We have a deposit. What next?

Legacy_user

We finally have a deposit and literally have no idea where to go next. Started looking for an adviaor/broker and started looking at houses. Any guidance at this stage would be greatly aooreciated

boo_star

Usually the next step would be to get a AIP from a mortgage provider, most estate agents won't accept an offer unless you can show you're proceedable.

Bad_Accountant

As well as the deposit you’ll need £5-£10k for a valuation, broker fees, conveyancing, stamp duty (if applicable), a survey, any follow up inspections if the survey raises questions, moving costs etc.

If you borrow (even 0%) to pay these costs it will affect your mortgage application! So have a plan to pay for it or take a bit longer to save up for these costs too.

Start getting some quotes for surveys and conveyancing for an idea of the expenses in your area/property type.

tealady

Go to your local library and borrow a good book on buying/ selling houses. You will be spending thousands of pounds, you need to get things right.
Make a list of must have/ must not have. For me off road parking was a must (I dont drive but is handy for visitors), and must not be on a main road. Saved me looking at unsuitable properties.
However remember the perfect house that exists in your head may not exist in reality so be prepared to compromise.
Above all, have patience, loads of it.
Good luck.

freeman3030

Firstly, congratulations and well-done for saving for your deposit... That's no small task! You've got the exciting bits to come now. Firstly as others have suggested, find yourself a good mortgage broker, especially as this is your first house purchase they can hold your hand through the process. They'll apply for an AIP to ensure you can realistically borrow what you're wanting to borrow.
Whilst your finding/arranging a meet with a broker it would be a great idea to make a list of 'must haves' and prioritize them. Is room size more important than location? (I can't stress enough how much a location can get you down) we bought an ex-local authority house previously (some were owned some were social housing) and it was great for the first two years for the most part (there was the odd fly tipping/arguing neighbour), however in the last year, two new families moved in that were, let's just say, less than pleasant. It made the last year living there unbearable and was a motivating factor for us to sell and leave.
Make your list and use it as a guide to remind yourself of what's important to you. Sometimes a WOW house impressed you that you can loose all perspective of what your criteria is. I found new builds to do this to me. The brand new kitchen and bathrooms, open plan spaces are desirable but when you actually take stock they're probably smaller in size and built on a much smaller plot than an older property.
View anything that sort of meets most of your criteria, you'll be surprised what you come across as when viewing online you can't get a feel for a house and you miss things. For instance, our previous house had this extra little room that you couldn't see from the photos and wasn't very well illustrated on the floorplan, which we really liked.
Just keep an open mind. All the time you're viewing, weeks, maybe even months will roll past, adding to your savings. Then when you finally have an offer accepted it takes a while to actually buy the house giving you further opportunity to save further.
Good luck!!

AdrianC

With an AIP, you've got an idea what you can afford.

Go look at houses in that price range! Lots of them. As many of them as you can. Don't be rigid about drawing the line at your upper price limit, but don't go daft. You'll almost certainly have to compromise in some way, but you simply don't really know what's non-negotiable and what's simply "nice to have" until you start looking.

Be picky. Don't just slap an offer in on the first "Well, that's probably OK" that you see. Look PAST the decor and furniture. Look behind furniture. Get a clue about what potential problems look like. When it comes to offering, be prepared to walk away, and don't be pressurised to up your offer beyond what you WANT to pay for any given place.

seven-day-weekend

Decide which is most important; house or location. You may not be able to afford to buy your ideal house in your ideal location.

When we downsized, we decided that location was the most important and that we were prepared to compromise with the house style to get into one of those locations. In the end we didn't have to, we bought a do-er up-per bungalow in one of the locations, at a cheaper price than they would normally fetch because it needed so much doing to it, which we didn't mind.

Decide what are must-haves and what you would merely like (be realistic on the must-haves!). To us, they were off-road parking and near shops and bus route.

Above all, be flexible and prepared to compromise. No house will have everything.

