Common questions asked by first time buyers

February 7, 2017 by Brendan O'Neill

Advice & Tips

Buying your first home is both exciting and stressful at the same time, as you are looking forward to finding your dream home, but are also making one of the largest purchases of your life. Mortgage advisers study on CeMAP courses so that they are equipped to answer all the questions by first time buyers. There are some questions which are more common than others.

Many buyers want to know whether they have a better chance of securing a mortgage on an older property, or a new build. Some lenders may request a larger deposit on a new build, as their value tends to increase slower than an older home. New builds can also be harder to resell.

Another popular question is how many times their salary will borrowers be able to have. Although lenders all have varying lending criteria, they mostly rely on affordability tests to decide how much to lend buyers. Your outgoings will play a large role in this, so making sure you have minimal regular expenditure is crucial to enhance your chances of securing the mortgage you want.

Credit scoring is another concern for buyers, as this may also impact on their chances of being given a mortgage. Lenders check credit reports as part of their lending process, and are more likely to consider the report’s content rather than the score, as not all credit reference agencies use a scoring system.

There are many other questions asked by first time buyers, and spending time with a qualified mortgage adviser can be invaluable.