What every first-time buyer is wondering
The internet won't give you a straight answer.
How much can I actually borrow?
Online calculators say one number. The bank's website says another. The forum thread you read at midnight said a third, and they were buying in 2019. The figure you'd actually get from a real lender, on real terms, is somewhere in the middle — and sat behind a soft credit check nobody wants to do until they've got an honest answer.
Have I got enough deposit?
There are even mortgages now where you don't need a deposit at all if you've got the rental history to prove you can pay. Five percent's enough for plenty of others, ten opens up better deals, fifteen and the rates drop again — but nobody mentions stamp duty, valuation fees, conveyancing or all the small stuff that adds up alongside it, and the number you've actually got might be enough or might not.
What does a conveyancer even do?
Search results say one thing, your mate's solicitor said another, and somewhere between "the legal bit" and "exchange and completion" you switched off because nobody explained any of it in a sentence you could actually follow. You assume it's important and expensive, and you're right on both counts.
Do I actually need life insurance?
Nobody requires it for a mortgage, technically — but if anything happened to you and the mortgage was in both names, the person you bought the house with would suddenly be trying to keep it on one income. That feels like a thing worth thinking about, but you've never had anyone properly explain what cover would even look like or what it'd cost.
Here's what we sort, in order
One team. Four steps. We tell you when each one needs to happen.
Mortage in principle
Before you start arranging viewings, we work out exactly how much you can borrow, with which lenders, on what terms — so when you find the place, you can move on it quickly without the panic of working out the numbers from scratch.
The full application
Once you've found the house and had your offer accepted, we package the application properly, deal with the lender, chase the valuation, and handle the back-and-forth all the way through to mortgage offer — without you chasing anyone.
Conveyancing
The legal bit — searches, contracts, exchange, completion. Done by people who actually pick up the phone, on the same platform as your broker. Which means you don't repeat yourset and we're all on the same team.
Protection
Life cover, critical illness, income protection — set up so the mortgage doesn't become a problem for the people you love if something happens. Sorted alongside the rest of it, not bolted on after completion when nobody mentions it.
Built for first-time buyers, however your doing it
Buying with a partner, going it alone, getting a leg-up from family or applying as self-employed — whichever one fits, the process feels just as overwhelming. We walk every first-time buyer through it the same way, from the first conversation about what you can borrow to the day you get the keys.
Couples buying together
Joint mortgage, shared deposit, two incomes the lender's looking at.
Single buyers
Going it alone, one income on the application, every fee yours.
Buyers with family help
A gifted deposit, a guarantor or a joint borrower-sole proprietor setup.
Self-employed buyers
Sole trader, contractor or director — accounts, dividends, the full pack..
