Home Buying Milestones

Buying a home - it can be quite a lengthy and in some cases difficult process. However, it is invariably all worth it on that first day you take ownership of your new home, walk through the door into the empty space and visualise what you are going to do with it: because it is yours, all yours!

Getting to that stage however can be a little tricky, but here is a quick and simple guide to some of the key steps on getting into your home from the financial point of view (for the actual process of researching, looking at houses and so on read the home buying articles).

Financially of course you will almost certainly need to get a mortgage. You may or may not have got a mortgage in principle, but you will fill in an application form for a mortgage if you haven't already once you have had your offer accepted and then the process starts with a valuation report ensuring that the property is worth at least the amount of the mortgage that you require. You may also get a Homebuyer's Report.

The majority of people work with a solicitor to get all the paperwork sorted, although there are some who feel confident enough to do the legal process themselves for the vast majority it is easier and safer to get a professional involved. In the jargon this is called "instructing" a solicitor, and they will then work through the legal process for you, so they'll need all the pertinent details: for instance of course all the information about the house you are buying, who your mortgage is going to be with, estate agent and so on.

Assuming the valuation report comes back to the mortgage lender without problems in the value, then the lender then will usually agree to grant the mortgage (and again based on all the other checks that they do). Sometimes they will impose conditions in order to get the mortgage: if there is urgent work needed on the property for instance then this could be included. At this stage typically you may ask the seller to pay the cost, or some of it, or to reduce the price for the house. Once the work is done, the usually the surveyor will take another look and confirm that the work has been done to a satisfactory standard.

The rest of the process is explained in the 'home buying steps' article.

Buying Property

Mortgages

Buying Overseas

Tools and Resources

Home Buying Milestones

House Prices