I am in the process of searching for a bargain property and it quickly became apparent just how stressful the whole ordeal actually is! My partner who has a bit more time than me is doing most of the property searching and then we are narrowing down the property hopefuls together. She is very knowledgeable in property but when it comes down the actual process from putting in an offer to handing over the deposit and getting the mortgage she knows very little. This made me think about all the first time buyers and sellers who literally go in blind or rely heavily on their broker/advisor or parents. But what about all those people out there that don’t know the process??
I try my hardest to know as much as I can when it comes to me handing over my own money, not just because I am a bit tight! But because I like to know what I am getting into and what I can expect, I want to know the process.
So I have composed a simple steps guide for those people.
I have broken it down into 4 steps and this is again broken down into 16 points.
If anyone else has experiences or anything I may have missed please contact me!
First Step
1. Firstly I would write down all your priorities and what you want out of buying/selling you home.
2. Register with your local estate agents, and look on the property websites to find all the potential properties that you like.
3. I would also think about getting a few quotes from some solicitors and conveyancers.
4. With all your properties listed, get viewings arranged.
5. Narrow the properties you have seen to the best 2 or 3.
6. With the 2 or 3 properties you have, research the vendors (seller) and property further. Position they are in (no chain, offer accepted on another need and to sell this property etc), years left on lease, ground rent, etc.
7. Now is the time to research your mortgage, your mortgage broker/advisor. Now from the information you have gained you will need to get a pre-mortgage arrangement sorted (also know as a decision in principle, application in principle). This will give you a kind of “pre YES” to having a mortgage based on some basic info the lender will ask you will also be pre credit scored at this point. (Remember it is not a guarantee, just a preliminary yes).
8. Now is this time to put an offer in the property you like.
SECOND STEP
9. Hopefully your offer will be accepted, contact your mortgage broker/advisor, lender, he/she will proceed on getting the full mortgage sorted for you. You want to also contact your solicitors so they can carry out all the searches on the property and start contract negotiations.
10. Now is a good time to get a survey done on the property, a very basic one is called a homebuyers, and more in depth one is called a full structural survey. A full structural survey is worth while for an older property.
11. Also at this point is where your chosen mortgage lender carries out their valuation to see if it suitable to have a loan secured to it.
THIRD STEP
12. Nearly there! At this point your solicitor will have the contracts ready to exchange with the other sellers solicitors, you should have a mortgage offer at this stage too. A 10% deposit (of the purchase price) is normally paid into your solicitors account and your solicitor will forward it on to the seller. More importantly if you pull out at this stage you will lose your money. You will have a date to which you can complete on too.
FOURTH STEP
13. Between exchange and completion (3rd ad 4th steps) your chosen mortgage lender will transfer the mortgage funds into your solicitors account, this will be sent to the sellers solicitors account on the completion day. Your solicitor will also prep the paper work for you to become the new owner.
14. Your solicitor will now pay the stamp duty on your behalf.
15. Your mortgage is now in place
16. Your mortgage advisor/brokers work is now complete (your fee to them should normally be made to them).
ALL DONE!!
