Our Guide to Buying a House
How do I start?
Contact our office in order that we can get to know all about you. Invest sometime and think about the following :
- Which areas would you consider buying in?
- Are there any other areas that you would consider but don’t know well?
- What kind of property are you looking for?
- What are the “must-haves” and “don’t wants”?
- What are you prepared to actually spend?
- When do you need to move by?
- Do you have a dependent property sale and if so is your property on the market?
- Do you know how much you can borrow and if so do you have a mortgage organised?
I want to arrange to see some properties.
- Once we have established an idea of your needs, its time to get out there and see a good range of properties so that you can get a grip on what your money will buy in your chosen area.
- The sooner you become confident about value, he sooner you will be in apposition to buy with conviction.
- See as much as you can. However if you find the perfect property early on in your search, don’t delay – if you like it the probability is that someone else will as well!!
- Always give detailed feedback to your agent. This will help us to assist you on what is important to YOU.
Securing your Property
When you have found a suitable property, consult your agent about how next to proceed. An offer is always about more than just money. You will be asked to provide details of :
- Your buying position (first-time buyer, chain details etc)
- Proposed timescales
- Any inclusions(carpets, curtains etc)
- How you propose to fund the purchase.
The seller will be expecting us to obtain all of this information as it will aid them in making any decisions.
Your property is now under offer – what happens now?
After a sale has been agreed, your Agent will be the main point of communication between all parties involved in the transaction and will be with you every step of the way to assist where at all possible. Try and get the persons name in the estate agency who will be now looking after you. The immediate priorities are:
- Instruct a solicitor –preferably with experience of the area.
- Instruct tour IFA/mortgage broker(if applicable) to order the survey
Once the legal(“conveyancing”) work has been carried out and your finances are in order, you will be in a position to “exchange contracts” prior to the agreed”completion”. Completion is the point at which you can take possession of your property. Keys are normally held at the selling estate agents offices.
Other Buying Advice
- Try and invest some time in your Agent. The better they understand your needs, the more they can help.
- Make sure that everbody who needs to see the property (particularly family) has seen it prior to making an offer.
- Always ensure that you have taken sufficient financial advice. There are thousands of mortgage products on the market so consult at least one (preferably more). independent mortgage advisor who can tailor the mortgage to suit your individual needs.
- Don’t always trust first impressions – no property feels like home until YOU have moved in!!
