Planning to Buy Your First Dream Home in 2026? Here Are My 7 Favorite Tips

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Hi, I’m Ifthikar Mohamed. I’m a mortgage adviser, and I’ve been in the industry for more than a decade now. Over the last ten years, I’ve seen exactly what makes a lender say “yes” and what makes them hesitate.

To help you navigate the UK property market and get your application approved smoothly, I’ve put together my seven favourite tips for first-time buyers.

1. Download Your Credit File

The very first thing I would do is download a copy of your credit file. Your credit report tells the lender whether you are creditworthy and if they should trust you with a mortgage.

People always ask me, “What score is good?” There is no single right answer to this because every lender has their own internal system. However, most of the time we are expecting a score of about 750 out of 1,000.

If your score is beyond 750, there’s a very good chance you can secure a mortgage. If it’s less than that, the chances become lower. That being said, it isn’t a hard and fast rule because we have had customers who even had a score of 550, but they still qualified for a mortgage. The key is knowing exactly what is on your file before the bank looks at it.

2. Make Sure You’re on the Voter’s Register

The next important thing that you would do as a first-time buyer is to make sure you’re on the voter’s register (the electoral roll).

When you’re on the voter’s register, the lenders can clearly see exactly where your address is. But if you’re not on it, it’s very difficult for them to track you, especially if you’ve been moving houses from time to time. Moving around without registering doesn’t help. As soon as you register on the electoral roll, your credit score can skyrocket.

3. Evidence Your Income Properly

If you’re preparing as a first-time buyer, you need to be able to evidence your income to the lender. How you do this depends on how you get paid:

• If you are employed: Lenders will normally look at your last 3 months of payslips.
• If you are self-employed: Lenders rely on something called an SA302 or an accountant’s certificate, which comes directly from HMRC or your certified accountant. If you don’t have that in hand, you probably want to have a conversation with your accountant early on to make sure you have this document ready.

Lenders will also look for a tax overview to show them that you have actually paid the taxes due to HMRC. If you haven’t paid your taxes to HMRC, lenders start worrying! Also, for the self-employed, we sometimes insist on looking at company accounts. Sometimes we find people are a little short of personal cash, and going with the company’s profit route plus the salary together gives them a much better mortgage capacity.

4. Provide Clean Proof of Deposit

As first-time buyers, we need to show clear proof of deposit. What that means is the banks will look at your last 3 months, and sometimes your last 6 months, of bank statements to see exactly how you have saved that money you’re going to put down.

Some people might not have saved all that money themselves. They might depend on their parents for help. For people like that, there are distinct paths we can take:

• Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor (JBSP) Schemes: A great option if you need a family member’s income to help support the affordability criteria without putting them on the property deeds.
• Third-Party Contributions: If you are buying a new-build house or using Help to Buy Wales scheme, you might have deposit contributions made by a third party.
• Gifted Deposits: If your parents are giving you money, we will need a signed document called a gifted deposit letter confirming it’s an unconditional gift, not a loan.

No matter where the funds are coming from, you should be able to cleanly prove the source of your deposit.

5. Avoid Taking Unnecessary Debt or Loans

My next big point is to avoid taking out any unnecessary debt or loans while preparing your application.

Your debt can be in the form of a credit card, a personal loan, or a hire purchase agreement. There are so many financial schemes out there, but please avoid taking them. If you take on new debt, the lender knows that you owe somebody else money, and the total amount they are willing to give you as a mortgage will start reducing.

Why 0% credit cards can trip you up: Some people think, “Okay, it’s a 0% credit card. Let me go and get it.” It doesn’t really help. A 0% card is sometimes horrible because what happens is you accumulate a big chunk of debt. With a standard loan, at least you are actively paying it off over a set time, but with an open credit card, that balance could easily become a problem for you later. Unless you really have to, do not take on new debt because avoiding it only helps your application.

6. Settle Existing Debt (Without Hitting Your Deposit)

If you already have debt and you have the spare funds to settle it, please settle it. Doing so will boost your overall borrowing capacity and give lenders massive confidence about your repayment ability.

However, you must check one critical thing first: make sure when you settle your debt, it doesn’t affect your deposit.

Remember, at the end of the day, you still need to put a physical deposit down. If you are settling all your debts but find you suddenly don’t have enough money left over for the actual deposit, that is going to cause a massive problem later.

7. Speak to a Mortgage Advisor Early

You might have all of these factors perfectly in place, but everybody’s financial circumstance is entirely different.

We often find that people come to us and say, “My friend got a mortgage, he earns the exact same amount as me, so I can get that exact same mortgage too.” No, your credit scores won’t be equal, your outgoings will differ, and your circumstances will be slightly different. Everybody is not the same.

Especially if you have a complicated situation, like being self-employed or managing unique business structures, you need to speak to an advisor early enough so they can guide you, handhold you through the underwriting criteria, and make sure that you make your dream home a reality.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What credit score do I need for a UK mortgage?

While there is no single magic number because every lender evaluates credit history on their own internal scoring model, a score of 750 out of 1,000 or above is generally expected to give you an excellent chance of approval. However, specialist lenders can regularly look past lower scores if the wider application is strong.

How do lenders calculate self-employed income?

For self-employed applicants or directors, lenders primarily look at your SA302 documents, tax overviews, or an accountant’s certificate covering the most recent years. In many cases, specialised brokers can help you secure a mortgage using a combination of your salary and retained company profits rather than just your personal drawings.

Can I use a cash gift from my parents as a deposit?

Yes, absolutely. However, lenders will require a gifted deposit letter signed by your parents. This document formally proves to the underwriter that the money is an absolute gift, requires no repayment, and gives them no legal equity or ownership stake in the house.

Let’s Turn Your Dream Home into a Reality

If there is anything you think we can help you with, our contact details are given below. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team here at WIS Mortgages.

This is Ifthikar signing off. Thank you very much!

Watch video: 7 Costly Mistakes First-Time Buyers Make

About the Author

Ifthikar Mohamed is a qualified Mortgage Adviser at WIS Mortgages with over a decade of hands-on experience in the UK financial sector. Known for his practical, transparent approach, Ifthikar specialises in helping first-time buyers navigate complex income structures, self-employed applications, and challenging credit scenarios to successfully secure their dream homes.

FCA Disclaimer

Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debt secured on it.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute personalised financial, mortgage, tax or legal advice.

Commercial lending criteria vary by lender and depend on the business, property and borrowing structure.