As mentioned above if you can get a mortgage that allows you to overpay then go for it.
These days alot of these mortgages limit how much you can overpay each month/year without incurring additional charges. Regardless of this it will reduce the amount of interest you pay over the lifetime of the mortgage and save you 000's and/or reduce the term of the loan.
Example : Bought my house just before the boom (June 2000) & put down a £10k deposit on a £90k property. At the time I took a 'Freestyle' mortgage over 25 years with Standard Life (now owned by Barclays) which allowed me to overpay as much as I liked (this was not my first mortgage). My payments were something like £450 - £500 per month which my Mrs could cover along with most of the household bills. I would pay a few of the bills/groceries so I could bump up the mortgage payments by an extra £300 (overpayment) so we were already knocking off an extra £3500 per year - capital on which we would not pay any interest.
At the time I had a job which also paid decent bonuses every 3 months so I was in the fortunate position of being able to overpay an extra £1500-£2000 every 3 months. So another £8000 per annum on which we wouldn't pay interest.
The thing is every time you overpay - the outstanding capital reduces so the interest you pay reduces too. Therefore the amount you pay each month/term of your mortgage reduces too.
In my example, our minimum mortgage payments (amount we were actually required to pay) steadily reduced with each overpayment but we continued to make payments at the same level we were used to.
So the more we overpayed, the less our required minimum payments were and the greater the overpayment each month. We also called up the bank when our initial 2 year fixed period lapsed and arranged for the term of the mortgage to be reduced to 17 years, then 15 the following year then something like 10 in the third year. This snowball effect meant we pretty much cleared the mortgage just in time for me to enjoy a trip to Turkey in May '05.
Now I appreciate that you may not be able to get a mortgage that allows unlimited overpayments and you may not have a job that pays bonuses but hopefully you can see how much you'll benefit in the long term with any sort of overpayment.
My key tips:Shop around and look at all mortgage deals on the market - this is easily done over that there interweb.
You don't need a financial advisor - in my experience there's no such thing as independent financial advice as they will often try to sell you overpriced products in addition to the mortgage such as home insurance, life / mortgage cover etc.
Take the time to do your own research & you'll save hundreds every year.
Make sure you take some sort of cover - e.g. mortgage payment protection (shop around !!!). Personally, I prefer guaranteed income protection (in the event of redundancy, illness etc) - I took my cover a couple of years ago with my bank for about £35 a month which would give me enough to pay all my bills/living costs each month (rather than just paying my mortgage).
Saving money elsewhere (e.g. competitive priced home insurance etc) & free up cash up for this !
Read the smallprint - how much can you overpay each month ?
How long are you tied in to that particular mortgage and are there any charges if you wanted to shift your loan elsewhere ? (some banks will now pay your transfer charges).
How much can you realistically afford to pay each month as a minimum and could you afford to overpay by say 10% ?
If after a few years you have overpayed by 10% - would you want to reduce the term of the mortgage or live with lower mortgage payments ? (important if you're planning on having kids in the next few years).
Type of mortgage - do you prefer to have a fixed mortgage & know how much you'll pay each month for the next 'x' years or would you prefer a discount/tracker mortgage, for example, which may mean lower initial payments but higher payments after your initial period or if interest rates go up.
Type of property you're going to purchase - if an older property there'll be hidden costs for sure. E.g. you may find walls need replastering, electrics need redoing, roof/walls may need repointing, boiler may need servicing/replacing, redecorating etc. In short, make sure you leave yourself enough cash each month to pay for this stuff in the first year or two.
Learn to shop around - most of the time we can't be bothered so review your spending every 12 months.
You'll be surprised how much you can save by changing broadband/tel providers every 12-18 months. Same with mobile phone contracts, car insurance (I never renew with the same company as i always find cheaper discounted quotes elsewhere). All companies look after new customers much more than existing customers so don't give them your loyalty unless they offer you the best deal on the market.
Leave you self surplus cash to enjoy yourself - life is for living so although you're building for your future don't forget to enjoy life in your new property !!
Good luck !!!