What Is The Process For Buying A House?

Buying a house is a huge commitment and there are usually many hoops to jump through before you finally get the keys and walk through the door of your new home. In this guide, we’re going to run through the process of buying a house, including a breakdown of the key stages. We hope this will be particularly helpful if you’re a first-time buyer.

Decide where you want to live

Before doing anything else you should decide where you want to live. You may have more than one location in mind which is fine. It’s important to research average property prices for those locations or areas. To get a more accurate idea of prices, it may help if you know what type or size property you want.

Research mortgages

If you need a mortgage to afford a new home, it’s recommended that you start researching your options as soon as you can. Even before you start looking seriously for the ideal place to live, it can be hugely beneficial to consult a mortgage broker for advice. They will be able to tell you how much you can realistically afford and the likelihood of you securing a mortgage.

Once you have a better idea of what you can afford with a mortgage, this will help narrow down your search. If you need to make some improvements to your financial situation, if you have a poor credit score for instance, this will be your next focus.

Browse the property market

Once you have a suitable price range and made a decision on where you’d like to live, you can start looking at the property market for your new home. You can contact your local estate agent or browse online. To narrow down your search even further it can help to write a list of ‘must-haves’ for your property. This could include how many bedrooms and bathrooms you want, and whether you want a garage, drive and garden.

Contact your property lawyer

Whether you’re buying, selling or both – it’s worth contacting a property lawyer sooner rather than later. Even before having an offer accepted, by contacting a conveyancer early on you can get some of the preliminary paperwork out of the way. It can also make you look more serious about making a purchase if you can inform an estate agent that you’ve already contacted a conveyancer. This could increase your chances of having an offer accepted.

Property lawyers will help guide you through the legal process of buying and selling a property and will ensure your legal rights are being upheld and that everything in the contract is clear. You can also check our first-time buyer’s guide to conveyancing a property for more detail.

Arrange viewings and make a decision

Once you’ve spotted a property you like, you should arrange a viewing. Hopefully it will be love at first sight, but if not, you can keep looking. If you know you’re planning to live in this property for a while you will want it to feel like home.

What happens when you find the one?

Make an offer!

Let the estate agent know that you want to put in an offer and the amount you’re prepared to pay. This part of the house-buying process can be exciting and nail-bitingly stressful in equal measure. If you’ve put an offer in, it means you really want the property and the thought of being out-bid or rejected can put you a little on edge. The only thing you can do is wait for that phone call. Hopefully it will be the news you want.

If your offer is accepted – that’s fantastic. If not, it obviously wasn’t meant to be and there’s probably a better property about to pop up on the market.

What happens after your offer has been accepted?

You will need to instruct your conveyancer. They will take the reins from here to help you navigate the process. Some searches may be conducted on the property you want to buy. These can help determine if there is anything that could affect the value of the property.

If you’re selling a house these searches will also happen at your property.

Once you have more specific details about the house you’re buying, you can get back to your mortgage research and hopefully secure a package that works for you.

Unfortunately there are times when house moves fall through – but hopefully this won’t happen to you!

Once you have the keys and contracts have been exchanged, the house will officially be yours – congratulations.

If you’re researching house moving companies to securely transport your belongings to your new home, Reads Removals can help. We’ve helped thousands of people move across the UK and abroad and are dedicated to offering a great customer experience. Contact us today to make an enquiry and get a competitive quote.