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Buying our first home together in 2019 has been a long and challenging process. Many of you have asked me for recommendations from the mortgage broker we used to get a mortgage whilst being self-employed down to the packaging tape we have used. Here are my house buying recommendations.
NB: Although this page is called ‘recommendations' you should still do your own research especially when it comes to choosing a financial product.
Credit report – Experian
(Experian are a past client but this is not an #ad)
At the start of 2019 we wanted to make sure we were in a good place with our credit report and credit score to get a mortgage.
We used Experian for free to get our credit report and credit score.
Savings account – Marcus
Choosing where to place our house deposit savings there was a lot to consider. In the end we went with Marcus by Goldman Sachs. We got a rate of 1.45% AER which included a bonus of 0.10% gross for the first 12 months.
Withdrawing the money is usually instant which was helpful when we moved into the chapel and needed to pay 6 month's rent in advance.
Mortgage broker – Chris Lyons
Chris Lyons was recommended to us from another money Instagrammer and we could not be happier with the service he provided us with. We started the process by having a chat with Chris to understand if we were doing the right things in order to get a mortgage. Everything was done online or on the phone, with no home visits or massive forms to fill in. Chris was then able to get our mortgage in principle and mortgage offer fairly quickly.
More than that though, Chris has been available on WhatsApp for everything that has happened along the process. He has acted quickly and tried to push things along when things were being held up.
We cannot recommend Chris enough!
Removals company – DS Movements
You know when you meet someone and instantly get a good feeling? That was us when we met Doug from DS Movements. He immediately put our minds at ease, answered all of our questions and got us a reasonable quote. He wasn't the cheapest we were quoted, but the reviews for the company are amazing.
DS movements cover a large area of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, and helped us to move further into Norfolk.
Packaging boxes – Facebook groups, friends and family
We have been saving packaging boxes for months and months in anticipation of this move. The majority of them were sourced from Facebook groups and friends and family for free. We have not paid for a single box.
Packaging tape
I hate brown tape that doesn't stick down properly. This stuff from Amazon does the job really well!
Bubble wrap
We went through a lot of bubble wrap in our house move, and found this one from Amazon to be the best for us.
If your home needs a septic tank, contact OMDI.