MoneySavingExpert. Which?. A mortgage broker. Gov.uk. And a £8.99 ebook. We used all five while preparing to buy our first home. Here's how they stack up.
When you start researching how to buy your first home in the UK, you immediately discover that everyone has an opinion and nobody agrees. The mortgage broker says you need them. MoneySavingExpert says you don't. Gov.uk says things that technically help but practically confuse. And somewhere in the middle, you're trying to figure out if you can afford a flat in your postcode without losing your sanity.
Over the past three months, we used five different first-time buyer resources to navigate the 2026 market. We evaluated each on five criteria: accuracy, completeness, practical usefulness, cost, and how current the information is for 2026 specifically. This isn't about finding a "winner" — each resource has a different purpose — but it is about helping you decide where to spend your limited time and money.
Here's what we found.
MoneySavingExpert (MSE) is the UK's most popular personal finance website, and its first-time buyer section is genuinely comprehensive. You get guides on mortgages, stamp duty, Help to Buy alternatives, LISAs, and the buying process. The forum is active with thousands of real buyers sharing experiences. Martin Lewis's mortgage best-buy tables are updated regularly.
The breadth is impressive. You can find information on almost any home-buying topic. The mortgage comparison tools are useful for getting a rough sense of rates. The forum is invaluable for niche questions — someone has probably asked your exact question before. And it's completely free.
Information is scattered across dozens of pages. We counted 23 separate MSE pages relevant to a first-time buyer's journey, and they don't connect in a logical sequence. Some guides were last updated in late 2025, which means they don't cover the Lloyds £5k deposit mortgage (opens 18 May 2026) or the full implications of the Renters' Rights Act. The forum, while helpful, is also full of contradictory advice from non-experts — we found at least four threads where confident-sounding contributors gave incorrect information about deposit requirements.
The biggest gap: MSE tells you about individual topics but doesn't give you a sequential plan. You learn what a LISA is, but you don't get a step-by-step timeline from "I want to buy" to "I have the keys."
Which? offers mortgage guides as part of its membership (£10.75/month or £99/year). They also have a fee-charging mortgage advice service. The guides are well-written, professionally researched, and regularly updated. Their "First-Time Buyer" hub covers the full process with good visual design and clear explanations.
Quality is consistently high. The writing is polished and jargon is explained well. Their mortgage calculators are among the best available. If you're already a Which? member for other reasons (product reviews, consumer rights), the mortgage content is a valuable bonus. The paid advice service connects you with qualified mortgage advisers who work on a fixed fee rather than commission.
The subscription model is the main barrier. You need to pay £10.75/month to access the full guides, which means you're spending £129/year minimum for information that's partly available elsewhere. While their content is high quality, it's written for a general audience — it doesn't specifically target first-time buyers on £25k–£50k the way more focused resources do.
The paid advice service is excellent but expensive. Starting at around £295 for a basic consultation, it's aimed at buyers who want personalised advice, not just a general guide. For someone stretching to save a deposit, that's a significant additional cost.
A mortgage broker reviews your specific financial situation, searches the market for suitable mortgage products, handles the application paperwork, and guides you through to completion. Some charge a flat fee (typically £300–£500), some work on commission from lenders, and some do both. A good broker is worth their weight in gold, particularly for complex situations.
Personalisation is the key advantage. A broker assesses your specific income, outgoings, credit history, and circumstances, then finds mortgage products that match. They can access deals not available to the public (lender-exclusive rates). They handle the application, which reduces your stress significantly. For buyers with complicated income (self-employed, multiple jobs, variable income), a broker is almost essential.
Cost is the obvious barrier. £300–£500 is a lot of money when you're saving every penny for a deposit. Commission-based brokers are "free" to you, but they have an incentive to place you with lenders that pay higher commissions, not necessarily the lenders that offer the best deal.
Brokers also don't educate you on the broader process. They find you a mortgage — they don't explain how LISAs work, what to budget for solicitor fees, how to evaluate a property at a viewing, or how the Renters' Rights Act affects your timeline. You still need to understand the full picture yourself, and a broker doesn't provide that.
Quality varies enormously. A great broker saves you thousands. A mediocre broker does what you could have done yourself on a comparison site. And you won't know which you've got until you're well into the process.
33 pages + audiobook · Viewing checklist · Master checklist · Updated May 2026
Get the cheat sheet — £8.99Gov.uk is the official UK government website and the definitive source for scheme details, eligibility criteria, and legal requirements. Pages on stamp duty, Lifetime ISAs, Shared Ownership, and the mortgage guarantee scheme come directly from the departments that run these programmes.
Accuracy is unmatched. If gov.uk says stamp duty is £0 on the first £300,000 for first-time buyers, that's the law. Period. For checking specific eligibility criteria or scheme rules, nothing else comes close. It's free, always available, and doesn't have an agenda.
Readability is a serious problem. Government pages are written in a style that prioritises legal precision over practical clarity. The LISA page, for example, technically tells you everything you need to know, but it takes careful reading to extract the actionable steps. Cross-referencing between pages is poor — the stamp duty page doesn't link to the LISA page, the Shared Ownership page doesn't link to the affordability calculator, and none of them say "start here, then go there."
Gov.uk also doesn't cover private-sector developments. The Lloyds £5k deposit mortgage isn't on gov.uk because it's a commercial product, not a government scheme. But it's one of the most significant developments for first-time buyers in 2026. If you rely solely on gov.uk, you'll miss critical information about what the private market is offering.
