Introduction

• Are you a first-time homebuyer looking for some financial tips on how to buy your first home?
• Do you know about the best interest rates on home loans, which can make your dream a reality?
• Have you tried talking to financial experts who can help show you some clear and easy money-saving tactics?

All of us have a single dream. That dream constitutes having a place, which we can truly call our own. Across the world, one of the foremost goals of people includes buying their first home. In terms of career goals, this ranks higher than buying your first car, marriage, and so on.

While many people are more than capable of investing in a new house and life for themselves, there are some things, which hold them back. One of those things is poor information about the financial aspects of buying a new home.

In this article, we speak to leading financial experts and ask them about the problem. However, before we begin, let us first look at some common problems first-time homebuyers face.

What are some common problems faced by first-time homebuyers?

According to financial experts, the biggest problem first-time homebuyers face is affordability. Not knowing how big of a house you want, or whether you will be able to afford it or not is a big question. Repaying something for the next twenty-five years of your life does not make sense.

Many homebuyers make an elementary mistake of not getting second quotes. In most instances, if you go by the first quote, you will never be able to reduce the prices. Every prospective home, which goes for sale, always enlists the help of two or three brokers. People looking to buy their first home should always reach out to different brokers for the same house.

Finally, the third biggest mistake financial experts state that homebuyers make is not calculating the overheads. In simple words, this involves checking out the foundation of the building and seeing whether it is termite infested or not. First-time homebuyers should look to cut down on maintenance and one-time rebuild costs as much as possible.

Top 5 Financial Tips for First Time Homebuyers: The List

• Create a separate Savings Fund for your home-

Experts suggest that having just one savings fund to fulfill all the needs of your future is not a good idea. This is especially a poor decision if you dream of buying your own home. It is important to set up a separate savings fund for your home well in advance. This will help you avoid paying a very small down payment and incurring high-interest rates.

Also Read: Understanding How to Easily Avail Credit in the UK

• Always reach out to at least three financial institutions for Home Loans-

Every bank or financial institution has its own rules and regulations governing home loans. This is why leading home loans expert, Associates Home Loan suggests going after the one with the best interest rates on offer. This will not only allow you to understand what is best for you but also give you a broader idea as to how you should plan.

• Try to avoid making a Small Down Payment-

The biggest burden first time home buyers put on themselves is the high-interest rate burden. Making a small down payment might look to be very attractive initially, but it is never a sound financial decision. According to experts, you should try to make the down payment to be at least 50% of the total value of the home. This will cut down on the repayment period.

• Bargain to include the Basic Maintenance within the final Home Price-

No matter, which house or apartment you will look to buy, there might be some of the other niggling issues. There might be termite infestation or rotted foundations because of a flood. You need to negotiate hard with the existing owners and include those costs within the price of the home. This will help you prevent unnecessary overheads as soon as you buy the home.

• Prepare a speculative monthly Budget to check the feasibility-

Any first-time homebuyer wants to rid himself or herself of any financial problems. This is why experts suggest that preparing a monthly budget to show where you will stand at the end of the month is a good idea. Take into consideration your interest rates, overheads, maintenance, and your earnings.

Must Read: 10 Best Free Floor Plan Software for Home Design

Conclusion

While buying a home is most often an emotional decision, it is best not to get dictated by them. By following the advice and suggestions of financial experts, you too can achieve your dream of buying your first home. Can you think of some other financial tips? Drop them in the comments section below.

The present-day restaurant ecosystem is immensely diverse and audacious. According to the National Restaurant Association, the projected sales of the U.S. restaurant industry in 2019 was $863 billion dollars-which equates to 4 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Back in the 1970s, the projected sales were around $43 billion dollars.

David Henkes, a senior principal at the foodservice industry analyst firm Technomic, told Washington Post, “For a number of years, the rate of restaurant growth has exceeded population growth. Too many restaurants are chasing too few consumer dollars.” Amidst this changing ecosystem and competitive market, restaurants must keenly observe the market and consumer-centric trends like a hawk and ensure that they stay relevant by adopting the right strategy and technology.

One such strategy adopted by several restauranteurs all over the globe is the implementation of drive-thrus. The concept of the drive-thru was introduced back in 1948 by a 100-square foot burger shack called In-N-Out. Since then, drive-thrus have thrived in the restaurant ecosystem, helping the restaurants attract customers due to the added convenience quotient

Also Read: Know How to Start a Food Cart Business: Ultimate Guide

However, setting up a drive-thru is not an easy task—it’s more than just having a window on one of the walls of your restaurant and taking orders from there. It’s like setting up a completely different business and will probably cost you almost half as much as your restaurant business. So why go through the trouble of setting up a drive-thru? Because it’s not just a revenue driver, it has a lot of marketing benefits as well.

Here are a few of the marketing benefits of a drive-thru:

1. Use the real estate for advertising purposes. While customers are waiting in their cars, you have their attention. You can use the wait-time for advertising your brand and new product offerings to your customers using bright digital LED signage. Displaying delectable videos and images of high-margin food and beverage items can entice customers and drive sales. These signages can also be used to display promotional videos of your brand and other drive-thru-only offers.
2. You can use drive-thrus to gather valuable customer data and insight to over personalized services to your customers, which will help you offer better customer experience and thereby brand loyalty among your customers. You can even use a third-party personalization platform to collect and analyze real-time and historical customer data to create personalized campaigns.Last year, McDonald’s Corporation acquired Dynamic Yield-an Artificial Intelligence-powered personalization platform for over $300 million. The fast-food giant will use provide an enhanced personalized customer experience with digital drive-thru menu displays to show food based on various parameters such as time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic, and trending menu items. “The decision technology can also instantly suggest and display additional items to a customer’s order based on their current selections,” the company claimed.

