Buying a house is a big milestone; huge in fact! My mum has always told me its one of the most stressful milestones in life. I’ve just googled ‘most stressful life milestones’ and yes, moving house makes top 5. No surprise then that such a big event means you’re going to need some help; emotional support, advice and possibly some extra hands on moving day.
For me, knowing how to actually begin something feels like the hardest part; knowing who to turn to for help when buying a house was no exception. My partner and I met so many people in the house buying process. It got to the point where I made a list of people: their name, contact details and how they were helping us?! So who made it onto the list?
1. Friends/ Family
Although I didn’t have to write them down they were the first people we turned to for help! If you know anyone (friend, family or colleague) who has any knowledge on property, whether they work in the industry or are a homeowner, it might be worth asking them for some advice.
Matt and I were very lucky both our parents knew a lot about buying houses already having brought their own houses and my mum previously worked as a conveyancing lawyer (legal side of buying a house).
2. Property Websites
Again, not written down on my list, but property websites are very useful. Their primary use is research, you can find out so much information allowing you to discard properties just from an online profile. You can view sales history (e.g. how much a property sold for previously) which is great to know when making an offer, estimated bills cost, recently sold nearby or valuation price. You can also sign up to mailing lists to alert you when desired properties are released onto the market.
There are so many websites out there; Rightmove, Zoopla, Primelocation, OnTheMarket just to name a few. These websites show a huge range of properties listed by many different estate agents, which is ideal when you are researching. Estate agents also have their own website showing properties they’re listing. Occasionally there might be properties that are only available to view on estate agents websites.
3. Estate Agents
Making your first call to an estate agent can feel a bit daunting- it definitely did for me. You’re past the point of discussing buying a house and actually taking the first official step. There might be two ways to reach this point; either you ring local estate agents explaining you’re searching for a property or you’ve found a property online that’s listed with them.
Properties that are on websites like Rightmove, etc are listed with an estate agent and usually the contact details for that estate agent can be found on the property page.
Generally, once you’ve made contact with an estate agent you are on their radar and will inform you of any future properties they believe you might be interested in. Estate agents will also show you around properties you’ve expressed interest in and will answer all the initial questions you might have.
4. Mortgage Advisor/ Consultant
Matt and I met a mortgage consultant fairly early on in the process. We called an estate agent to enquire about a property and we were asked if we had discussed our finances with someone- which we hadn’t- so we agreed to meet with someone prior to having a viewing. That turned out to be a mortgage advisor. This is someone who helps arrange mortgage loans on behalf of individuals.
The initial meeting was free of charge; in that meeting we discussed our finances, a deposit we could afford, approximately how much we could borrow (mortgage) and also arrange a mortgage in principle (needed when making an offer on a house). After that point we had to pay for the service.
Some mortgage advisor fees are free if they receive their commission from the mortgage lender. However, most you will pay for upfront; the cost is anywhere between £300- 1% of the mortgage loan. Our payment was close to £600 however included was a lifetime membership- meaning if we buy again in the future we can use the service again.
The mortgage advisor then arranges the mortgage with the lender for you, helps you fill in the very long mortgage application (40+ pages!) and also makes recommendations on life insurance and home insurance. As complete novices Matt and I really appreciated having someone guide us through the process. Our mortgage advisor went above and beyond turning into our main point of contact for advice on properties we went to view. She advised us whether the asking price was fair or not, whether previous sales had fallen through and why (highlighting hidden problems). A very well spent £600.
5. Customer Liaison Manager
Once an offer is accepted on a house the estate agent passes you over to a customer liaison manager. As far as I could gather the estate agents showed you round properties and then liaised between us and the vendors when making an offer. As soon as our offer was accepted we no longer had any contact with the estate agents (until collecting our keys) and we dealt with the customer liaison manager.
This is the person who updates you on the sale from that point all the way up to collecting the keys. We didn’t have much contact with our customer liaison manager; we preferred to speak with our mortgage advisor or solicitor instead.
6. Surveyor
This is someone who examines the condition of properties. Your level of involvement with a surveyor may vary depending on how thoroughly you want the property examined.
All mortgage lenders ask their own surveyor to look at the property- LOOK being the key word. ‘Looking’ can literally mean driving by the house to check its there. If you require a mortgage then you have to have this done- this is called a valuation. The valuation is mainly in the interest of the mortgage lender; in case you can’t make your mortgage payments and they repossess the house then need to know that the property can be sold for at least your mortgage value.
In addition, you can pay to have a more thorough report which is more in your interest. You can stick with the mortgage lenders surveyor to do this or hire someone else to produce the report for you. We chose to hire someone. Our survey highlighted plenty of problems, so having a good surveyor was so important for us. Your surveyor will probably know the property better than you and help you with your decision about whether to go ahead with the sale.
7. Conveyancer/Solicitor
This is someone who deals with the legal side of buying a house. Usually the estate agents you are buying the house with will offer their legal services. However you can choose to hire someone independently. We found someone independently as it was half the price quoted by the estate agents.
Your conveyancer/solicitor is very busy behind the scenes; applying for the relevant searches, checking all building work complies with standards, arranging the contract/ deeds, exchanges the deposit and finalises the mortgage. This is the part of the sale that takes the most time (6 weeks minimum) and it’s easy to feel impatient. There is little for you to do at this stage. Our sale took almost 5 months, so towards the end I was ringing our solicitor every other day it felt like. (And probably every 5 minutes to him).
So that’s the end of my list. I’m sure you will also meet plenty of people along the way too. Good luck on your house buying journey- I’d love to hear about your home buying experience too!
