5 Top Tips for Buying a Property
How to Prepare for Purchasing a Property
Whether you are a first-time buyer, looking for a larger family home or downsizing our Residential Property and Conveyancing team share their tops for buying a property and how to prepare for the property purchase.
5 Top Tips for Buying a House
Buying a property can be stressful and time consuming, below are our top 5 tips for buying a property:
- Find the Best Mortgage Product – There are so many mortgage products on the market it can be daunting. It is best if you shop around to find the best product or speak to a mortgage advisor. For members of Trade Unions and other professional bodies, there are often links to lenders or professional advisers who can obtain a preferential product for you.
- Speak to a Solicitor or Conveyancer – By speaking to a solicitor or conveyancer early on in the process you can get an idea of legal costs. Remember to factor in searches, Land Registry fees and Stamp Duty if applicable. Also, ensure that any quote you are given for legal costs is up front and contains no hidden extras. Some firms may give you a seemingly cheap headline fee to attract you, but will then reveal the very many extras once you have committed to them.
- Get a Survey – Always have a survey done – your surveyor will be able to advise on the type of survey they recommend for the type of property you are buying . Remember, whilst a seller has a legal responsibility not to mislead you about the property, they have no obligation to disclose information relating to the state and condition of a property unless you specifically ask them the question and even then, the seller may not know about all potential defects with the property. The doctrine of “Buyer Beware” applies, so make sure that you check things like the boiler and the electrics. Make sure that you flag up any potential issues to your solicitors matters such as complex parking arrangements, extensions and any concerns you may have about the boundaries.
- Recommended Searches – Similarly, always have searches carried out if recommended by your solicitor. If you are having a mortgage, your lender will insist on all searches being carried out. However, even if you are buying for cash, there may be relevant issues such as contamination, flooding, breaches of planning requirements that you would not find out without the relevant search. It is better to spend the money on searches at the start, than have a nasty shock after moving in which could cost thousands to resolve.
- Realistic Target Dates – Set realistic target dates and remember nothing is set in stone until the all important exchange of contracts. On average it will take eight to twelve weeks from the receipt of draft contract papers for a sale or purchase to reach the state of exchange of contracts.
Residential Property & Conveyancing Team
At Morrish Solicitors we understand that moving can sometimes be a stressful experience, but our friendly and professional residential property and conveyancing team will do everything we can to ensure that it is also an exciting and positive experience.
Our experienced residential property solicitors can advise on the following:
- Residential sale and purchase
- Re-mortgage work
- Investment property work
- Transfer of equity
- Residential leases
- Residential tenancy agreements.
To enquire about our residential property and conveyancing services please call us on 033 3344 9600 or simply email [email protected] with your request.
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