Read Anna's story
First-time buyer Anna is getting excited to pick up the keys to her first flat in Tamworth, Staffordshire in the next couple of months. Anna doesn’t think she’ll fully appreciate she’s on the ladder until she’s in her new property and the scale of the decorating project dawns on her. Her pet house rabbit will need to get used to their new surroundings too - fingers crossed for minor levels of new sofa destruction! At the age of 22, Anna’s ten years younger than the average first-time buyer*. She managed to get onto the property ladder so early by using her Beehive Money Lifetime ISA (LISA) to save her deposit.
Anna explained: “I’ve been trying to save my 10% house deposit for a few years but always ended up dipping into my funds so never seriously got anywhere until I opened my LISA, which I can’t easily access and so the amount I’ve been putting in every payday has grown and grown.
“With the 25% Government bonus, I could bring my plans forward by around eight months and have the deposit I needed. Then it was honestly a case of ‘right, how do I buy a house?’ because like most first-time buyers, I had absolutely no idea.
Our first-time buyer secured her mortgage with the expert help of Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) and she was actually the very first Beehive Money member to do this. Anna, who works in e-commerce, said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been first at anything, so hearing that was really quite cool! I was so pleased with how smooth the process was from saving my deposit to getting my mortgage.”
Lifetime ISA customers who have saved, or are close to saving, their property deposit and are ready to discuss their mortgage options can start their own mortgage process with just a few taps on the app.
“I did some research and, when I’d found a property I liked and thought I might be able to afford, I revisited the website as I remembered seeing that, as a LISA saver, I could access mortgage advice. And I’ve not looked back. I filled in a form online one weekend and on Monday morning, I got a call back from my mortgage adviser, John.
“All I had to do was answer any questions John had for me and provide the information he needed. He was really nice to deal with and talked me through products such as income protection and other bits I hadn’t thought of.
“I’m a quite laid-back person but buying your first home is a big life moment with the potential to stress anyone out. However, everything has been clearly explained to me at every stage and that really eased the pressure.”
Anna’s advice for any potential first-time buyers would be “to consider getting a LISA, if they haven’t got one already. Having one focused my financial thinking and made me more disciplined around saving, with the icing on the cake being the Government bonus, which accelerated my home buying plans.
“Next, when they are ready to look at mortgages and compare what’s out there, MAB were a great choice for me. Everything was laid out clearly and put my mind at ease before I even had chance to get worried about it.
“It’s been a really positive experience, and one that I would definitely recommend.”
If you’re a first-time buyer like Anna you can compare thousands of mortgages from over 90 lenders and 12,000 products and get support every step of the way with Mortgage Advice Bureau.
