A Guide to Buying Your First Home: From Hiring a Conveyancing Solicitor to Getting a Property Survey

Buying your first home can be as daunting as it is exciting. Purchasing a property is a huge financial commitment and can be overwhelming, particularly if you’re a first-time buyer. The process is often long and complex - but, if you do your research beforehand and know what to expect, the process can be made easier. When buying a property for the first time, the decisions you make along the way can help you save a lot of money, so it’s good to know what you’re doing beforehand. 

For your convenience, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to buying your first home, covering everything you need to know about the process. This will ensure that you don’t run into any surprises along the way and are fully prepared for what’s to come. 

Before you even begin the process, it’s important to have a good think about whether buying a home is the right decision for you. While many people want to own a home at some point in their life, it’s not always the right decision for everyone. As previously mentioned, buying a home is a big financial investment, and it’s important that all of your finances are in place first. 

Are you going to sell your current property before you buy? You’ll need to decide on a budget and work out how much you’d like to spend beforehand, taking into consideration the variety of one-off and ongoing hidden costs of buying a home. 

Make sure you find a house that you can afford. When searching for your dream property, there are lots of things to take into consideration - from the location and size to nearby amenities. If you want to move to a completely new area, it’s important to do your research beforehand. Deciding where to live is an extremely important decision and should not be rushed; the last thing you want is to find yourself moving again in just a few months.

 

You’ll want to take into consideration local schools, transport links, crime rates, flood risks, traffic at different times, restaurants, local shops and more. It’s important that the area you move to has everything you need. 

As a buyer, you want to make sure you are in the strongest possible position, and this means ensuring you are more attractive to sellers than other buyers. Make sure you establish a good relationship with estate agents - often, some properties are only marketed quietly to buyers the agents trust. Having all of your finances prepared beforehand will make you a more desirable buyer. 

Once you’ve found the right property, decide how much you want to pay, including for fixtures and fittings, and then make an appropriate offer to the estate agent. It’s possible you’ll be asked to pay a small holding deposit between £500 and £1000 to show you’re serious about the offer. If the sale falls through, don’t worry - this will be refunded.

You can get a mortgage from an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA), a mortgage broker or lender. Most banks will ask you to pay at least 5% of the value of the property for a deposit. However, we do recommend saving as much as you can in advance to reduce the amount of money you have to pay back over time. 

How much money you can borrow is calculated by taking three important factors into account: salary, outgoings and credit history. In addition, the number of children or dependents you have, bills, insurance and outstanding loans are taken into consideration too. 

Once your offer has been accepted, you’ll need to contact your mortgage company and tell them your agreed offer. From this, you can then complete the process. You’ll need to think about what type of mortgage you want to apply for and how long you plan to spend paying your mortgage off. Before you can exchange contracts, you’ll need to get the lender to make you a formal mortgage offer. 

Once your offer has been accepted, it’s time to hire a reliable conveyancer or property solicitor. A conveyancing solicitor will handle all of the legal work to transfer ownership of the property to you, among other things. In England and Wales, conveyancing includes: 

● Conducting searches

● Drawing up and checking contracts

● Dealing with Land Registry

● Liasing with the seller’s conveyancer, their estate agent and your mortgage lender

● Checking the documents provided by the seller, including the lease if you’re purchasing a leasehold property

● Transferring money from you to the seller

When choosing a conveyancing solicitor, we recommend trying to avoid using your estate agent’s recommended conveyancer as this is often a commision-based referral that can end up costing you more money than if you find one privately. When finding a conveyancer or property solicitor, make sure you shop around and compare conveyancing quotes. This will ensure that you find the best deal possible. 

Typically, conveyancing fees can range between £500 to £1,500, depending on the cost of the property and the complexity of the transaction. 

Property surveys help to assess the condition of a building and can detect any structural issues which could be a problem. A property survey is optional, however, we recommend getting one as it’s always better to be aware of potential issues before you make the purchase. Plus, a survey could allow you to negotiate the purchase price down or encourage the seller to pay for repairs, so it’s always worth doing. 

Your mortgage lender will require a valuation by a surveyor to ensure that the property is in good enough condition to lend against. However, keep in mind that this is not a proper survey and you should always get a property survey too. 

A deposit of 10% of the sale price of the property needs to be handed over to your solicitor or conveyancer before contracts can be exchanged. 

Once you exchange contracts with the seller, you are legally committed to buying the property. They are also legally committed to selling it to you. If you decide to pull out with undue reason, you could lose your 10% deposit. Be careful not to exchange contracts until you have received the surveyors report and any necessary repairs or action has been carried out. Before you exchange contracts with the seller, you’ll also need to agree on a completion date together. This is typically around four weeks after the exchange. 

Once the final arrangements and negotiations are organised - such as buying the sellers fridge from them and making the necessary arrangements for the supply of water - you can complete the sale. On the day of completion, the money is transferred and the deeds of the property are transferred between each side’s conveyancer. 

At Mark Redler, we’re proud to be the conveyancing experts in Stafford. Our team of qualified conveyancers boasts years of experience in the field, so you needn’t look further than us to guide you through the property market and offer you bespoke advice. 

All of our conveyancing fees are fully transparent and our team will keep you in the loop every step of the way, updating you of any changes when and as they happen. For more information about our legal services or to get a conveyancing quote, visit our website or get in touch with us today.