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Things I wish I had known before we bought our house

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Getting to the stage of buying a house together is very exciting, and when my husband and I were finally in a position to buy our own home together in 2019 we learned a lot along the way. Even now, having lived in our home for almost 3 years we are still learning new things.

It is a long process

In the UK especially, buying a home can be an extremely long process.

The house we bought went up for sale in May. It was empty, chain free and ready to go. We were chain free.

It should have been really straightforward, but we only moved in just a week or so before Christmas, and that was only because we pushed the solicitors along.

Overpaying your mortgage can make a huge difference

With the cost of living crisis happening it can be hard to imagine making mortgage overpayments, but even the smallest overpayment can make a big difference.

Since mortgage interest is compounded, every penny overpayment you can make will help you to save interest and pay off your mortgage even faster.

On our mortgage, a £10 monthly overpayment means paying off our mortgage 5 months earlier but more importantly, saving £1,500 in interest over the course of our mortgage.

Finding £10 a month for an overpayment can be a fun challenge – sell something on Vinted, complete online surveys or take up mystery shopping.

There is insurance for everything

There are so many things that can go wrong when you own a home, so many of us choose to have insurance to cover the unexpected.

When owning a home you might immediately think of having building insurance and contents insurance for your home and your belongings, but did you know that there are loads of other insurances out there? For example you can get gazundering insurance when it comes to selling your home.

Having an emergency fund is vital

In the first year of owning our home our goal was to overpay the mortgage like crazy.

Then this year we have invested a lot of money into our home with home improvements. We have had a new kitchen fitted and we are having two bathrooms renovated.

I woke up on the coldest day in September (which I know isn't even near winter) to find that my shower was only lukewarm.

I then discovered that our boiler was showing an error and would not turn on again. Cue Tony finding someone to come out and take a look, and we were told that the boiler would need replacing, or we could have a temporary fix for just under £600.

Wow!

Thank goodness for our emergency fund! When you buy a house it is tempting to put all of your savings towards the house purchase, but I would definitely recommend having an emergency fund in place. Home ownership can be really expensive!

Owning a home isn't any better than renting

I keep hearing the argument that ‘renting is throwing money away' and I completely disagree.

Renting is great for so many reasons!

One of them is that you have a set monthly cost per month for your rent. You won't need to shell out for expensive boiler repairs as it is up to your landlord to cover those costs. This can really help you to budget your money better.

Having a roof over your head is never going to be throwing money away.

Picture of Emma Drew

Emma Drew

Emma has spent over 15 years sharing her expertise in making and saving money, inspiring thousands to take control of their finances. After paying off £15,000 in credit card debt, she turned her side hustles into a full-time career in 2015. Her award-winning blog, recognized as the UK's best money-making blog for three years, has made her a trusted voice, with features on BBC TV, BBC radio, and more.

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