in which you are looking. So if you're not tied to one area shop around. Also, don't only look at a couple of properties. I think you need to see a good number to get an idea of what is really important to you, the area you want to live in etc. If you narrow down too much, you may miss the perfect house for you.
Don't get too attached or disheartened. Sometimes things don't work out how you hoped or planned. That's okay, it's not the end of the world. It might be stressful but it just means it wasn't right.
Be prepared to spend every minute you can chasing up the 6 million voicemails you've had since you last checked your phone. Once you say you're interested in a property, the estate agents tend to not leave you alone. They ring to check you still want to view, they ring to see if you even liked a property...to me that'd be pretty obvious. Surely if I loved a property I'd be making an offer or asking to view for a second time?!
Yes, it is stressful and yes it's tiring. Be prepared if you work to have to view houses at silly times and have people ask you the same silly questions, their opinions and things you quite frankly do not give a crap about. Be prepared to get chased by dogs, be looked at funny and told too much about some peoples lives. It's all a game in the end and so it's best to try and enjoy the ride!
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