Pearl of wisdom 1
Find a good solicitor or conveyancer. When placing your hard earned money in the hands of someone to manage the biggest purchase of your life, you don’t want to go for the cheapest option. Your legal team should have your back, be proactive in dealing with issues and support you along the way.
Buying a home is an emotional rollercoaster and your conveyancer/solicitor is a key player to have on side fighting your corner. You will need to be in regular contact to make sure everything is moving and (if necessary) resolve any sticking points quickly. With this in mind, be careful choosing an online practice. Given the volume of cases some firms take on it’s likely your case handler will change frequently and you might struggle to contact them when you need help the most. Delays and complications from a legal perspective can add significant time and cause additional stress.
A quick top tip - we recommend finding your conveyancer before you put in an offer. If your offer is accepted you’ll be ready to instruct your conveyancer and get going with the purchase process.
We’ve been told to keep this section short so as not to bore people. But if you feel like your attention span could stretch a bit further checkout our guide to conveyancing that breaks down the process and explains the jargon.
Pearl of wisdom 2
Make sure the seller is prepared. Property legislation and bank lending criteria has changed extensively over the last 10 years and can be difficult to navigate for sellers who have owned the property for some time. If you have a tight timeframe, make sure you communicate this with the estate agent early. The seller and their legal team will need to be ready with any required documentation for your conveyancer to review to avoid delays. For example if the property is a leasehold flat it helps if the seller’s solicitor has requested a management pack early in the process.
Pearl of wisdom 3
Be mindful of deadlines. If you find the purchase process edging towards the six month mark, there are several documents and applications that will start to expire. This takes up valuable time and potentially adds more fees if you have to re-do certain parts. Examples of expiration dates to watch out for include:
- Mortgage offers
- Searches
- Management packs
Use the expiry dates as a deadline for completion and be firm with the estate agent and your legal team about your expectations.
Pearl of wisdom 4
Be organised, act quickly and check with Nestee before making an offer. We might be plugging our own product here, but with good reason. The biggest takeaway every buyer talks about is “I wish I had known upfront about…before I made an offer”. No house or neighbourhood is perfect, but it helps to know what you are getting into first, so you can be sure this is the home for you. The more prepared and confident you are, the faster you’ll breeze through the process.
Once you’ve checked with Nestee and got an offer accepted, it’s time to kick your fellowship of house buying experts into action:
- Formally instruct your conveyancer and ask them to detail the next steps so you can be aware how each stage progresses and which party is involved.
- Arrange a time for your surveyor to visit the property.
- If you are planning on doing any building work it’s worth organising for you and the builder to visit the property early in the process. This helps you get a clearer idea on estimated costs and a timeframe for completing the work.
- Start the mortgage application process with your broker. If interest rates are low at the time you put an offer in, its best to get a mortgage secured early so you are protected from potential increases further down the line. Your broker should monitor the markets and let you know if more attractive rates come up.
Pearl of wisdom 5
Add an extra 5-10% on top of your budget to account for unexpected costs. Unfortunately, no matter how organised you are there will likely be ‘something’ that throws a curveball into the mix on your house buying journey. If you don’t have the means to cover potential additional costs, this could slow down the purchase process, or worse - force you to pull out of the buying process altogether!
Final thoughts
Financial and emotional preparation is absolutely key when buying a house. The more informed you are about what you’re buying and the legal process involved to purchase the property, the less stressful and faster the process will be. It’s better to know upfront about something on your red flag list, before you’ve got fees landing in your inbox left right and centre.
How to speed up the home buying process
Quick Summary
The journey of reaching completion day when you buy a home, makes Frodo’s quest to Mordor seem like a walk in the park. You might think that having your offer accepted calls for champagne, when actually you soon find yourself in an endless series of battles to navigate and orcs to negotiate with. With the average home sale taking between 4-6 months you’ll want to minimise any chance of delays. We’ve gathered some precious pearls of wisdom from fellow battle-hardened buyers to help you speed through the process.
Pearl of wisdom 1
Find a good solicitor or conveyancer. When placing your hard earned money in the hands of someone to manage the biggest purchase of your life, you don’t want to go for the cheapest option. Your legal team should have your back, be proactive in dealing with issues and support you along the way.
Buying a home is an emotional rollercoaster and your conveyancer/solicitor is a key player to have on side fighting your corner. You will need to be in regular contact to make sure everything is moving and (if necessary) resolve any sticking points quickly. With this in mind, be careful choosing an online practice. Given the volume of cases some firms take on it’s likely your case handler will change frequently and you might struggle to contact them when you need help the most. Delays and complications from a legal perspective can add significant time and cause additional stress.
A quick top tip - we recommend finding your conveyancer before you put in an offer. If your offer is accepted you’ll be ready to instruct your conveyancer and get going with the purchase process.
We’ve been told to keep this section short so as not to bore people. But if you feel like your attention span could stretch a bit further checkout our guide to conveyancing that breaks down the process and explains the jargon.
Pearl of wisdom 2
Make sure the seller is prepared. Property legislation and bank lending criteria has changed extensively over the last 10 years and can be difficult to navigate for sellers who have owned the property for some time. If you have a tight timeframe, make sure you communicate this with the estate agent early. The seller and their legal team will need to be ready with any required documentation for your conveyancer to review to avoid delays. For example if the property is a leasehold flat it helps if the seller’s solicitor has requested a management pack early in the process.
Pearl of wisdom 3
Be mindful of deadlines. If you find the purchase process edging towards the six month mark, there are several documents and applications that will start to expire. This takes up valuable time and potentially adds more fees if you have to re-do certain parts. Examples of expiration dates to watch out for include:
- Mortgage offers
- Searches
- Management packs
Use the expiry dates as a deadline for completion and be firm with the estate agent and your legal team about your expectations.
Pearl of wisdom 4
Be organised, act quickly and check with Nestee before making an offer. We might be plugging our own product here, but with good reason. The biggest takeaway every buyer talks about is “I wish I had known upfront about…before I made an offer”. No house or neighbourhood is perfect, but it helps to know what you are getting into first, so you can be sure this is the home for you. The more prepared and confident you are, the faster you’ll breeze through the process.
Once you’ve checked with Nestee and got an offer accepted, it’s time to kick your fellowship of house buying experts into action:
- Formally instruct your conveyancer and ask them to detail the next steps so you can be aware how each stage progresses and which party is involved.
- Arrange a time for your surveyor to visit the property.
- If you are planning on doing any building work it’s worth organising for you and the builder to visit the property early in the process. This helps you get a clearer idea on estimated costs and a timeframe for completing the work.
- Start the mortgage application process with your broker. If interest rates are low at the time you put an offer in, its best to get a mortgage secured early so you are protected from potential increases further down the line. Your broker should monitor the markets and let you know if more attractive rates come up.
Pearl of wisdom 5
Add an extra 5-10% on top of your budget to account for unexpected costs. Unfortunately, no matter how organised you are there will likely be ‘something’ that throws a curveball into the mix on your house buying journey. If you don’t have the means to cover potential additional costs, this could slow down the purchase process, or worse - force you to pull out of the buying process altogether!
Final thoughts
Financial and emotional preparation is absolutely key when buying a house. The more informed you are about what you’re buying and the legal process involved to purchase the property, the less stressful and faster the process will be. It’s better to know upfront about something on your red flag list, before you’ve got fees landing in your inbox left right and centre.