Guide to Buying

Buying a property is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll make. Whether you're a first-time buyer or an experienced investor, understanding the process can help you navigate the market with confidence.

Arranging Your Mortgage

Firstly, we would recommend that you arrange your finances and, if required, arrange a mortgage agreed in principle prior to starting your property search. Lender will also ask for a deposit, with most asking for a minium of 10% of the asking price of the property. By getting your finances in order to begin with this will enable you to set your budget correctly, and to advoid any disappointments on your property search. 

Research The Market, Local Areas and Register Your Interest With Estate Agents

Moving from out of area? Check out our area guides to give you an idea of what there is to do around the local area. When you register with us for property updates, we'll take all your information of what property you are looking for and price ranges and keep you updated via email on what is new to the market. 

Viewing a Property

We highly recommend an early viewing appointment in order to secure a property. We will accompany the viewing to ensure we are on hand to answer any questions you may have immediately and advise where needed.
Our office is open 9.00am – 5.30pm Monday to Fridays, with viewings also taking place 9am – 12.30pm Saturdays. 

Making an Offer

Once you have found the right property for you and informed us of your offer, we will put it forward to the seller for their consideration.

Offer Accepted

Once your offer is accepted we will write to all parties to confirm the agreed price and possible conditions of offer. We will ask you to confirm your solicitor’s, source of funding and Identification so we can prepare a memorandum of sale. 

HMRC is a supervisory body for money laundering regulations, of which all estate agents need to be registered with. As part of this, there are multiple requirements that agents must rigorously and consistently meet to ensure they stay compliant with the regulations and protect their clients. To do this, we use an electronic identity verification service, approved by the Government as part of the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF). 

As part of our legal duties, and to protect you and your transaction, we carry out ID and funds checks on all clients.  It is part of how we make sure the process is safe and runs smoothly.

We will just need to verify your source of funds early on so there is no delay later. We elected for the electronic verification process due to the speed, certainty, and accuracy it delivers. This helps us to protect all our client's interests by using the most advanced verification process to help prevent the impacts of money laundering alongside our internal manual policies and procedures while staying compliant with HMRC.

The cost of these checks is £45 (including VAT) per purchaser, to be paid to complete the relevant checks. If you are receiving a gifted deposit the individual(s) providing the funds will need to complete the checks also. This cost is non-refundable and is paid to our third-party supplier by the successful purchaser. Once received and the checks completed, we will then issue our Memorandum of Sale. 

Instructing a Solicitor

You will need to instruct a solicitor and complete your mortgage application with your bank or mortgage advisor. 
Choosing an efficient reliable solicitor can be key to the success of purchasing a property. We salways recommended tried and tested local solicitors to deal with your purchase. 

Conveyancing

Your solicitor will deal with the conveyancing process and our dedicated Sales Progression department will keep in regular contact with the solicitors and assist where necessary. We will also keep you up to date along the way.
Once your solicitor receives the Contract Pack from the Sellers’ Solicitors they will apply for searches and ask the sellers’ solicitors questions about the property.
When your solicitor receives answers back from the seller’s solicitor they will be sent to you along with reports from the search results

Mortgage Valuation, Home Buyers Survey and Mortgage Offer

A surveyor will conduct a survey of the property on behalf of the mortgage lender. They will advise on the value of the property and notify if there are any structural problems.
A mortgage offer will be sent to you to sign once the mortgage valuation report is received.
You may also want to have a Homebuyer's Survey carried out of the property, this inspection designed to assess the condition of a home before purchase. Conducted by a RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Surveyor, it identifies visible defects, and includes a traffic light rating system to highlight areas of concern and may also provide repair cost estimates. It is more detailed than a basic mortgage valuation but less comprehensive than a full structural survey, making it ideal for standard properties in good condition.

Exchange of Contracts

Contracts are exchanged and a completion date is set, once the solicitors have everything in place, including, search results, answers to enquiries raised, deposit monies and a mortgage offer.

Your solicitor will send the deposit to the Sellers’ Solicitors and a completion statement and bill from your solicitors will be sent to you for payment.

Completion (Moving Day)

Completion occurs when the remaining monies are transferred to the seller’s solicitor from your solicitor.

Once the money is cleared, you'll be able to collect your keys!