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.

The Buying Process: A Step-by-Step Guide:

Find out how much you can afford

Once you decide you want to buy a property start saving as hard as you can. Although 100 per cent mortgages are available, you will get a much better deal if you have a deposit. If you have a property already its worth getting your house appraised by Fraser Wood to find out how much it is worth . Arrange a meeting with our mortgage advisor Tony Sharif on 01922 707517 to find out how much you can borrow and what the repayments will be.

House hunting

Contact us at Fraser Wood and get registered on our mailing list to receive details of new properties. Search the internet and local newspapers, look at as many properties as you can manage preferably in the daylight before making any firm decisions,. When you find the one you really like, ask if you can go back for a second look at a different time of the day. Take a friend or relative for an independent opinion. Inspect the immediate area more thoroughly this time.

Making an offer

Once you are convinced you have found the property you want, ring the estate agent and make an offer. Negotiations will take place and your situation will be required such as mortgage arrangements and the situation with your own property.
If the offer is accepted, the property will be marked off as sold subject to contract. This will minimise the danger of being gazumped, which is when someone comes along and makes a higher offer which the estate agent is legally obliged to pass on to the seller. (If you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you are not legally bound to proceed with the purchase at this point. In Scotland, if your offer is accepted, it is legally binding so you need to have the property valued before you make your offer.)

What happens next?

Now you will need to arrange your mortgage and appoint a solicitor or a conveyancer to carry out the necessary legal work.. Once your mortgage application is submitted, the lender will carry out credit checks and inform you whether or not your application has been accepted.
If you do not have a solicitor we at Fraser Wood can recommend a solicitor.

The professionals get to work

Before your lender finally agrees to a mortgage, a valuation will be needed to establish that the property is worth the asking price. You will have to pay a fee for this survey. If it is satisfactory, your lender will send you a formal mortgage offer – a process which typically takes about two weeks.
But the basic valuation will not tell you of any potential problems with the property. If you want a more in-depth report, you will need a homebuyer’s report which will provide more detail, or a full structural survey. If you are not buying your house through Fraser Wood we can arrange to do the survey or recommend a surveyor if we are selling the property contact us on 01922 638534 to speak to the Survey department about your needs.
While all this is going on your solicitor will be checking the title deeds to the property, carrying out searches to make sure there are no planning applications which may affect your property and liasing with the seller’s solicitor.

The final stage

If everything has proceeded smoothly, your solicitor will now arrange for you to sign the contract. The seller will also sign a contract and these contracts will be exchanged. At this point you will have to pay the deposit to your solicitor. This is when the deal becomes legally binding and if you pull out you would lose your deposit.
Completion normally takes place around four weeks later. On this day, the mortgage monies are passed on to the seller and you are given the keys to your new home. Congratulations.