First Time Buyer Blog: Giving Yourself Some Peace of Mind

This blog was created by the blogger 'Hello Terri Lowe' in collaboration with Rightio

When it comes to buying your first home, I will make this bold statement:

Buying the house is the easy part.

The harder parts come when you start to notice the little things here and there that go wrong or need fixing.

That's when you start to panic.

The home buying process kind of ticks along once you've found the place you want and put your offers in and they get accepted.

But having to put in offers so quickly, you can find yourself rushing the viewings and diving in feet first without considering some of the follow up costs.

For example. The house I have bought I rushed in to. There were two reasons for this:

1. It was on the street I already lived in renting, and I knew I was happy with the size and layout (they are identical houses!)
2. I knew the niggles in the house, where to watch for leaks, the importance of checking the loft/roof and general wear and tear to be expected on the property.

One thing I knew I'd have to look at once I moved in was the boiler as well.

My old boiler in the rented house already drove me insane. But due to it being rented, the landlord wouldn't do anything with it as it was still fit for purpose and worked.

However, when the boiler and system is 30years old, it's not the most energy efficient or cost effective! Not to mention the annoying noises that come with it.

I've been trying to save as much as possible to fund a new boiler during the summer months (as it's way too cold to even consider going 2-3 days without heating at the moment!) But the on-going worry of the boiler being old and possibly dying at any point is quite concerning if I think about it too long.

Sometimes it's nice to live on the edge, but this isn't the type of edge I like to live on.

How do you ease boiler worries though?

I mean, apart from winning the lottery and being able to just replace my existing system...

Well, the main way is to invest in a back up plan. Such as a boiler cover care club.

There are a tonne of options online for boiler cover and repair services, but Rightio actually make it really simple to understand (especially for someone like me who didn't even know where my boiler was for two weeks after I moved in.... it happened to be in the LOFT?!)

The Rightio Care Club is a monthly subscription service, which entitles the customer to unlimited call outs if you just so happen to suffer a home maintenance issue.

In a nutshell the service offers that extra peace of mind for any problems that might occur.

Leaking taps, central heating, faulty radiators.... The list can go on.

The best part is that it's around £20 a month (£9.50 to £29.50, depending on plan, to be exact) - with no excess.

Which is a big relief considering I just found the excess on my pet insurance alone is £99!! I'm panicking now wondering what other excess I've signed up for without even realising....

When buying for the first time there is so much to consider, and SO much you forget.

Gone are the days I can just ring the landlord.

I need back up plan, after back up plan - and this is just the start!

I also recently had a quote from Rightio for a boiler replacement, as mine is quite a complex set up the quote was within expectations and for now I'm parking it until summer.

Setting up the quote was really easy though and I just went on their website and popped in a few details. I was actually surprised they had an option for a boiler in the loft because I swear this wasn't a thing before this house. But apparently it's how some homes are. Which isn't great.

Anyway, you simply select the service you require on their website and go through the process. I've even been browsing the ball park costs of other services they provide, you know, just for lols....

I'll be sharing some more tips and services for helping to ease the pain of additional expenses when you do buy your first home in some follow up blog posts. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions about buying your first home over on Twitter!

If you fancy taking a look a Rightio Care Club, visit the care club website.