On a scale of 1-10 how obsessed are you...?

It was all I could think about, dream about & talk about some 25 years ago - god I must of bored everyone!

But buying my first place was just something I HAD to do.

And buy it I did, a gorgeous maisonette converted within an old water mill, it was £45k back in 1997.

I had every issue of House Beautiful, 25 Beautiful Homes & Country Homes & Interiors (Pinterest hadn't been invented then)

I have bought 3 properties on my own having lived alone 90% of my adult life.

The picture above is my old farmer's cottage home N° 2.

Home N° 3 is my current home, in the Kent countryside again but a new build this time.

My fiancé (that's the first time I've written that) Justin and I have recently bought a house in France - whaaaaaat?

Long story short, he moved in with me after 7 years of being together & instead of us buying a bigger nicer house & have a mortgage for another 20 years we said sod it let's be mortgage free in France!

Life has a funny way of taking us on a journey hasn't it? Gotta love a good plan but also you have to grab some adventures - I believe they're all meant for you anyway you just don't know it yet.

Oh and a funny story... Justin was the architect on that first flat I bought, I just didn't know it or him for another 15 years!

I want our home to be a place where we can be our bravest selves & our most fearful selves.
- Brené Brown

Budgeting for 1stTime Home Buyers Printable Kit

🪴 30 pages of seriously fabulous content that takes you on a journey to understand how to buy a property in the UK

🪴 Moving day countdowns with things to remember

🪴 New home checklists for things to buy or be gifted

🪴 Lead times so you know what order to do things in - always go with your solicitor & mortgage broker's actual timelines this is just a good guide

🪴 Teaches you the enormous benefits to cashflow budgeting & how it can be a game changer as you'll have maximum visibility to what's going on & feel in control. Great life skill!

🪴 Lovely gift for your grown up kids who are looking at embarking on their next chapters.

It's the kind of book I wish I had when I muddled my way through the stressful experience!

This includes your budgeting paper based planner.

If you want the spreadsheet version it's below:

1st time buyers toolkit

Budgeting and Planning is a Registered Member of the GDPR Check & Verify Register.

1st Time Home Buyers Digital Toolkit

🪴 Spreadsheets are worth their weight in gold -WHEN they're simple to use AND they produce the results you want simply by typing in your basic numbers.

Designed in Google Sheets so it's suitable for everyone.

🪴These can be customized to terminology that suits you - this won't interfere with the formulas.

🪴I hate the intensity of numbers everywhere on a spreadsheet, I can't see for looking after a few minutes are you the same?

This is why I made this as easy as possible whilst giving you the powerful yearly view.

Just fill in the blanks.

1st time buyers toolkit

Useful Tips & Extra Resources

What to do first?

⚪️ Congratulations on your new adventure.

You might be in your 20's or in your 50's Many women buy post-divorce or bereavement alone & it's a new experience that is hopefully liberating.

Wherever you are, it's a fresh start.

⚪️ You'll need lovely people on your team & a basic knowledge of how this all works. One resource is to start with a warm & caring podcast - my colleague Mark Humphrey has such a one & episode 16 is rather fabulous - see link below!

⚪️ You will need to get your finances in shape before you start house hunting so that you are ready to leap when you see the one you love. Mark is a mortgage broker so he has "whole of market" to play with. I have two other wonderful colleagues also if you would like to be connected to them, Rebecca Burden & Donna Speed.

Drop me a message via CONTACT ME

What to do next?

⚪️ I've created a really lovely & super useful ebook guide which has loads of space for you to write your important notes in & keep track of where you're at in the process.

It covers all your steps right up to the moving in 4-week countdown so you can be guided, nudged & hand held all the way! See below.

⚪️ So you can understand & demonstrate your "affordability" use the money planner included.

When do you need to pay for stuff?

Your solicitor & broker will tell you - get it in your money planner so you stay on track.

⚪️ After that you can use the same spreadsheet forever to ensure you're in control of your home ownership finances & never feel lost or confused. Buy once, use always.

A few Tips

⚪️ Your solicitor should be a conveyancing expert. Don't scrimp on getting a good one & don't feel you have to use the estate agents in-house one.

⚪️ There are several really important elements to house buying & if its a new build make sure everything has been signed off properly like building regs. Premier Guarantees are in place to insure the building companies, protecting the homeowners.

⚪️ Having bought a new home myself & having quite a few problems with it, please ask all the "what happens if" questions you need to from your solicitors & write down the answers.

⚪️ Here's a great resource for understanding what government support is available through various saving & discount schemes: gov.uk

⚪️ When you're nearing Exchange of Contracts let's chat about getting you the best value for money utilities from the get go.

Broadband can often take 2 weeks to be ready so the sooner we do this the better & you can be reassured you're paying the least now & long term.

LEARN MORE HERE

Blogs &
a BBC Radio Interview

Solar Panels

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Free Checklist for all 1st time Homebuyers

Really helpful one page checklist

Grab yours here