Perhaps most importantly, gov.uk doesn't give you opinions. It won't tell you that Shared Ownership has catches (staircasing costs, service charges, resale restrictions). It presents schemes neutrally, which is appropriate for a government website but unhelpful for a buyer trying to make a decision.
A 33-page PDF ebook (with full audiobook in M4B and MP3 formats), a 10-point viewing checklist, and a five-phase master checklist. It costs £8.99 as a one-time purchase with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The guide is specifically written for UK renters earning £25k–£50k and is updated for May 2026.
Structure is the standout advantage. The guide takes you from "I'm thinking about buying" to "I have the keys" in nine chapters with a logical sequence. Chapter 1 explains why 2026 is an unusual window. Chapter 2 does an honest affordability check. Chapters 3–4 cover deposits and government schemes. Chapters 5–8 handle the process, and Chapter 9 gives you a comprehensive master checklist.
It covers the Lloyds £5k deposit mortgage in detail — something no free resource had properly analysed at the time of our research. The hidden costs chapter (Chapter 8) is worth the price alone: solicitor fees around £1,500, survey costs between £400 and £700, local authority searches at roughly £300, and the advice to budget £3,000–£5,000 beyond your deposit. That kind of concrete, honest budgeting isn't available in this format anywhere else we found.
The audiobook is a genuine bonus. At roughly 90 minutes, you can absorb the entire guide during commutes or while doing household tasks. The checklists are designed for real-world use — the viewing checklist fits on a phone screen for use during property visits.
And importantly, it's opinionated. It tells you directly when a scheme has catches. The Shared Ownership section explains both the appeal and the traps (staircasing fees, service charges that can top £200/month, resale restrictions). That honest assessment is something gov.uk can't provide and MoneySavingExpert doesn't always deliver clearly.
It's England and Wales focused. Scottish and Northern Irish buyers will find about 70% of the content relevant but will need supplementary resources for process differences. It's also a snapshot — at 33 pages, it can't match the depth of a full Which? subscription or the breadth of the entire MoneySavingExpert archive. New-build specifics get limited coverage.
It doesn't replace a mortgage broker for complex situations. If you're self-employed with variable income, you'll still benefit from professional advice. The guide is designed for employed renters with straightforward income — it acknowledges this honestly but it's still a limitation.
We rated each resource across five criteria on a scale of 1–5. These scores reflect our genuine experience using each resource over three months.
| Criteria | MSE | Which? | Broker | Gov.uk | Cheat Sheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Completeness | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Practical Use | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| 2026 Currency | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Value for Money | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Overall | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 4.8 |
The honest answer: it depends on your situation. Here's our recommendation for the most common scenarios.
If you're just starting to explore — begin with The First-Time Buyer's Cheat Sheet (£8.99). It gives you the complete picture in 90 minutes. You'll understand the process, know your numbers, and have a plan. Then use MoneySavingExpert and gov.uk to dive deeper into specific topics as needed. This is the best value-for-time combination we found.
If you have complex finances — you'll want a mortgage broker in addition to a general guide. But we'd still recommend reading the Cheat Sheet first so you understand the full process (not just the mortgage part) and can ask your broker better questions. An informed client gets better advice.
If you're already a Which? member — use their guides, they're excellent. The Cheat Sheet still adds value as a structured companion piece, particularly for the checklists, the hidden costs section, and the 2026-specific scheme analysis.
If you want to spend nothing — MoneySavingExpert plus gov.uk will get you there. Budget 20–30 hours of reading and cross-referencing. You'll piece together the same information eventually, just without the structure and with the risk of encountering outdated advice along the way.
We believe the optimal approach for most first-time buyers earning £25k–£50k in England or Wales is to start with The First-Time Buyer's Cheat Sheet as your foundation. It's the fastest way to go from confused to informed. Then supplement with free resources (MoneySavingExpert for mortgage comparison tools, gov.uk for eligibility checks) and a mortgage broker when you're ready to apply.
The reason is simple: the guide saves you time, and time is the one resource you can't buy more of. For the price of a sandwich, you get a clear plan, current numbers, honest assessments, and practical checklists. Everything else builds on that foundation.
For a detailed walkthrough of what the Cheat Sheet covers chapter by chapter, read our full personal review. If you want to see real scenarios of buyers who used its framework, check our case study article.
33 pages + audiobook · Viewing checklist · Master checklist · Updated May 2026
Get the cheat sheet — £8.99Every resource on this list has genuine value. MoneySavingExpert is an essential free tool. Gov.uk is the definitive source on government schemes. Mortgage brokers provide irreplaceable personalised service. Which? delivers premium editorial quality.
But if you're choosing one resource to start with — one thing that will take you from overwhelmed to organised in the shortest possible time — The First-Time Buyer's Cheat Sheet is the best value we found. It doesn't replace the others, but it creates the framework that makes everything else more useful.
At £8.99 with a 30-day money-back guarantee, the risk is effectively zero. The return — in time saved, costly mistakes avoided, and confidence gained — is substantial. We'd recommend it as the first £8.99 of your home-buying budget.
Still have questions about whether you can afford to buy? Our FAQ page answers the 15 most common questions UK first-time buyers ask in 2026.
33 pages + audiobook · Viewing checklist · Master checklist · Updated May 2026
Get the cheat sheet — £8.99