Dreaming about a home? You’re not the only one. However, if you really want to get into the home of your dreams, you have to plan. The UK housing market is pretty competitive, and prices are on the rise. That doesn’t mean that the dream of owning your first home isn’t going to be on the table. It just means that you might have to work a lot harder for it than you might have expected. It means that you will have to save money. It might even mean that you have to cut back on a lot of things that you would normally buy in order to spoil yourself. If you want something really bad, you’ll do just about anything to get it. It’s up to you to make your dreams happen.

So, how do you do that?  You will need to make sure that you are saving money. That might mean that you make more money than what you need, and you pocket what you do not need. However, you might also need to look at how much you’re spending if you have a lot of frivolous spending, that would be a great motivator to stop spending so much money. You have to imagine your dream home as the most important goal you have on your financial blueprint.

What about government schemes? You might want to talk to your local building society for any programs that they can assist you with applying for.

You want to make sure that when you are going to get a home that all of your finances are in order. If you have a high debt to income ratio, then you will not be able to get the best home at the best rice. That’s not to say that you won’t be offered a mortgage. You have to make sure that you carefully evaluate all mortgage offers. It might not be the most pleasant thing to stay in your rental until the right mortgage offer comes along, but it is certainly worth it when you really think about it. That extra money that you’re able to save will lower your mortgage rate. Why pay more for a mortgage if you don’t have to?

Your credit comes into play because the lender wants to make absolutely sure that you’re going to be able to afford your monthly payments. This is also why it’s important to never spend your entire budget on the mortgage. You never know what will come along in life — a salary reduction could make it very hard to pay your bills. Would you have enough savings to pay your mortgage while you look for another job? Being prepared for anything and everything life throws your way is the key.

It might sound like it’ll take forever to get your first home — especially when it comes to saving up for that deposit — but it’s all well worth it in the end!