And there\u2019s more to being ready to buy a home than hitting a target savings goal, or nabbing a specific salary amount. \u201cIf you can think about buying a home without feeling panicked, confused or overwhelmed, that\u2019s often a really good indicator of readiness,\u201d says Boxall.<\/p>\n
For knowing you\u2019ve got a good grasp of the financials, these signs can help too\u2026<\/p>\n
1. You still have money left after the deposit<\/p>\n
\u201cIf buying a home wipes out everything you\u2019ve saved, that\u2019s not really being ready, that\u2019s being vulnerable,\u201d says Boxall. \u201cPeople<\/a> need to recognise that homes are expensive after you buy them.\u201d From discovering you need to rewire and put in double glazing, or something breaks, \u201cit\u2019s amazing what can come up\u201d, says Boxall. \u201cYou want to be prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n She says it\u2019s a good sign if you\u2019ve got enough for your deposit and then \u201can emergency buffer covering three to six months of essential expenses\u201d. \u201cThat will place you in good stead,\u201d she says, and means if something unexpected happens, you\u2019ll be in a better position to handle it.<\/p>\n 2. You understand the full cost of buying<\/p>\n \u201cBuying a home can feel really complicated, and there are so many elements to it,\u201d warns Boxall. \u201cIt\u2019s important to build your knowledge around what\u2019s exactly required, whether it\u2019s what the stamp duty is, or if you\u2019re exempt from that, the legal fees, the surveys and the actual moving and set-up costs.\u201d Handily, there are lots of online guides and you can talk to family and friends who have been through the process too.<\/p>\n 3. You are in control of your finances<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really important to know what\u2019s coming in, what\u2019s going out, and what would happen if things change. If your finances already feel confusing, owning a house won\u2019t make things any simpler for you,\u201d says Boxall.<\/p>\n Having a handle on your budget is vital. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to be a wizard at Excel with a perfect colour-coded spreadsheet, but certainly having a rough understanding of your monthly incomings and outgoings can really help,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n Understanding your credit score can be helpful too, and \u201cnot only in helping you get a good mortgage rate, it\u2019s also quite a good assessment of your financial position\u201d. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got a good credit score, that indicates you\u2019re going to be more ready to buy a property than if that\u2019s not looking good,\u201d notes Boxall.<\/p>\n Get a free fractional share worth up to \u00a3100. Terms and conditions apply.<\/p>\n Go to website<\/a><\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Get a free fractional share worth up to \u00a3100. Terms and conditions apply.<\/p>\n Go to website<\/a><\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n And don\u2019t stick your head in the sand about any debt you might have either \u2013 it may not rule you out of home ownership, as long as it\u2019s under control. \u201cA lot of people will have debt and regular credit, but if your debt is managed, that\u2019s a good sign,\u201d says Boxall. Speak to a debt advisor or charity, like StepChange<\/a>, if you\u2019re concerned.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n 4. You\u2019ve thought about the what-ifs<\/p>\n \u201cBuying a home shouldn\u2019t rely on everything going absolutely perfectly. What if interest rates dip? What if your job changes? Going through a few scenarios like this could be a really helpful way of knowing if you\u2019re ready,\u201d says Boxall. \u201cReadiness is not about how optimistic you are, it\u2019s about how robust your plan is.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. You\u2019re not sacrificing your future self to buy today<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the biggest mistakes first-time buyers make is putting everything into property and pausing all other planning. If buying a home means stopping your pension contributions entirely, that\u2019s probably a sign that the timing might not be right for you,\u201d says Boxall. \u201cIn the UK, only 20% of employees are currently on track for a comfortable retirement \u2013 12.5 million are currently undersaving for retirement, so it\u2019s worth checking that you\u2019re not sacrificing your future for buying a property in a rush.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-373015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Trading](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/static-assets\/images\/mobile-stores\/Trading_212.svg\")
<\/p>\n
Capital at risk.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Capital at risk.<\/p>\n