To help first-time buyers get the most out of their mortgage process, we have put together a list of the 10 steps involved for first time buyers in Lincoln. It is our hope that with this, you can be as prepared as possible ahead of your own mortgage journey.
There are 10 main steps you’ll go through in the process of buying a home and obtaining a mortgage. These are as follows;
First Step: Get in Touch for Your Free Mortgage Consultation
So let’s say you’ve decided to take that next big step in your life and purchase your very own home, taking out a mortgage as a first time buyer in Lincoln. It probably goes without saying that this will probably be the biggest financial choice you ever make. Once you realise this, the concept can be a little daunting, especially when you have no experience in any of this.
It’s at this point where a dedicated mortgage broker in Lincoln may be able to step in and provide assistance to you. We always strive to take the stress away from our customers, working hard to make sure they all are all happy, have a favourable mortgage deal and their very first home.
Once you get in touch with a dedicated mortgage broker in Lincoln, we’ll book you in for a free initial mortgage consultation with an experienced and loyal mortgage advisor. From here, we’ll take some details from you and take a look at your plan, before we eventually kick off your mortgage process.
Second Step: Mortgage Affordability Assessment – How are you doing Financially?
During your free mortgage consultation, a trusted mortgage advisor in Lincoln will be able to run through a Mortgage Affordability Assessment. The process for this is pretty quick and is very important, as this is where your dedicated mortgage advisor will run through your monthly income with you, looking at your regular expenditures.
This basically just means looking at what you spend your money on, and is done so they can determine whether or not you are financially capable of affording the monthly repayments of the mortgage amount you’re looking to borrow.
The reason we look to get this done prior to putting you forward with a lender, is to give us a level of confidence in you regarding your ability to afford your repayments. In doing this, we can try to avoid the risk of arrears and any future repossessions that may crop up, as this is something the lender will definitely want to avoid if it can be controlled.
A Mortgage Affordability Assessment will also usually be taken out by the lender themselves, so the initial checks we undertake will help save the lenders time, our own time, but most importantly of all, your time. The last thing any of us need is an application that may be declined in the future due to failing on affordability.
Third Step: Obtaining a Mortgage Agreement in Principle
The following step in your mortgage consultation will be to get a hold of, on your behalf, a document called an Agreement in Principle. If you have done some of your own research on mortgages before receiving first time buyer mortgage advice in Lincoln, you may come across this under a handful of different names.
Standard names used for this can include ‘Decision in Principle’, ‘Mortgage in Principle’, as well as ‘DIP’ & ‘AIP’. These are all exactly the same thing; the only difference is the name people may choose to use.
The reason you will need to have obtained an Agreement in Principle is to demonstrate that you have passed a lenders initial credit scoring system, either by way of a hard credit search (this leaves a credit footprint) or a soft credit search (this generally does not leave a credit footprint).
Even though this does help a great deal, there is still no guarantee you will be accepted for a mortgage. Still, it is a necessary and incredibly beneficial step to take, as it will also show the seller of a property that you are making a serious enquiry, possibly creating room for any potential negotiations with them when it comes to your offers.
The standard length of an AIP is usually anywhere between 30-90 days, and once it has expired, a mortgage advisor can easily renew this for you. Our brilliant team can usually get one of these turned around for you within 24 hours of your primary appointment with a dedicated mortgage advisor in Lincoln.
Fourth Step: Finding the Right Solicitor
After you have gotten an Agreement in Principle, you will need to start looking for a conveyancer to help you with the legal dealings of homebuying. The term conveyancing is the name for the transfer of legal ownership of property between the different parties, whether you’re either the buyer or the seller.
Your conveyancing solicitor will handle the contracts for you, provide you with any necessary legal advice, conduct local council/authority searches on your behalf, help make arrangements with Land Registry and lastly transfer the funds you have acquired, so that you can pay for the property. As is likely evident from these tasks, this is a vital role in your process, so you must choose the right one carefully.
Something else you should know here, is that licensed conveyancers are property specialists and can’t deal with more complex legal issues, whereas a more general solicitor will be able to offer a full range of services, which can make them sometimes seem more costly. Whilst we do not offer these services directly, we do have an internal list of trusted companies that we will happily refer you to, if you need us to.
