3 Things I Learnt From Saving For A Mortgage

This is a little different to the usual post’s that you would find on my blog, but its something that has been going on in my life for over a year now. Buying a house is so stressful Like seriously stressful. I thought it would be as easy as finding the house that you loved, saving up your deposit and getting a mortgage. And bam, you  move into your dream home.

Oh no.

Don’t be fooled. There are so many hidden back stage things going on, that you simply dont have any control of. And for a control freak like me, it may cause a control induced panic attack. You might think I’m being dramatic. Oh I’m not. I dont want to scare you but lets just be real. Lets be friends, have a chat with a cuppa and Ill be that true friend that we all seem to hate because they speak the truth. No prettying it up, the real hard truth, but Ill break it down into three tips that will help you find it easier. Three things that I wish I knew more of when I was first in this position. Oh and Im still not in the house yet.

1. Your going to want to make sure you’ve got a good credit score. Don’t be the fool like I was, oh well I’ve never had credit so mine with be 100, nothing negative. Oh but yes there was. You see, you’ve actually got to get the credit to improve your credit. Something that seemed super terrifying when I was first told this. But why do I want to get credit when I am ok with the money thats sitting in my bank account. Well, when you get a mortgage you are taking out a gigantic loan, they want to know that your going to be paying it back on time and have the right amount to pay it back. If your sitting reading this thinking well sh!t, Ive got rubbish credit, you might be able to get a loan, even with bad credit. But make sure your paying the correct amount on the correct date to improve your credit. Once you’ve started paying the loan back your credit score should improve because you then look like a trustworthy lender, and the mortgage companies are going to be saying yes, you certainly can have a mortgage.
2. Staying in control is one thing I think is vital. When you get paid each month look at the money you have. Take off any bills you need to pay (make sure your including your loan repayment), take off any other things you may need to pay for that month. And then you can see exactly what your left with and what you get to pop into that savings account for the dream home your saving for. Making sure you know exactly what your going to be spending that months wage on allows you to stay in control, you know what you can spend on those extra items you treat yourself to. And it may mean you have a girls night in rather than going out every weekend. Or like me you have sort through your wardrobe, sell some of the clothes you haven’t worn in forever to make a little more money.
3. Be realistic. This is my last tip but one I think is so important. Ive spent month after month not being realistic. Putting everything into myself savings accounts and not having a penny left to actually enjoy my life. But you know what I’d rather it took a few months longer to save and have a little bit of money to spend on me each month. There is nothing worse than transferring all your money into your savings account and watching all your friends enjoying there life after pay day. Be realistic, be smart about what you can put away but dont cut yourself short, you’ll only end up taking it out of the savings account and then feel guilty about it.

What are your tips for somebody saving up for a mortgage or whats your struggles been when you’ve been saving up?
There are some other great tips of the Money Saving Expert site.

CharlotteSamantha. OX

This post is sponsored by Cash Lady