Should you intend to use a mortgage to fund the purchase of your home, obtain a mortgage in principle from your chosen lender (bank) so you can confirm your budget. The lender will carry out checks to confirm how much they are willing to lend you.

Contact agents within the local area you are wishing to buy and register your interest with your requirements and budget.

Should you find something you like, make an offer and wait for it to be accepted

Your offer is accepted? Congratulations! Appoint a solicitor and let them know, so they can begin the conveyancing process. They will receive the Memorandom of Sale from the selling agent that provides the details of the offer and the seller’s solicitors contact details. The Contract Package will then be produced and enquires/searches will commence.

Remember to contact your chosen lender to obtain your Full Mortgage Offer, if required, to secure the funds to buy your home.  Mortgage applications can vary in time, so we recommend you do this without delay.

The lender will need to assess the value of the property. This can sometimes be completed without the need for an inspection or via Automated Valuation using property data. If required, your lender may need to send a mortgage valuer to inspect the property. This is not a survey, but a brief inspection to confirm to the bank that the property meets its lending criteria and is suitable to lend on (based on the amount you want to borrow). We do not recommend this inspection is relied upon by the buyer, as a final survey, and this is because the brevity of the inspection (usually 15-30mins), may result in defects being missed…

Book in your Homebuyer (Level 2) or Building Survey (Level 3) with us, House to Home Chartered Surveyors. Your home is likely to be your biggest purchase you make. Our survey could potentially save you thousands of pounds in costly repair bills in the future. We’ll contact the owner/agent to arrange access and keep you updated throughout the process.

Once you receive your report, we’ll talk you through the main findings. Remember, your offer is subject to survey, therefore should you feel you need to re-negotiate to reflect any unforeseen defects that we have found during our inspection, we can support you through this process.  Sometimes, the defects we find may be so significant it may be best to retract your offer and continue your search.

If you proceed and once the final price has been agreed between yourself and the seller, this figure will be confirmed within the Contract Pack.

When all information has been received by your solicitor, any issues of concern have been satisfactorily resolved and both you and the seller are ready to proceed, contracts can be exchanged. This is when the agreement of the sale become legally binding. A deposit of between 5% and 10% is paid to the buyer and a completion date is set.

The day is finally here! Completion Date is the date you can move into the property. If you needed a mortgage, the mortgage monies will be transferred to the seller. Once this has been received, you can legally move into the property. Your solicitor will organise for stamp duty tax to be paid and will complete the registration of legal title and registration of your mortgage at the Land Registry.