The complete guide to buying your first home

General guidance, not a personal recommendation. Lender criteria, insurance terms and costs depend on the product and your circumstances. Numerical examples are illustrations unless expressly identified as an individual quote. Check current terms with your adviser and tax or legal points with the relevant specialist.

Step 1: Working out your budget

Before you start viewing, you need to know your realistic maximum property price. That means: how much deposit you have, how much you can borrow, and what other costs you'll need to cover. A proper broker conversation tells you your ceiling, typically deposit + borrowing capacity, minus SDLT, legal fees, survey and moving costs.

Step 2: Agreement in Principle

Also called a Decision in Principle, an AIP is a conditional indication from a lender of what it might lend based on the information and checks at that stage. Some lenders use a soft credit search and others a hard search; ask which applies before proceeding. It is not a mortgage offer or a guarantee. An estate agent may ask to see one, but it is not a legal requirement for making an offer.

Step 3: Viewing and making offers

You view, offer, negotiate. When an offer is accepted, the estate agent will usually call us to confirm your AIP and financial position, don't be caught off guard by this, it's normal. Once an offer's accepted, you move fast: mortgage application, conveyancer appointed, survey booked.

Step 4: Full mortgage application

We submit your full mortgage application to the lender. They run their affordability check, order a valuation of the property, and underwrite the case. Turnaround is typically 2-4 weeks from application to mortgage offer. Any queries from the lender come through us, we chase and unblock things.

Step 5: Conveyancing

The legal process of transferring property ownership. Your solicitor does searches (local authority, environmental, water, etc.), reviews the seller's paperwork, raises enquiries, and prepares contracts. Usually 6-12 weeks depending on chain complexity. This is the slowest part of the process; it's also the part most likely to throw up problems.

Step 6: Exchange of contracts

The legally binding commitment. After exchange, both parties are committed to completing the sale. Your deposit is transferred at exchange, exchange date is set (typically 1-4 weeks before completion), and completion date is locked in. Before exchange, you need building insurance in place from exchange date onwards.

Step 7: Completion

The day you get the keys. Your solicitor transfers funds to the seller's solicitor, deeds are registered, and the property is yours. Usually you collect keys from the estate agent in the afternoon. Completion almost always happens on a Friday.

What it all costs

Beyond the deposit itself, first-time buyers typically need to budget for:

• Stamp Duty (first-time buyer relief means often £0 up to £300k).
• Solicitor fees: £1,000-£1,800.
• Survey: £400-£1,200 depending on level (Level 2 Homebuyer is common).
• Mortgage product fee (if applicable): £0-£1,999, often addable to loan.
• Removals, furniture, initial home essentials: £1,000-£5,000 typically.

Schemes that might apply

Lifetime ISA (25% government bonus on savings of up to £4k/year); Shared Ownership (buying a share then staircasing up); Mortgage Guarantee Scheme extensions (95% LTV lending supported by government); and specific regional schemes. We'll flag any that apply to your situation.

What our advisers do for you

Source a suitable mortgage from over 90 lenders across the market. Handle the AIP and full application. Liaise with the lender through underwriting. Chase the solicitor and estate agent when things stall. Put your protection in place alongside the mortgage so your family is covered from day one. Stay your adviser for every future mortgage, remortgages in 2-5 years, moving up the ladder, expanding into buy-to-let, whatever comes next.