   Using customer data such as phone numbers, vehicle information, and loyalty and membership accounts, restaurants can gauge different customer preferences. This insight can be used for mobile marketing and sending personalized newsletters about the various offers available, changes in the menu, upcoming events, and other restaurant-centric news.

3. You can use various tech for restaurant drive-thru to streamline the operations, thereby freeing up your restaurant staff to engage with the customers, thus enhancing the customer experience quotient of your brand. Reinforcing your drive-thru operations with technology and state-of-the-art equipment can not only help offer a better drive-thru experience for your customers, but it can also boost brand your restaurant.
4. Most customers waiting for their turn in a drive-thru use their smartphones to kill time. By offering these customers a small incentive such as a free beverage, you can get them to participate in a brief market research survey. The survey results can prove to be a treasure trove of valuable insight sourced directly from your key target crowd.
5. Instagram is one of the most powerful marketing tools for restaurants. You can incentivize customers to post pictures on their Instagram handles using unique hashtags that promote your brand and tag your restaurant, while they document their drive-thru experience.

Must Read: 5 Important Marketing Strategies For Any Business

You can also use Snapchat’s Geofilter feature to create a customized Snapchat filter specific to your restaurant brand, maybe even incorporate your logo. This filter can then be used by Snapchat users in your restaurant or the drive-thru to add to their content, thereby enhancing the visibility of your brand.

Drive-thru Drives Your Brand

Setting up and running a streamlined drive-thru service is no walk in the park. It’s a massive investment and requires your blood, sweat, and tears to succeed in this game. However, with the right tools and strategy, drive-thrus can be a powerful branding platform for your restaurant. Don’t be afraid of investing in technology to streamline your drive-thru operations. The right tech tools can work wonders to enhance the drive-thru experience for your customers and thereby boost the brand value of your restaurant.

Getting credit seems to be a new adjustment and step forward for some. Credit is an amount of money borrowed from a lender or a financial institution to purchase goods or services. Most of us understand the importance of credit in this day and age. Credit can be of various types, some of which are credit cards, loans, mortgage, and many other financial products.

The task of availing credit is not all that difficult. However, the trouble lies in the details. It is more so in getting credit in the UK because of strict bank policies. The bank or lending institutions consider a person’s credit history or loan repaying capacity before granting them any kind of credit in the UK. Therefore, you must rid your credit background of any mishaps to avail of credit.

The lenders also verify other things about you before granting credit in the UK. We have listed down every small detail that you ought to take into account before applying for credit so that the process becomes easy and straightforward. Let us get into it right away:

Get a bank account

Getting yourself a bank account is the first step to getting credit in the UK. A bank account implies that you have a confirmed identity and proper documentation to prove your identity in the UK. Opening a bank account is fairly simple.

If you are new to UK and have decided to settle, you have two options, you can either ask your current bank in your country to transfer the account to the UK, or you can get a local ID like passport, proof of address, recent bill, etc. and submit it to the bank and open a bank account. In case you are unable to submit any document, you can have a nominee like a social worker or teacher to confirm the base of your identity and build your credit profile.

Establish yourself in the country

If you have a permanent address in the UK,  you can establish yourself with an identity. However, if you are frequently changing your address, your credit rating may be tainted as it can be seen as a sign of “instability.”

This hampered credit rating can reduce your chances of getting credit in the future. Another way around this is to get enrolled in the electoral roll and use that as proof of identity to open a bank account or to obtain credit in the UK from various lenders or institutions.

Also Read: Mobile Apps for Being Tech Savvy with Management Finances

Get a good Credit Score

A uk credit score is the ranking given to the person based on their history of credit discipline, loan repayments and delays on such payments. The score determines whether you will be able to avail credit in the UK or not because most lending institutions rely on your credit score before giving you credit. In addition to this, the credit score outlines the rate of interest on the loan and other charges on it. A good score can help in getting credit at favorable rates of interest and long tenures. In short, the credit score can affect the cost of borrowing.

Decide on the Best type of Credit

In the UK, multiple types of credit are available at your fingertips. The various types of credit in the UK include student loans, mortgage loans, personal loans, credit cards, overdraft, vehicle loans, and so on.
Apart from this, the banks or lenders provide various loans based on their tenures like short term loans or long term loans. Additionally, the loans have varied rates of interest depending on the risk factor and the ability of a person to repay. You need to decide which type of loan or credit works the best for you depending on various interest rates, cost, fees and tenure of loans. Choose the type of credit that matches your income level.

Fill the Credit application

To apply for a credit or no interest loan in the UK, you need to fill the application that the lender asks you to. The application requires authentic documentation and good credit history to work with. Moreover, if any of the submitted details are wrong, the application may be rejected.

Therefore, it is recommended that you fill the application carefully or ask for help from a professional to fill in the details. Some common mistakes during filling include submitting the wrong documents, applying for an illegal loan, submitting high application charges, and so forth. Therefore, you need to be cautious before using credit in the UK.

Must Read: Improve your Business with Better Customer Success

Have a security deposit

A security amount can do wonders if you are taking credit. It is preferable that you have an amount kept separately if you are seeking a loan. This deposit can act as a buffer in case you delay the repayment or default on your dues.

In such situations, this security deposit can come to your rescue. As a result, your credit score will not get hampered since you will have avoided defaulting on payments.

Hopefully, this guide will suffice in helping you understand the entire process of getting credit in the UK. Additionally, if you are aware of the bank facilities and its conditions, you are better equipped to obtain a loan in the UK.

We know how tricky it is to acquire a loan in the UK. Therefore, we ask you to be sure about your identity and application and then hope for the loan to get approved because there are high chances of the application getting rejected and ergo your chances of getting credit in the UK.