Can someone please tell me the process of buying a house in the UK?

Question

I am a first time buyer and would just like to know what steps need to be taken in buying a house. Thanks

Answer 1

1. Find out how much mortgage you can afford. See an independant finacial advisor as they'll really get you the best deal. Make sure they are truly independant otherwise they'll push only those mortgages that they're from companies that they're linked to. The estate agent you use will try and get you to use theirs, most of these are not truly independant. Don't forget to factor in the following costs as so many people do :
- mortgage protection insurance to cover you if you lose your job
- Council tax
- utility bills
- general living expenses
2. Make sure you've got conveyancing costs covered :
- Solicitors
- stamp duty (if in that bracket)
- deposit (usually 5% minimum)
- Survey
- removal costs (unless you're doing it yourself)
2. Find a house you like and can afford
3. make an offer
4. get it accepted.
5. Instruct solicitor, they'll take care of the rest for you.

Answer 2

Decide what you can afford
Usually your loan amount is based upon your earnings and buying on your own you will be able to borrow up to between 3.5 and 4 times your annual income, if you are buying with a partner, the maximum will be 2.75 to 3 times your joint earnings. 100% mortgages available but you will get a much better deal if you have a reasonable deposit. You can use the mortgage calculator provided by the council of martgage lenders to see how much your mortgage would cost by clicking here.

Find your ideal home
Contact all the estate agents in the area you are interested in. Register your interest with the major property portals. Look at as many properties as you can before making any offers, during different times of the day. Once you have made up your mind go back for a second and even third time. If you don't know the area well use websites such as UpMyStreet to find out if its right area for you.

Make an Offer
Make an offer to the Estate Agent. Try offering below the asking price, you can always improve on your offer if it is rejected! If the offer is accepted, ask for the property to be taken off the market as this could help stop you being gazumped, which is when someone makes a higher offer and legally the estate agent has to pass this on to the seller.

Appoint someone to do the legal work
Normally a solicitor but there are specialist conveyancing firms who do this for you such as LMS.

Finalise the mortgage
A mortgage valuation will be needed to establish if the property is worth the asking price you have offered and a fee is normally required for this. Once the valuation has confirmed this is the case, you will then get the formal mortgage offer.

Exchange contracts
This is where the seller will sign their sales contract, you will sign your purchase contract and these will be exchanged. At this point you will have to pay the deposit to whoever is doing your conveyancing. The deal has become legally binding and if you were to pull out now you would lose your deposit.

Completion
The mortgage monies are passed on to the seller and you are given the keys to your new home.

Answer 3

1. How much is your salary (if you are buying the house with other/s) this is 3 and a half times. So for example, say your salary is 30k, you can afford a 90k house. Some places loan more than this, however this is hugely a bad idea, as 3.5x your salary is based on an affordable rate. If interest rates rise by say 5% over time, that would mean a £1000 mortage suddenly becomes and extra £50 a month you don't have!

2.This takes us on to your second point. How much deposit do you have? First of all you may want to get your deposit in place (this is usually 10% of the mortage) so for a £100,000 house this is £10,000. There are 100% mortages out there, but they have much higher interest rates. Remember the higher the interest rate the more your house costs overall, andtherefore when you come to sell it, the less money you get back for your return.

3. See a financial advisor. Most estate agents have a free financial advisory service. They will look at your finances, do a check on all the mortage rates on the market and get you the best deal (or ask an independent financial advisor to do this ) either should do this for free, as they gain their commission from the mortage service. This will let you know how much you have to play with. The advisor will sort out some agreement showing prospective buyers that you are financially ready to go. (Agreement in principle, I think)

4. Find the house you would like, and put in an offer (usually £5000 below asking price. Offering on the previso that no one else looks around the propery and that it is taken off the market immediately

5. Get a surveyor to check around the house, discussing with the vendor any problems/ possibly taking money off if excessive damp etc. which was not obvious before the survey.

6. Get a solicitor. Discuss arrangements with the solicitor to change contracts & to do paperwork. Solicitor should cost around £500 to do all land search checks (including planning/coal mining/gas etc) I think this is also where you pay stamp duty (10% of property price I think)

7. When vendors/solicitors/ finance happy, exchange contracts (this includes signing the deed) and exchange keys

Then Move house!!! Hope this helps!

Answer 4

hi !!!You have decided to buy a home – but what next? The maze of legal work, negotiations, dealing with surveyors and solicitors, finding a good mortgage deal and worrying about your deal falling through, on top of actually hunting down the home of your dreams, is enough to make anyone's hair stand on end.Buying a house is one of the biggest financial decisions you will make in your life. It is a lengthy and complicated business, which while exciting is often fraught with stress and worry. But luckily there is a lot of good advice around helping you to make your home-buying experience as easy and problem-free as possible
After finding a home you like, which can take anything from a few days to many months, the process from having your offer accepted to completion of the sale takes about 12 weeks. This is about twice as long as in many other countries - home-buying in Britain is a notoriously drawn-out business.
It is important to have a good understanding of the process as it will help you avoid some of the most common hazards of home-buying.id just rent one!!!!!!!! good luck ;O)

Answer 5

God help you!!!!!

First find house - make offer and get offer accepted. Decide with vendor roughly when you want to move in. Get solicitor to do paperwork - costs a lot! Get finance - wait for mortgage offer. Have house surveyed - wait for survey! Hopefully it all comes together when you want it to.

Good luck!!!

Answer 6

When you see a house you like, don't go near an estate agent get your lawyer to handle it and give you advice.
You will get much better service and save money too, be warned don't deal with estate agents.