How to budget and save for your first home
It sounds so simple, but budgeting and saving are very important when looking to buy your first home. With any significant life purchase, taking some time to research how much you can afford and whether you need to save more for a deposit is wise.
1. Understand the costs
Whether you're saving for a deposit on a house, planning for legal charges, or figuring out your basic living expenditures, it’s important to have an idea of how much you can spend when purchasing your first home.
You will firstly need to understand all the costs you may encounter so you can set the right budget. These will include:
• Your deposit (and the value of the house)
• *Stamp Duty
• Mortgage payments and fees
• Solicitor fees
• Legal costs
• Surveyor’s fees
• Insurance
To get a full run down, take a look at our guide around the additional costs involved in purchasing your first home. *Subject to change
2. How to start saving money for a house
Set yourself some financial goals based on your existing financial situation after you have checked your outgoings to see how much you can save each month.
It's wise to have extra money left over even after you’ve worked out what your total outgoings will be over the house buying process. This can assist you in paying for unforeseen living expenses or even adjustments to variable mortgage interest rates.
3. Analyse your expenses
• In order to start making savings you may need to trim your expenses, here are a few ways of doing so:
• Look to switch to cheaper utilities providers
• Give yourself one treat meal a month, whether it's your favourite takeaway or restaurant
• If you have to travel for work, where possible walk or cycle to save on fuel.
• Have a clear out and sell any unwanted items.
• Streamline any debts into single manageable monthly payments.
• Create a budget planner to track how much you’re saving.
• If you need more ideas or suggestions, this guide from the Money Helper can help.
These simple things will help to boost your credit score and allow you to apply for better interest rates on your mortgage.
4. Look for extra support
Another way to make this process easier on your finances is to look into additional support, be it through help from your parents or one of the many first-time buyer schemes that are currently in place.
A few examples include:
• Shared ownership – you can find out more about this in our guide, looking specifically at how we at Tilia Homes can support you with this.
• First time buyer mortgages – again we have a useful guide that explains what your options are with these.
• First Homes scheme – is available on a selection of our developments.
5. Watch the market
Last but not least, as part of your budgeting, it’s wise to keep an eye on the market, looking at average price fluctuations, whether or not the Government is starting or ending new support schemes, or simply if developers are offering incentives for first time buyers.
All the above can help make your purchase more affordable and manageable.
At Tilia Homes we can also provide you with guidance and assistance if you’re interested in purchasing one of our new builds from our UK-wide developments. If you’d like to learn more, then get in touch – you can find our contact details here.
You can also check out our previous guide here.