Buying a house- advice is much appreciated

I have finally made my mind up and in my fresh spring of youth (52) am buying my first house ever. I'd appreciate all help and advise, this is seriously scary business

Financially it should be fine, I only need a small mortgage I can easily pay off in 10 years and have already secured an Agreement In Principle. (I'm aiming low, not exactly a hole in the ground with a long pole to ward the wolves off, but something I should be able to afford fairly easily).

I have also booked a viewing on one property and am checking listings daily (and planning imaginary gardens and kitchens )

Now, when the right one comes up...

Should I first make an offer or hire a solicitor first?
What about a surveyor?
I gather I book my mortgage appointment only when my offer has been accepted... ?
What kind of budget would be sensible to have in cash for the initial costs i.e. the solicitor, surveyor, moving, immediate repairs/ fixes etc?

Thanks a lot for any advice, buying a first home is a big thing and doing it in a foreign country doubly so.

 

Hi,

Long time since we moved house, but the first thing is to find a good solicitor regarding house buying, so ask around family and friends for a good one in your area.

Two things Not to do, do Not sign anything with anyone until your Solicitor has read it , otherwise whats the point of paying them !
Second do not use the solicitors the estate agent may suggest, possible confilct of interest.

Wherever possible always go for Freehold property, changes are around for Leasehold but not sure if they are in effect yet.

Two kinds of surveyor, just for value and general condition ie is it an acceptable risk for the mortgage company, or structural surveyor who Should give a more thorough report, though more expensive.

If possible take someone with you for everything regarding the house, its so easy to be overwhelmed and go around with rose tinted glasses.
eg. did your notice the electric sub station or public path nearby
Revist during the day and evening to see what the neighbourhood is really like.

Always better if you can find a property thats not in a chain, as a first time buyer you should be in the driving seat.

Take your time and don't set your heart on the first house you come across or be disappointed if you get gazumped etc, plenty more houses around !

You could always try Phil and Kirstie for some help
Watch Location, Location, Location | Stream free on Channel 4

 

Priority is location. You can change how a house looks, you cant change where it is.

Have a look at the house. If you like where it is, go back after everyone is at home to find out if parking is ok and nothing has changed from your first viewing.

 

I can't add much more than already mentioned , my solicitor cost were £425 ( 2020 ) so probably around £500 now and I think a surveyor costs are around £600 ( I didn't have a surveyor done ) so I reckon around £1000-1300 for these costs.

Could try a van and man but they aren't as good as reputable moving firm, or hire a box van and bribe some friends and family this will be the cheapest way.

If the surveyor picks up faults like it needs a new roof deduct the cost of a new roof from the offer this is what one of my friends did .

Let the garden sell the house I wish I had a bigger garden

 

Make an offer via the estate agent, if it's accepted then speak to your conveyancing solicitor.

Your solicitor may be able to advise you on a surveyor. I would suggest a full survey, particularly if the property is old.

Yes.

That's difficult to answer, it depends on the condition and value of the property. Again your solicitor can help you and is best giving you advice, not an estate agent.

Your conveyancer will deal with ground searches etc. Not on the property but around it. Example: Perhaps a factory is going to be built nearby.

On the 'hunting' side, things to look out for...

Condition of the property both inside and out. When inside look and sniff for areas of damp, usually in corners. Also whether the property needs any major work, roof attention, or inside kitchen/bathroom replacement etc. It all adds up and price can be negotiated if necessary.

Check which way the house faces in respect of where the suns rises and falls. Also whether the property is in a situation where it could be flooded/land slides etc., knowing the present conditions England is suffering.

Visit the property outside working hours, evening and weekend. There's no need to disturb the owners for this. Just linger in the area for a while, looking and listening. it will say a lot about the neighbourhood.

Good luck with the hunt Selleri.

 

Hi Selleri, if you haven't yet settled on a conveyancing solicitor, I can recommend TQ Law if you don't mind dealing with them 'virtually'. They're based in Leigh, Lancashire. We finally sold our UK house in 2022 which could have been tricky, dealing with everything from France. The solicitors were excellent and reasonably priced.
Do hope you find what you're looking for and that it all goes well!

 

Thanks everybody for your replies, very helpful and reassuring! I'm reading a lot and slowly gaining a bit of confidence.

Potential problems with the house is probably the area where I will have to pay for a professional to do a good inspection. I have basic understanding on what to check and am not blinded by cosmetics, but structural things are beyond me.

Today's job is to read more, google for potential solicitors, start writing a (physical) list of things to remember and to walk around the house with a bin bag to clear out things I don't want to move. It's amazing how much things one accumulates!

Thanks again for your advise and support

 

When I bought my house 14 years ago, the mortgage lender recommended I use the same solicitor firm as them, so it was fairly easy and worked out cheaper as the lender had some sort of contract with them. They chose a firm local to me. I think they have agreements with loads of firms dotted about the country.

