Five Things Your Need to Know When Buying A House
Whether you’re a first time buyer trying to get on the first rung of the property ladder or you consider yourself a bit of an expert when it comes to buying a house there are still several things you need to consider each and every time you’re looking to buy.
Buying a house is probably the biggest investment you will ever make in your life so you need to make sure the decisions you make are the right ones.
Here are five things you need to consider when buying a house:
1. Plan Your Finances First
Before you even start looking for your dream house, you need to get your mortgage sorted first – with the economy in recession, borrowing from banks and building societies is no longer a given. You need to do your research and find the best deal for you.
If you’re a first time buyer you need to get a mortgage agreement in principle. This is basically a document supplied by your chosen lender stating how much they are prepared to lend you based on the information that you have given them. You need to be aware that this is a basic indication and doesn’t count as a legal contract.
2. Research Your Chosen Area:
Once you have a price range in mind and have your finances in order, not forgetting the money you will need to finance the whole buying process, you can begin to look for your new home. When you have an area in mind make sure you research the area thoroughly, look at everything from house prices and crime rates to local amenities and your commute to work.
Also look into council tax and the amount you’re looking to pay in certain areas as this could influence your decision and will definitely affect your finances.
When you’ve found a few houses you like, ensure you view all of them. This will give you a better feel for the area as well as giving you a comparison so you can feel much more confident about your final decision.
3. Making an Offer
Once you’ve found your dream home it’s time to put in that all important offer. Deciding on the amount you want to offer for the house needs a lot of careful consideration. You don’t want to go in too low and offend the homeowner but you also don’t want to offer too much and miss out on saving yourself some extra cash.
Again, look at houses nearby and see how much they have sold for. You can also seek advice from the estate agent; they may well be able to offer you information on how much the seller would be willing to take.
When you make an offer – keep calm and hold your nerve, if the seller rejects it then up your offer. If you’re at your maximum limit then walk away, you don’t want to cripple yourself financially.
4. Do I Need a House Survey?
Once you have had an offer accepted it’s essential that you have a survey carried out on the house to ensure there are no structural problems or issues that could lead to costly work being carried out. If anything is picked up on the survey, at this point you still have the option to walk away or negotiate a new price with the seller, taking into account the cost of any repairs.
5. The Conveyancing Process
This is the part of the buying process that a lot of people are unsure of, which is why it’s highly recommended that you seek the help of solicitor or a licensed conveyancer to take care of this part of the process. Conveyancing is the legal transfer of the ownership of the property from one person to another or the granting of a mortgage.
The Conveyancing process involves the exchanging of contracts and completion of the transfer of titles. A solicitor can take care of this process on your behalf, arranging the contracts and ensuring the titles are dealt with legally.
It is important that you instruct a solicitor as soon as you have found a property to buy and equally important that you instruct a solicitor who will deal with your purchase proactively. It is definitely worth asking for an estimate of your conveyancing costs at the beginning of your transaction so that you can budget accordingly.
When buying a home the most important thing you need to know is that you are confident you can afford to buy a house and keep up with the mortgage repayments and that its 100% the right decision for you.
Happy House Hunting!
This post was written by Meredith Watts, she’s a newbie to the property ladder and recommends Spratt Endicott for expert advice and Conveyancing services.
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