Looking to buy?

Our guide to buying

Searching for your dream home

Buying a home for the first time?

Over the last 20 years, Rightmove and Zoopla became everyone’s go-to for finding their dream homes, so we’ve been conditioned to think that they’re the only homes on offer!

However, your dream home could be coming to market just around the corner; they just haven’t yet hit the internet or put a For Sale board up. So, here at TAUK, we want to speak with as many buyers as possible because although you may not see your dream home available today, chances are we know a seller who is looking to move. You can register your details, quickly here to keep you one step ahead of the market and match you with your dream home, often before it comes to the open market.

 

We always recommend a free initial appointment with our partners over at MORTGAGE ADVICE BUREAU FORM LINK so they can help you calculate the costs involved in buying your dream home.

Once you have an idea of what you may be able to afford it’s time to start looking for a house to buy. Registering with The Agency UK, means you’ll be the first to hear about properties coming to the market before anybody else and we will also be on hand to give you top tips for the local area; everything from schools to restaurants to walks with the dog, as all of our agents, live and work locally!

Not necessarily the most exciting part of the process, but it is always best to establish the money behind the move. Everything from legal fees, lender fees, removals, and broker fees – it soon adds up, to make sure you’ve found the best mortgage deal and know how much you can borrow.

We always recommend a free initial appointment with our partners over at MORTGAGE ADVICE BUREAU FORM LINK so they can help you calculate the costs involved in buying your dream home.

Once you have an idea of what you may be able to afford it’s time to start looking for a house to buy. You’ll be the first to hear about properties coming to the market before anybody else by registering with TAUK. We are also on hand to give you top tips for the local area; everything from schools to restaurants to walks with the dog, as all our agents, live and work locally!

We’re available seven days a week and will always accompany you to the homes we sell to make it easy for you to walk around a property and imagine how you would make it a home, which isn’t always that easy to do the seller there.

Remember, this is one of the most significant purchases in your life. No one will blame you for being nosey, and if you’d prefer, we can take you on a virtual walkthrough of the home so you can get an idea of whether you like a property before taking the time to visit it in person. 

You can also go back to see the home again, as many times as you like! However, we will let you know if you have competition from other buyers so that you can act quickly. While many buyers, 56%, still take just two viewings before submitting an offer, 27% of those asked viewed three times, 8% returned for a fourth and only 1% needed more than four viewings. Surprisingly, 7% of those asked would submit an offer after just one viewing.

So, you’ve decided it’s the home for you, and it’s time to make an offer. Nail-biting and nerve-wracking but at The Agency UK, we will try to make this process as painless as possible and will be on hand to help you through negotiations seven days a week. Don’t be disheartened if your first offer isn’t accepted – remember both you and the seller are negotiating for the best price. You will not be disadvantaged by standard office hours; we often tie up sales outside of the usual 9am – 5pm, which our busy buyers and sellers love. The formal process for having an offer accepted requires us to make sure we have all our ducks in a row. Your financial adviser will have provided you with an ‘Agreement’ or ‘Decision in Principle’, which means your lender is prepared to consider a mortgage application from you for up to a stated amount. You will need to provide that to us. We will be running an anti-money laundering check in the background, and we will also introduce you to our conveyancing partner. ‘Conveyancing’ sounds like boring legal stuff, but it’s everything that needs to happen to make the home officially yours. It can be a confusing process, and you need a conveyancer to make it happen.

Agreeing to the sale
The Agency UK will then produce a Memorandum of Sale, a document that confirms the sale is now agreed subject to contract. It also lets the conveyancers know that they need to start their part of the process.
If you’ve chosen to use our conveyancing partner, you will have access to a handy online platform so you can track the progress of your purchase from start to finish.

Completing your mortgage application
Now is the time to get back in touch with your mortgage adviser to agree on a suitable mortgage deal for you and complete the application.
Now is an excellent time to consider how to protect your mortgage. What if the worst should happen? If you weren’t around to support them financially – due to illness or death – your family could be under pressure to meet your mortgage payments, or the lender could seek to gain possession of the property.

Mortgage valuation
In most cases, your mortgage lender will arrange this valuation, which merely confirms to them that the property is worth what you are lending.
It will not give details on the property’s condition, and for this, you should book a survey. We would recommend you speak to SURVEY COMPANY as without a survey you may not be aware of costly work that needs doing.

The seller’s conveyancer drafts the contract
The seller’s conveyancer will receive the title deeds from the seller, draw up a contract and send them to your conveyancer.

Your conveyancer will confirm the details of the property.
Your conveyancer will contact the seller’s conveyancer to confirm precisely what is included in the sale. Your conveyancer will inquire about things like the boundaries, any disputes, and any changes made.

Your conveyancer will perform searches
Your conveyancer will perform searches of Land Registry and Local Authority information. They will be checking for planning history, and any potential developments around roads, drainage, and mining
near the property.

Mortgage confirmed
Around this time, you should receive your mortgage offer, along with all the terms and conditions surrounding your mortgage. You will need this before you can exchange contracts.

Sign the contract
Your conveyancer will advise you when it’s time to sign on the dotted line.

Agree on moving dates
Your conveyancer and the seller’s conveyancer will agree on a date for exchanging contracts and completion (i.e., move in day). It’s an excellent time to start getting quotes for removals too as you can set a provisional moving day.

Exchange of contracts
Your deposit sent to the seller’s conveyancer, along with the signed contract. You are now legally bound to the purchase.

Tell everyone you’re moving
You’ll need to inform all your utility companies who will need to take meter readings. And don’t forget everyone else who needs to know! Speak to our friends over at ‘Just Move In’ for advice on moving. They assign you a friendly Move Specialist, free of charge, who can help with everything from informing the council, redirecting your Royal Mail deliveries, to finding you the best Sky TV deals for your new home, making your home move so much easier. They will even help with your removals to make the box packing that little less stressful!

Your conveyancer will pay the balance of the purchase price to the seller’s conveyancer. Once the money is received, the seller’s conveyancer will inform the estate agent, and the keys are released. The property is now yours. It’s time to pop open the champagne and make some memories in your new home!

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