The legal stuff cost me £250.

The surveyor was equally easy. The lender gave me a choice of find my own or let them organise it. Again cheaper if I go through the lender. That cost me £100.

Now it could raise alarm bells using services organised through the lender, for things intended to protect the buyer, but the lender wants to make sure their investment is good. They're not going to use a dodgy surveyor or solicitor that will rubber stamp thousands of pounds on a dodgy property that turns out to be worthless. As ruthless as it sounds, the lender wants to know that if you suddenly stop paying, they have a valuable asset to sell to recover the money they lent you. So based on this logic I went with the simpler, cheaper option.

As for other costs, I made a mistake of underestimating the less obvious moving in costs. Things like removals, buying furniture and applied and sundry items I couldn't take from the rented house I had previously. My finances covered all the big stuff, the deposit, legal fees etc, but I found myself borrowing a couple of grand from family to cover the less obvious stuff.

In terms of choosing the house, a couple of things. Find out first what council tax band it is. I doubt many think about that with everything else going on, but it can make a huge difference to your finances. I was lucky, mine is in the cheapest band, but I don't think I thought about that before making an offer.

Also, drive past the house a few times, at different times of day. See if you can get a feel for what the street is like. You didn't want to make a decision based on it being lovely when you view late morning, only to move in and find the evenings are filled with local riffraff hanging about being naughty.

They say a nice garden adds value to a house. By extension then a scruffy garden must reduce the value. When I viewed our house the estate agent pretended to have lost the backdoor key. I could see why just looking out the window. My house was dirt cheap, partly because it was a repo, but no doubt part because the back garden as literally dead and had been used as a dumping ground. There was a rotten old carpet, and all sorts of building materials and waste. Some people would see a showstopper, I saw a blank canvas.

In terms of making an offer, don't be afraid to be cheeky. My house was already cheap because it was a repo, but that didn't stop me offering less than the asking price. My house being a repo and with me not having a house to sell first put me in a good position to negotiate, and I got it down quite a lot.

Which brings me onto prices. If a house is a lot cheaper than the going rate, don't read anything into that. It would be easy to assume there's a massive problem with it, and indeed that might be the reason. But equally it could be a repo, it could be a landlord selling up, it might be fine but not have all the latest stuff, any number of reasons. That'll all come out in the wash when the surveyor and the solicitor do their stuff. The estate agent might tell you why before you even get that far.

 

Update!
My offer for a house has been accepted, I have a solicitor instructed and have read through the 13 page instructions from them, plus the other 5 attached information packs.

It's actually a bit less scary than I thought, the estate agent is kind and very clear on explaining what is happening, and the solicitors are also very clear and I have a real person with a name in both companies to deal with.

I'm pleased with the fact that many steps can be done online. I'm not confident with apps and things, but The Child has helped me to sail through them. Anti- money laundering check involved steps of "take a selfie" "upload a photo of your ID" and then whirr whirr whirr and the machine cleared me Daunting, but much easier than printing things out and sending them in post.

I'm booking my mortgage interview in person rather than via video call, and will print and physically sign with a pen the initial documentation for the solicitors. One is allowed to be a bit of old school at my age (But The Child is coming with me to the interview for moral support and learning opportunity) (and for a 2-for-1 drink afterwards )

.... and the house ticks all my boxes. It's a miracle I got it, the seller (who showed us around) is in for a quick sell as his son who lived in the house for 12 years is getting married and needs the cash so he accepted our offer even though higher offers were surely already put in or expected.

I think he just liked the fact that I was very complimentary on the "feature fireplace" with rustic look tiling. I think he did it himself

Scary, but exiting times and loads of new learnings.

 

Congratulations Selleri. I hope it all goes smoothly for you.

 

What ever you do get a survey done. The most expensive you can afford. All a lender wants to know in their survey is the value of the house to ensure they can recoup the lent money if you can not keep up payments and their survey is pretty basic.

 

More app things cleared with the kind help of The Child. Apparently a near- namesake is a PEP (Politically Exposed Person) so I had to confirm I'm not her. The App people shared all her PII and her professional position with me, but I decided this is not the right moment to lecture the company about GDPR.

Had my first mortgage interview today and it was very reassuring. I have done my very conservative affordability calculations and the advisor confirmed I haven't hallucinated and talked me through options which sounded reasonable and realistic. The Big One is next Friday when I will officially borrow a big chunk of money that's not mine

Asked for surveyor quotes and packed up some more things.

Re-imaginary- planned the new garden and decided to have at least one Daphne

This is a seriously baffling process but at the moment I'm so pleased to see each bit falling into its place- its giving me satisfaction to see that I got each bit right one step at the time and can now move on to the next one.