Find out how much you can afford

Our advisers will guide you right through the home buying process, we’ll conduct a thorough assessment of your income and outgoings to establish how much you’d be  willing to put towards your mortgage costs each month. We can then give you an idea of the price range you’ll be able to look at.  This stages is so important, It’s important to keep it realistic, there’s no point looking at a home worth £300,000 if your budget will only take you to £100,000!

Property hunt

Once you understand how much you can afford, you’ll need to start hunting! Think about what sort of property you are looking for and which features are essential or desirable:

• Property type - house, bungalow or flat

• Newly built or second hand

• How many bedrooms?

• How important is a garden or outside space?

• Do you need a garage or parking space?

• Location – convenience for public transport, local shops, pubs, schools etc.

Agreement in Principle or Decision in Principle

An agreement or decision in principle is an agreement from a mortgage lender that, in principle, they will lend you a specified sum to buy your new home, on the condition that the property is satisfactory as security for the mortgage and that you are able to verify your income and satisfy any other conditions.  It’s at this stage that the lender will credit score you to see if you’re a suitable borrower. Be wary of unscrupulous advisors, in particular estate agents mortgage advisors, insisting you do this through them. It will be recorded as a search on your credit file and too many searches may cause you a problem!

Make an offer

Once you have found a property you wish to buy, you make a verbal offer either to the seller or to the estate agent. You can offer an amount less than the asking price - be prepared to bargain. Once accepted, your offer is not binding at this stage.

Mortgage application and property survey

We’ll then submit a full application to your mortgage lender along with all the supporting documentation; we’ll liaise with them throughout the process to ensure your application is processed quickly and smoothly. The lender will also carry out a valuation of the property to verify that it’s adequate security for the mortgage.  There are three types of property survey, a standard valuation (normally conducted primarily for the lender’s benefit), a home buyers report (a more detailed report which focuses on urgent or likely to affect value) and a full structural survey (a comprehensive report providing a full picture of the construction and condition).

The Mortgage Offer

Once the mortgage lender has verified the information submitted on the mortgage application and they’re happy the property itself is suitable security, they will issue a mortgage offer. This is their formal agreement to lend you the money and outlines all the details of the loan and the lending conditions.

Legal Procedures & Contract Exchange

Once your solicitor is happy with all the searches etc. you will be asked to sign the contract and pay the deposit on your new property.  As soon as contracts have been exchanged then the sale is binding. On average it takes around 1-4 weeks between exchange of contracts to completion.