Your Home Finance
Not sure you can afford a first home yet? Your deposit decides more than the rate.
Nobody expects you to understand the whole process on day one. What you can borrow — and which lenders will look at you — is largely settled before rates ever come into it.
30+ years
first-time buyer advice
Borrowing figure
before you view
Whole of market
access
Schemes and 5%
deposits
How your case is assessed
How lenders assess a first-time buyer
Lenders are answering two questions: can you afford the payments, and how much risk does your deposit leave them with. Almost everything else follows from those two answers.
Deposit size and LTV tier
Rates and lender choice step at 95%, 90%, 85% and 80% loan-to-value. Moving from a 5% to a 10% deposit usually changes more about your options than any rate comparison will.
Income and how it's counted
Most lenders work to roughly 4–4.5x income, with some stretching further for stronger profiles or certain professions. Bonus, commission, overtime and self-employed profit are all counted differently by different lenders.
Outgoings and commitments
Car finance, personal loans, credit card balances, childcare and student loan deductions come off before the borrowing figure is set. Clearing one commitment sometimes buys more borrowing than saving another £1,000 of deposit.
Credit file and deposit source
A thin file isn't a problem in itself, but missed payments, recent credit applications and unexplained deposit funds are. Gifted deposits need a clear paper trail and a simple letter from whoever gave it.
You don't need to work this out from calculators and forum threads — we'll give you a realistic figure and tell you what would move it.
Specialist insight
Not every lender will read your first application the same way
5% deposit · variable income · thin credit file
Higher challenge
Narrower panel · tighter affordability at 95% LTV · new-build and flat restrictions bite harder than most calculators suggest.
10%+ deposit · stable income · clean file
More lender choice
Broader high-street panels · better rate tiers · a straightforward path once deposit, income and timing line up.
Independent reviews
Verified client reviews on Reviews.io
Live verified reviews — not cherry-picked on-page quotes.
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Your adviser
Jay Sabine
Expert mortgage adviser specialising in complex cases including adverse credit, self-employed borrowers, and first-time buyers. All advice is tailored to your individual circumstances.
Content reviewed: 3 August 2026
CeMAP awarded by The London Institute of Banking & Finance. Cert CII (MP) awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Specialist in first-time buyer mortgages
Helping clients with complex credit histories for over 30 years · CeMAP, Cert CII (MP) · FCA regulated
“Most first-time buyers arrive apologising for not understanding the process. You're not supposed to — that's the job. What matters is whether the deposit and the timing are ready.”
Reviewed by Jay Sabine · Mortgage adviser · 30+ years' experience
Lived experience
Mistakes we repeatedly see
Not theory — the patterns that keep costing first-time buyers time, money or the house they wanted.
Viewing before knowing the real budget
Online calculators ignore your commitments. Buyers regularly view £30,000 above what a lender will actually agree, then have to start again emotionally as well as financially.
Saving deposit while carrying expensive credit
A £250 monthly car finance payment can reduce borrowing by tens of thousands. Sometimes clearing a commitment does more for your budget than another six months of saving.
Applying for credit in the run-up
New cards, phone contracts, buy-now-pay-later and multiple soft-to-hard applications in the months before a mortgage make an otherwise clean file look busy at exactly the wrong moment.
Budgeting for the deposit and nothing else
Conveyancing, survey, searches, moving costs and any Stamp Duty above the first-time buyer relief threshold all land at once. Deposit spent to the pound leaves no room for the completion week.
Real client scenarios
Real first-time buyer journeys
Based on genuine cases we've helped with. Personal details have been changed to protect privacy.
Told they couldn't buy — bought nine months later
- 5% deposit
- Car finance cleared
- 10% LTV tier reached
- Purchase completed
Situation
A couple renting locally, told by a high-street branch that their income wouldn't stretch to the homes they were viewing.
Challenge
The affordability wasn't the real block — two credit commitments and a 5% deposit were pushing them into the narrowest, most expensive tier of the market.
What changed
We mapped what clearing one commitment and reaching a 10% deposit would do to the borrowing figure, then set a realistic date to apply rather than applying immediately.
Outcome
They bought nine months later with more borrowing available, a better rate tier and a far wider choice of lenders.
Why it worked
The advice was about sequencing, not optimism. A decline in month one would have taught them nothing and left a footprint on the file.
Gifted deposit questioned late in the process
- Parental gift
- Paper trail missing
- Repackaged once
- Offer held
Situation
First-time buyer with an accepted offer and a deposit part-funded by a parental gift.
Challenge
The lender queried the source of funds close to offer stage — with no gift letter or clear savings history, the case was drifting towards a decline while the seller grew impatient.
What changed
We evidenced the gift properly, documented the savings history and presented the file to a lender comfortable with the structure — packaged once, not hopefully three times.
Outcome
Offer issued and the purchase completed without losing the property.
Why it worked
Deposit source is an underwriting question, not a rate question. Handled early, it's routine — handled late, it stalls a purchase.
What happens after you get in touch
From first contact to a clear answer
What happens when you get in touch — no hard search at this stage.
- 1
We understand your income, deposit, savings timeline and what you're hoping to buy (no hard search)
- 2
Jay works out a realistic borrowing figure and what deposit tier it sits in
- 3
We tell you honestly whether now or a few months from now gives you more options
- 4
If proceeding: Agreement in Principle → offer → application → completion
Reassurance
- Free initial review — before any hard credit search
- No question is too basic — first-time buyers are meant to be asking them
- If waiting a few months would widen your options, we'll tell you that instead
Before you enquire
What we'll ask you on the first call
Straightforward questions — no hard credit search at this stage.
- Your income — employed, self-employed, and any bonus, commission or overtime
- Deposit saved so far, plus anything being gifted and who from
- Monthly commitments — car finance, loans, credit cards, childcare
- Rough area, property type and when you'd realistically like to move
Advisory promise
When we might tell you to wait
We won't always tell you to apply today.
We may advise waiting where another few months of saving would reach the next deposit tier, where a recent missed payment or credit application is still fresh on your file, or where clearing one commitment first would meaningfully increase what you can borrow.
Being told to wait three months with a plan is worth far more than a decline today. We give advice — not just applications.
Straight answers
Common questions from first-time buyers
Our promise
What we'll never do
- Tell you to apply if it won't work
- Send applications everywhere
- Recommend borrowing beyond your budget
- Hide bad news
We don't tell first-time buyers what they want to hear. We tell you what you can realistically borrow — and whether you're ready to use it.
Find out what you can realistically borrow
Tell us your income, deposit and rough timescale — we'll give you a realistic borrowing figure before you start viewing.
We'd rather give you an honest number now than let you fall in love with a house that was never going to fit the affordability.
Knowing your real budget before you view is the difference between confident offers and disappointed ones.
£500 adviser fee — payable on completion.
Let's review your first-time buyer options
Free adviser assessment • No credit search • FCA regulated
Struggled to get approved elsewhere? We specialise in complex cases including CCJs, self-employed income, and declined applications. Over 90% of our clients had concerns about their situation before speaking to us.
Related guides
Buying your first home — related decisions
If your first purchase hinges on one of these questions, these chapters go deeper.
Shared Ownership mortgages
When buying a share is the realistic route into the area you want.
Open guide →
First-time buyer schemes
Which support actually applies to you — and which is no longer available.
Open guide →
5% deposit mortgages
What a 95% loan-to-value really means for lender choice and cost.
Open guide →
Self-employed mortgages
If your first purchase sits alongside self-employed or variable income.
Open guide →