Becoming A Homeowner at 25, What I Have Learnt

You may have noticed I’ve been VERY quiet on the blog front and it’s for a good reason, I’ve bought a house! My boyfriend Ben and I signed the papers for our house in November and we spent a month alongside both sets of parents doing the house up (so it was liveable) and spent our evening's painting, cleaning, painting and basically a lot of painting!

The house is very different from when we first moved in, but I am so proud of how it’s coming along as always, we are not completely done on the housework front, but it’s work in progress. I will share some pictures of the house throughout this post.

Since becoming a homeowner, there are a few things I’ve learnt and I thought if this helps one person, then job done!

 Save on the Legal Fees - If you work full time (or your partner does) make sure you check with your employer who their solicitor is. I did this with my workplace and saved 10% on our bill which is a lot when it’s a bill of around £1000! If like me you are in the Staffordshire area (and you need a recommendation) we used Myers and Co.

     Use a Mortgage Broker – I know some people will say this is a waste of money/time but for someone who doesn’t know about mortgages or the benefits of a certain mortgage they are SO USEFUL. We managed to get a great interest rate (I think 2.4%) and £1000 cashback on completion which helped towards the cost of a new bed, sofa etc. If you’re in the Staffordshire area, the broker we used was My Simple Mortgage.

     Invest in a good mattress – You sleep in your bed every night and spend 8 hours (at least) sleeping so why have a standard mattress? Ben and I have a Harrison Spinks mattress and it’s probably the best thing we’ve ever bought. I recommend going down to your local Dreams store and testing out the sleeper machine thing which measures how you sleep!

    Use Cashback Sites – If you’re like me and you’ve never bought broadband before, electricity, gas and signed up to life insurance (you get the idea) always look on cashback sites first. At the moment I use Quidco and Topcashback and what’s great about these sites is they offer great rates. When I renewed my car insurance a few days ago I should eventually receive £30 cashback and we saved £150 by doing this before signing up for our TV/Broadband package.

 Do you have any homeowner tips? Let me know in the comments!
Becca xo Twitter//Instagram//Facebook