Home Buying Explained
Arranging Your Mortgage
Before you begin the search for your ideal property, it is recommended that you get your finances in order. New Oak Estates can put you in contact with approved mortgage advisors in the local area who can research a wide range of available mortgages to find the best deal for you. This will determine how much you can afford, which will influence your property search.
Define Your Property Criteria
Decide what you are looking for in a property – whether you need parking and a garden, how many bedrooms and the location etc. Are local schools, transport links and shops important to you?
Register Your Search Interest
You could either contact every estate agent in the area, let them know you are looking to buy a property and ask them to keep you informed when they get a new property on their books, or you could set up ALERTS on Rightmove and Zoopla where you will get updated whenever a new listing that fits your criteria is launched to the market.
View Suitable Properties
The most important part of the house hunting process is a property viewing. You may not find the ideal home straight away so don’t despair and don’t be tempted into edging over your budget. Once you have viewed a property and you think its potentially the right one for you, you may want to book second viewing to see if it feels the same the second time around or maybe to take a trusted friend or family member to get their view too.
Make An Offer
Once you have identified a suitable property you should make an offer to the agent dealing with the property. This offer is usually made verbally over the telephone but could also be submitted in a letter or an email. For an offer to be seriously considered, it is expected of the buyer to be in a position to proceed and able to provide evidence of funding.
Instruct A Solicitor
The successful purchase/sale of a property can be reliant on the instruction of an efficient and experienced legal conveyancer or solicitor. New Oak Estates deal with conveyancing matters on a daily basis and can therefore direct you to our approved list of professionals.
Conveyancing
Conveyancing is the legal term for the transfer of home ownership between a buyer and seller. The process begins once your offer is accepted on your chosen property and completes when you have the keys in your hand on moving day! This conveyancing process is absolutely essential to ensure that all the legalities of your sale or purchase are covered and to make certain the transfer of ownership happens with as little stress as possible.
Mortgage Offer
Following your mortgage application and successful survey of both the house and your own financial circumstances, the mortgage lender will produce a mortgage offer. This is then presented to you to sign the mortgage agreement, accepting the terms.
Exchange/Completion
Exchange of contracts is when the matter becomes legally binding. The chain of buyer’s, seller’s and legal conveyancers are all ready, have signed paperwork, transferred deposit monies and agreed a moving date. There is usually a short time between exchange and completion but not always. On completion the solicitors transfer remaining funds and property keys change hands – It’s moving day!