It has taken me 12 months to get into my first place. Yes, 12 months. Throw in a pandemic, a stamp duty holiday and a complete shift in the way we work and there’s your recipe for making the first purchase an extended process.
At the end of 2017 I decided that I needed to make a drastic change in order to put myself in a position to buy my first place. I was living in Liverpool renting a flat with a friend and it somehow made me realise I wanted the burden of my very own home! Weird. Admittedly, I have not always been the smartest with how I spent my money but my dad suggested we talk to NatWest to get an idea of what I could afford if we bought together. The trick here was that my dad’s salary would be used with mine as a measure for what the bank would be happy to lend us. With an idea of what I could afford with my dad as co-owner of the property we spent some time looking at flats and houses in Liverpool. Whilst my dad would be co-owner of the property I would be responsible for the upkeep of the house. The figures were certainly doable but I soon realised that I needed to build a bigger deposit, a much bigger deposit. Living out with a smaller salary (lower than the national average) I would be adding to my savings but not enough in the timeframe I had in mind. So the bright lights of London were calling me home! And yes, I moved back in with my parents. Throughout my 20s I had rented privately so coming up to my late 20s and deciding to move home was certainly the standard journey in reverse.
Whilst moving home is the easy way to save for a home, the full process of buying my first home has not been straightforward at all. I want to share the journey I have taken to realising this dream. The decisions I have made to allow this step to happen have not been orthodox and have at times taken some explaining but we are here. The How I Got My Keys series will cover:
- Moving back in with my parents
- My finances
- Choosing the property
- Deciding to buy with a partner
- Direct to lender vs mortgage brokers
- Choosing your lawyer and surveyor
- The house buying process
I hope you will enjoy the How I Got My Keys series!
Caroline x