When I was looking to buy my first house, the main thing everyone wanted to know was… how much do you want or NEED to borrow? That’s the important point here, there is a difference between the amount you want and the amount you need. In an ideal world you’d have a large deposit and a very high paying job with some form of security meaning you’d get a good mortgage deal but in the real world its becoming harder and harder to save a large deposit and with the price of houses, a deposit doesn’t go as far as it used to!
Although I was tempted by new builds which offers special deals and cashback if you get a mortgage through them, I actually found that generally this worked out more expensive in the long term. So sure they might cover all the legal costs of moving in and such like and maybe even give you a thousand pounds cash back but on the whole it seemed to work out (literally) tens of thousands of pounds more than alternative mortgages.
Before even thinking about a mortgage, scrape together every penny you can (beg, borrow, don’t steal :p) for a deposit, it really will help hugely. Also try make use of free financial advisers, they can usually save you a huge amount and they can sometimes make a little cash on the side for referring you to a provider, but it will be free independent advice regardless of any kick backs for them 
There are also a huge amount of comparison sites online for both credit cards and mortgages so these are also worth investigating. Remember, don’t be pressured into buying a certain mortgage, always sleep on it for a week before finalising a deal!
