When you have decided to buy a property, the first step is to find out how much you can afford to borrow and therefore how much you can spend on your new home. Speak to Elmham Financial and one of our qualified advisors can help you decide what’s affordable for you and what you are able to borrow. We can also discuss the other costs to be taken into account when buying a property and help you start the home-buying process. The one cost we won’t discuss is our fee – because we don’t charge you any!
Once you know what you can afford you will be in a position to make an offer on a property. Find a house you like within your price range and make an offer via the estate agent who’s marketing the property. Be prepared to offer below the asking price and haggle to get the best deal you can. The estate agent might want proof that you can really afford to buy the property and Elmham Financial can help you here by providing an “Agreement in Principle” which says how much a lender will offer for you to buy the house, so they’ll take your offer seriously.
Once you’ve agreed a price and your offer has been accepted, you need to sit down with your Elmham Financial advisor and complete an application to a lender. It’s also at this point that you’ll start to arrange all the various insurances that you may need and, again, Elmham Financial can advise you on these. You’ll also instruct a solicitor to do the legal work entailed in buying a house on your behalf.
Once we’ve managed to get you a mortgage offer from the lender, your solicitor will complete the necessary searches and other legal procedures before drawing up a contract of purchase which you then sign. The seller’s solicitor will draw up a contract of sale which the seller signs and they then exchange these contracts. It’s at this point that you are committed to buy and the seller is committed to sell. The next and final step, which can happen later or on the same day as exchange of contract is “completion” this is when you get the keys to your new home and start the next chapter of your life.