Mortgage brokers for first-time buyers
Clear advice for your first home.
Compare suitable options, understand the fees and prepare your application.
The short answer
You can approach a lender directly, but a mortgage broker can compare the lenders and products within their service, explain the total cost and help you prepare an application. The useful question is whether that adviser’s scope, fees and support fit your purchase. No adviser can guarantee a mortgage offer or replace your conveyancer’s legal advice.
Your choice
You do not have to use a broker to buy your first home. A lender’s own adviser generally discusses that lender’s mortgages. A broker may compare products from several lenders, but the range depends on the broker’s arrangements; some deals are available only to direct applicants. Ask for the scope before assuming either route covers every option.
Useful if you want help comparing lender criteria, working through unusual income or credit records, checking costs and handling mortgage queries during the purchase. Check the adviser’s lender range, fee and handover process.
May suit you if you already know the lender’s product meets your needs and you are comfortable comparing fees, conditions and affordability yourself. You can still ask a broker what their comparison covers before deciding.
For borrowing, deposits, schemes and the purchase stages, use our separate first-time buyer mortgage guide. This page focuses on choosing and working with an adviser.
Before you appoint anyone
The cheapest quoted fee or lowest advertised rate does not, by itself, tell you which service or mortgage is suitable. Ask the same questions of each adviser.
Working with Count Ready
Our initial conversation is free. Tell us where you are in the purchase, what you know about your budget and whether anything may need a closer look. You do not need to have found a property, and the first enquiry is not a mortgage application.
We discuss income, regular commitments, deposit source, credit history and your purchase stage. That helps identify questions to resolve before approaching a lender.
We explain the scope of the lender comparison and confirm any advice or processing fee in writing before chargeable work. You can decide whether to go ahead.
If a suitable route is available, we explain the recommended mortgage, provide the illustration and help organise the evidence for the application.
The lender checks affordability, credit and the property. We help respond to mortgage queries; the lender decides whether to offer a loan and on what terms.
Count Ready’s first-time buyer advice and fees section explains the current published fee approach and service scope. The Terms of Business set out the detailed terms. Ask us to confirm the amount and payment point for your own case.
When the case is less straightforward
A first-time buyer can be employed, self-employed, buying alone or applying with someone else. A small deposit, previous missed payment, visa position or unusual property may alter which lender criteria are worth checking. None of these details means automatic acceptance or refusal.
Explain the type, amount and date of the issue before another application or credit search.
First-time buyer bad-credit guidanceSay how you trade and which accounts or tax records are available; lenders assess income evidence differently.
Self-employed mortgage guidanceGet the lender’s actual reason and tell your conveyancer about any purchase deadline before applying elsewhere.
What to do after a first-time buyer declineGOOGLE REVIEWS
Read the original Google feedback before you enquire. The stars are decorative; they do not state a current rating or predict any mortgage outcome.
Choosing a broker involves trust as well as cost. Reviews can help you judge how clients describe explanations, communication and support. Read the live feedback in context, then ask how the adviser would handle your own case.
A previous client’s experience is not evidence that a lender will accept your application.
View Google reviewsAsk about first-time buyer advicePrepare for a useful first call
An outline is enough at the enquiry stage. Say whether you are still saving, viewing properties, have an accepted offer or have already applied. Give an approximate purchase price, deposit, income type, current commitments and any known credit or property issue. If there is a deadline, mention it.
The adviser can tell you which identity, income, bank, deposit and property evidence will actually be needed. Do not upload account numbers, identity documents, full bank statements or credit reports through a general callback form. Use the secure route agreed with the adviser later.
An agreement in principle is only a provisional indication and is not a mortgage offer. Before one is requested, ask what information will be used and whether the lender makes a soft or hard credit search. Our mortgage-in-principle guide explains that separate stage.
Questions buyers ask
No. You can go directly to a lender. A broker can compare the lenders within its service and help with advice and application work. Ask what it covers, what it excludes and what it costs before deciding.
No single fee tells you the total cost. A broker may charge a client fee, receive lender commission or both. Compare the service, mortgage illustration, lender fees and borrowing cost, and ask when any fee is payable or refundable.
No. Rates and lender criteria change. A broker can research suitable options and prepare an application, but the lender sets the available terms and decides whether to offer a mortgage.
Yes. Discuss your budget, deposit and likely evidence early. A property-specific application comes later, and a provisional agreement in principle is not a formal offer.
The broker deals with mortgage advice and application questions. Your conveyancer handles the legal purchase, and a surveyor reports on property condition. Ask how the professionals will share updates, especially if your offer or completion has a deadline.
A useful next step
Tell Count Ready where you are in the purchase and what you want an adviser to check. The initial conversation is free. If advice or application work is appropriate, we will explain the service and fees before chargeable work starts. This is an enquiry, not a mortgage application or a promise of an offer.
Please give only an outline in your first message. We will agree a secure way to share documents if they are needed.
Request a callbackCall 01245 934515Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Advice scope, broker payment and mortgage illustration points were checked against MoneyHelper’s mortgage-advice guide. Firm-checking and appointed-representative points were checked against the FCA’s consumer guidance. Count Ready’s service and fee wording was checked against its first-time buyer advice page and Terms of Business. Reviewed 1 October 2026.
This page gives general UK information. Product availability, lender criteria, rates, fees and the scope of advice must be confirmed for your own case. Count Ready is a broker, not a lender; a recommendation is made only after an adviser has assessed your circumstances.
