Interesting story: I remember when I had some first time buyers who were recommended to me. They had said they had been looking for 6 months but couldn't find the right property. They had only ever spoken to one lender who said they could borrow £120,000. I looked at the whole of the market (all the lenders) and found a lender who would lend them £185,000...hugely different right? The great thing was, it was still affordable to them. Within 2 weeks, they had found their dream first home and were really excited to be able to make an offer with confidence, and then eventually move in.