Chicken and the Egg kind of question

Pigfeet

Morning all,
As a first time buyer trying to find a house what comes first (after agreeing a mortgage in principle) getting a solicitor or finding a property and liasing with an estate agent, then obtaining a solicitor to make an offer?

purcel

You don't need a solicitor to make an offer, you only need it after your offer has been accepted

goldengirl28

we did the following

get an AIP from the bank (Agreement in principle)
view houses
put offer in (gets accepted hopefully)
get lawyer and go to bank to progress the mortgage

don't know if thats the normal way, but it worked for us

Jowo_2

The estate agent will be the intermediary to make the offer to the seller on your behalf - he will assist with the negotiations though remember that they act for the seller rather than you (i.e. the seller pays and instructs them).

The solicitor does the conveyancing - the legal process to transfer ownership - but the survey could flag up issues that make you want to renegotiate the original offer.

No harm in getting quotes and recommendations for a solicitor in advance of finding a property that you like but remember that they can't do anything until you've had an offer accepted and are ready to proceed to sale.

jeffmasson

find one that you want to use now if you leave it like me you will pick a bad one in the rush. If you have eveything ready you can make a stronger sounding offer if someone else made the same offer as you and u can say u are all ready go they will pick you

Pigfeet

Thanks people, there are a couple of interesting points raised.
Time scale is a main thing, if i'm really desperate to get out and start living in the 'real world' then finding a suitiable solicitor first would be a good idea.

getmore4less

Definately get a solicitor/conveyancer lined up and have the initial chat so you know what the process is and the costs.

This then goes dormant till you find a place.

Similar for the mortgage do this up front so you have a good idea of affordability to target viewing and offers.

If the mortgage provider is sorted they may have a panel solicitor you could use them, good local might be easier to deal with since you can go in and get stuff exlained especialy as this is a first time.


Makes it a lot easier to avoid the EA trying to pass you over to their inhouse/preffered guys if you have them lined up

Sammy85_2

Get you mortgage in principle first.

You may have an idea of what the bank will lend you, but you wont know for definate until you get that. It may be substantially different to your ideas.

You cant really view properties seriously until you know if you can afford it for certain.

Eric1

goldengirl28 wrote: »

we did the following

get an AIP from the bank (Agreement in principle)
view houses
put offer in (gets accepted hopefully)
get lawyer and go to bank to progress the mortgage

+ get at least three detailed quotes from solicitors before making the offer, and say you have already selected one