Fifth Step: Making an Offer on a Property
Once you have spoken to a fast & friendly mortgage broker in Lincoln, have passed the Mortgage Affordability Assessment, gotten your Agreement in Principle and carefully found yourself a trusted conveyancing solicitor to help process the legal elements of your home buying experience. This means you’re halfway to the finish line! Your next step is to make an offer for your desired home.
As touched upon earlier on, with an Agreement in Principle now in your possession, you will have better success in negotiating with the seller regarding price. Be sure not to make an offer that could insult the seller, but also don’t be afraid to try and negotiate for a lower price.
Knowing you have an AIP, you are more likely to have an offer accepted, as you are prepared for the process, rather than someone who is willing to pay the asking price but hasn’t even gotten themselves in a position to start their mortgage journey.
Worst case scenario, the seller will say no, but it’s at that point you can either come to an agreement on a better price or walk away and find yourself another property with a price that suits you a lot better. Once you’ve had an offer accepted, it’s time to get back in touch with your mortgage advisor and move onto the final steps of your mortgage journey.
Sixth Step: Submit Your Documents
A step now that is crucial to the process; submitting the required documents to go ahead with a mortgage. As can probably be expected when it comes to such large financial commitments, a lender will not just give money to anyone who gets in touch, wanting a mortgage. This has happened in the past and if you cast your minds back to 2007-08, it was disastrous.
The mortgage lender will require lots of different documentation to prove that you are who you say you are, your current income amount, where you live at the moment and how well you conduct your finances on a monthly basis. If you’re applying for a joint mortgage, they will need this same documentation from all involved.
The types of documents you will need to submit to the lender, include; proof of identification, proof of address, the last 3 months’ of your pay slips and latest P60 (employed), proof of any income such as state benefits or maintenance, proof of deposit, the last 3 years’ proof of earnings and Tax Year Overviews (self-employed in Lincoln) and the last 90 days of your personal bank statements.
Seventh Step: We’ll Progress Your Mortgage Application
Now that you’ve had your mortgage agreed in principle, and had an offer accepted from the seller, we can go ahead and submit your full mortgage application. At a point where you’re now prepared and everything has been checked by your mortgage advisor in Lincoln & their team of mortgage administrators, we are ready to submit your application to the lender, hopefully obtaining you a mortgage.
Your advisor will send off all the collected evidence for this, and then it is just a matter of waiting for them to respond with either an accepted application or a declined one. Whilst there isn’t a specific time frame, our team will be able to chase the lender and find out an answer for you, until it has been made clear.
Eighth Step: Property Valuation / Survey
In-between your mortgage application and being offered a mortgage, the lender will need you to have a property valuation survey taken out. This will usually be carried out by accredited companies nominated by the lender (someone that the lender knows they could trust).
The reason they do this is to gain an understanding of the true value of the property, against what you’re paying for it. If you’re paying above its market value, the lender may be less willing to lend to you. This is because if any arrears were to occur at a later date, they would lose out on their money. The act of refusing based on its actual value is usually referred to as a ‘down valuation’.
There are many different types of survey available, with differing prices on each of these. Some will just want to check how much the property is worth, whereas some may let you know of any structural concerns, as well as possible repairs that may be worth looking out for in the future. Your mortgage advisor in Lincoln will be able to give you a good indication as to the right property survey to have done.
Ninth Step: Receiving Your Mortgage Offer
We’re almost at the end now. Your lender has analysed your case and performed an assessment of all the documented evidence. Once this has been done, you will receive a mortgage offer.
Our caring and committed mortgage advisors and administrators in Lincoln, that you’ve surely gotten to know fairly well throughout your mortgage process, will check over the offer on your behalf to ensure everything is correct and as you wanted it. After your mortgage offer has been received, it’s down to your conveyancing solicitor to take your purchase all the way through to completion.
Tenth Step: Completing The Process
A big congratulations to you, you’ve now officially gone from first time buyer in Lincoln to a first-time homeowner in Lincoln, with their own name attached to a property. At this point we hope your worries are now firmly behind you, and that you’re both happy and ready to begin your new life in your very own home.
All that is left is for you to get your keys and start moving in! We hope you enjoyed speaking to our team along the way and were given a fast & friendly mortgage advice service. If you have chosen a fixed rate mortgage, we will get in touch towards the end of your journey to help out with your remortgage!
Date Last Edited: December 12, 2023
