How to buy a house is such a fundamental thing to know, it is something that I think you should be taught at school. However, for many, they learn the process of buying a house first hand when they purchase their first property. This can often lead to a stressful experience or delays along the way. This simple guide breaks each step down, the aim is to make the process seem more straightforward or at least point you in the direction so you know where you are going. Buying a property isn’t difficult if you know how!
- Decide to Buy – You make the decision to buy a property, it’s as simple as saying ‘Let’s go!’
- Explore Borrowing – Figure out how much you have as your deposit and then use search comparison websites to search for suitable mortgage offers – remember that mortgage lenders will only lend up to 5 x your salary (joint salaries if you are buying with someone else), also the more deposit you have, i.e. a 20% deposit you will get a better mortgage rate than if you have a 5% or 10% deposit so play around with the online tools – if you are unsure of the best deals then you can use a mortgage broker. I use a mortgage broker to save time and worry because they do all the mortgage leg work for you!
- Mortgage Offer – Once you have found your perfect mortgage than get a mortgage offer from your lender, this is a really useful thing to have when putting an offer in on a property – it shows that you should be able to proceed with the sale.
- Property Search – Now you know how much you can spend it’s time to start browsing the market
- Offer – Once you have your perfect property put in an offer at a price you are willing to pay for it, explain why you want the house, the amount of deposit you have and show the mortgage offer – this shows you are serious.
- Instruct Solicitors – If your offer has been accepted then instruct solicitors. Ask friends and estate agents for advice on solicitors to use. Call the solicitor firms and get them to quote for the cost of overseeing your transaction – if you are happy with the quote and service which will be provider then ask them to act on your behalf. Give the details of the solicitors to the estate agent so they can switch this with the vendor (also provide your mortgage broker or mortgage lender details too). Your solicitor will then send you a form stating you accept their terms of business and happy to instruct them, and also a client questionnaire – fill this in as quickly as possible and return it.
- Get Mortgage – Go back to your mortgage lender or your broker and instruct them to proceed with your mortgage. Your solicitors will take over once the paperwork is signed (just make sure the solicitors have your lender details!)
- Survey – Instruct a Building Surveyor to do a survey of the property you are buying (ask your solicitors / mortgage broker / estate agent for tips of who to use). Listen to the survey findings, if you are happy to take on any defects or there are no defects then go for it – otherwise pull out of the deal, you have to be satisfied with what you are buying, once contracts are exchanged you are bound to buy.
- Conveyancing Process – This is completed by your solicitor and should take 4-6 weeks (it will be a shorter process for freehold than it will leasehold). You solicitor will look into the contracts and basically make sure that everything is in good order so that you can buy the property. They will raise any points with you that may cause concern and ask how you feel about them. Once all matters are resolved you will be ready to exchange and your solicitor will request that you transfer them finds for the deposit, their fees and stamp duty fees and you sign the contract.
- Exchange – The contracts will be exchanged between parties. This is where the agreed terms will become binding between yourself and the vendor. The completion date will be agreed.
- Insure Property – At this point you, the buyer, needs to insure the property, this is your responsibility.
- Complete – This is the date on which title to the property is transferred from the vendor – the property is now yours.
- Keys – Collect the keys – it’s time to celebrate you have brought your property!
Those are the steps and quite simple if you know what’s coming and stay calm along the way. You will find your perfect property and it will be easier than you think. If NC Real Estate can help you in any way along your journey to purchasing a property than please do not hesitate to get in contact via NC Real Estate or via our Facebook page, we would be delighted to help.
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