The ink is barely dry on your wedding photographs and already you’re scouring the internet for your dream property.
Before you even begin to wrestle over your different aesthetic preferences, you first need to work out what your budget is. Bear in mind, whatever figure you come up with also has to cover the fees involved such as stamp duty, survey, searches and the conveyancer’s fee.
The key questions to ask are:
- Do either of you have a property to sell and if so, what equity will be released from that?
- How much money do you have saved?
- What are your income and outgoings?
All these will then determine the mortgage amount you are likely to get.
You will also need a sum of money for a deposit. It’s possible to obtain a mortgage with just a 5% deposit. Generally speaking though, the greater the deposit, the cheaper the mortgage rate becomes. It’s a good idea to talk to a mortgage advisor or company to get an idea of what you can borrow and to get a mortgage in principle in place. This means that you will be in a stronger position to move forward when you find the right property.
Once you’ve found a property you want to buy, you make an offer through the estate agent. If it’s accepted, you then appoint a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to handle the purchase for you. If either of you has a property to sell, the conveyancer can deal with this too.
The business of buying and selling houses can at times be confusing and frustrating, but a good conveyancer will guide you through this. They will carry out searches to see if there are any issues you need to be aware of and raise questions with the vendor about aspects of the sale.
When the finances and the terms of the transaction have all been agreed then the contract between the seller and the purchasers can be signed and exchanged. This is legally binding and from this point neither party may withdraw without incurring financial penalties.
When buying a house with a spouse it is typical to purchase under a joint tenancy agreement. This means that when one of the owners dies, the property automatically passes to the surviving owner.
Your conveyancer will now coordinate with you and the seller’s conveyancer to agree a date for completion. On this date, the conveyancer will work with the mortgage lender to release the funds to pay for the property. They will also pay for any disbursements such as stamp duty and Land Registry fees.
When this has all been done, you can finally collect the keys to your new home together.
To help you through the hurdles of buying a house, call our Conveyancing team free on 0808 1685643 and speak to a member of our dedicated team.