Buying a Home

Financial Matters

Firstly, if you are looking to purchase a property, it is very important, even before you start to view  properties, is to make sure you can afford to buy. If you are looking to purchase with a mortgage, you will need to seek professional advice from a lender or financial broker, and ideally obtain a mortgage agreement in principle as soon as possible. If you do not require a mortgage and are looking to purchase with cash funds, it is advisable to make sure the funds are not tied into any saving arrangement, which could possibly hold up releasing the funds. 

Viewing Properties and Making Offers

Once you have your finances in place, or perhaps you've agreed a sale on a related property, you are now in a strong position to view properties. You can register your details with Archer & Partners, and we can place you onto our database system and inform you of any properties as soon as they become available.

Hopefully it does not take too long to find a suitable home to purchase, if it does, then don't worry too much, the right one will come along. As soon as you do settle on a property, you may wish to make an offer to purchase. All offers made by applicants must be verified, and this is where we insist in collating the various financial information as explained in the previous financial matters section. If you have already agreed a sale on an existing property, we will require details of your selling agent or solicitor, so we can inform our client the chain details. We must make you fully aware that we do act on behalf of the sellers however, we will be able to assist you with the process of making offers. 

In most circumstances, once the seller has accepted your offer, the property is agreed subject to contract. There our occasions the sellers instruct us to keep properties on the market in view of having the right to consider other offers, but not necessary to accept them. We will always explain the terms of the sale and make sure you are agreeable to proceed, and once we are at that stage, we can then move onto the sales progression.

Sale Progression

As soon as your offer is accepted by a seller, it is at this stage you will need to instruct your solicitor/conveyancer and the seller will do the same. Your solicitor/conveyancer will require a payment, which will allow them to apply for searches as soon as they receive paperwork from the sellers solicitor/conveyancer. On receipt of these papers your solicitor/conveyancer will be able go through them and raise various questions. 

If you are buying with a mortgage, it is at this same stage that you make your formal mortgage application via your broker or direct to your lender. The lender will process your mortgage offer, subject to survey/valuation, which is explained in a little more detail in the next section.

In the meantime, your solicitor/conveyancer will be liaising with the sellers solicitor/conveyancer to complete the legal work and move the transaction forward to point of exchanging contracts. However, there will be many processes involved prior to this, and naturally Archer & Partners can assist and keep you up-to-date, especially where there are property chains involved.  

Surveys

If you are buying with a mortgage, your lender will most likely carry out a valuation of the property you are purchasing. Depending on the lender, they will either make a visit to the property or often many are able to carry out desk top valuations. You can then decide whether you wish to pay for a more in depth survey, for example a Home Buyers Report or structural inspection. There are various types of surveys to suit the property you wish to buy.

Cash purchasers don't have to have a survey and may prefer to have independent specialist inspections. However, we do recommend you seek advice prior to exchanging contracts.

Exchange of Contracts and Completion of Sale

Once your solicitor/conveyancer has received answers to their questions and your mortgage offer, if applicable, you are now in position to sign the contract paperwork and to transfer any balance of deposit funds. The sellers solicitor/conveyancer will also need to be in a position to exchange contracts and then all being well, a completion date can be agreed and contracts exchanged.

Completion date is your moving date and is normally set a couple of weeks after exchange but this can sometimes be shorter or longer, depending on all parties concerned. Once your solicitor/conveyancer has sent all the monies to the sellers solicitor, you will be able to collect keys from us and look forward to moving into your new home.

This is a very basic outline as to how the buying process works and in most cases, it is more involved, and that is why Archer & Partners are here to assist you.