G_M

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Buy-House-Kirstie-Allsopp/dp/1444790633

akira181

I purchased my first flat last year a year ago today and had the same level of confusion as you did. I got a mortgage advisor, recommended by a friend who used her before, and found out what I could comfortably afford. My advisor was free as she works on commission and was very good. She was upfront about this and the mortgage she suggested was also the best one I found in my own searches (PM me if you want her details, we done everything by phone/email and she was very responsive). She recommended what % of deposit I should aim for to get the best rate and I had a couple k spare to cover additional costs (surveyors, lawyer fees, mortgage application costs, transfer fees, etc as well as post purchase costs like moving, white goods, furniture, a mattress, etc).

I was already viewing flats in the area(s) I was interested in before all this to get an idea of what to expect for what kind of money. Once I knew what I could afford and Agreement in Principle (AIP) in place, I stepped up the flat viewings even more. I was viewing on average 2 or 3 a week for about 6 months before I found something that I really liked and was within my budget. Once I knew I liked it, I made an offer pending the outcome of a survey. Research the area and find out what the average selling price is for the kind of place you’re looking for. Having all this ground work done beforehand allows you to move quickly as I found that nice places aren’t on the market for long.

Making a list of “Must Haves” (location, public transport links, parking, number of bedrooms, etc) and “nice to have” (garage, en-suite, etc) helped me decide if I liked a place or best to walk away. If I was hesitant, then I either made a low offer or walked away. I even spoke to the neighbours to ask about the area and get a feel for what they were like. Even went as far as to park outside on a Saturday and Sunday evening and hung around for half an hour, which I’m glad I did as boy racers whizzing past constantly at 11pm with their stupid sounding exhausts changed my mind on one.

Knowing how much work you’re willing to do also helps narrow down the choices. Do you want a freshly decorated place ready to live in or want to do some work to the place yourself? The home report should flag any potential areas of work needed and a survey should check any areas of work highlighted or missed by the home report.

Once you made an offer and it’s been accepted, your lawyer can make the offer official and will guide you from there, sorting out dates and doing all the necessary checks. Don’t be afraid to call your lawyer for regular updates, they need a push sometimes. If they couldn’t give me a progress update on Monday, I’d tell them I’d call back Friday. After a couple times, they were always ready on the Monday with an update and details for the next steps.

Best advice is be patient and STICK to your budget. There are always new houses coming on the market and eventually one will tick all the “Must Haves” assuming you were realistic for your budget. Never stretch yourself on the mortgage otherwise you will grow to hate the place with the stress of meeting mortgage payments and not having a holiday for 10 years. You’ll also need to factor in having enough spare income to put aside for potential repairs. No landlord to foot the bills anymore! My boiler gave up 8 months after I moved in, which I was expecting as it was 20 years old. I factored this into my offer and put aside money every month for when the day eventually came.

If you’re looking at flats, some good advice an estate agent gave me was look at the close and other communal areas. If they’re completely run down, the building is not being actively cared for. You can make your flat as beautiful as you like but getting communal renovations done is tricky unless you’re willing to foot the bill yourself.

Good luck with the search!

RelievedSheff

Well done on saving your deposit. Now the fun part can begin.

Start by approaching a good whole of market broker to get you an AIP and an indication of the amount that you can borrow.

Then you can start the hunt for the right house. As others have already said you need to decide if the house or the location will take priority as it is unlikely that you end up getting exactly what you want with both.

With our first house we decided that it was the house that took priority and ended up buying an ex local authority house. Which we loved at first but over the years the location soured our experience as we had troublesome neighbours. With our current new build house which we bought earlier this year location was key and we made a few compromises with the house, the plot isn't very large for example and there is no way to extend the plot in the future but overall we decided that this was a fair compromise to be in a great location.

Make a list of things that you need from the house and a list of thinks that you would ideally like from a house but are not essential. Then start looking for houses to view.

Make yourself known to estate agents as they may be able to advise of properties that are due to come onto the market shortly.

View as many places as possible before you make offers on any. You need to get a feel for what you like and what you don't like in a house/flat. View properties from all periods. Don't just stick to one time period until you have seen others to compare.

Mutton_Geoff

AdrianC wrote: »

With an AIP, you've got an idea what you can afford.

Go look at houses in that price range! Lots of them. As many of them as you can. Don't be rigid about drawing the line at your upper price limit, but don't go daft. You'll almost certainly have to compromise in some way, but you simply don't really know what's non-negotiable and what's simply "nice to have" until you start looking.

Be picky. Don't just slap an offer in on the first "Well, that's probably OK" that you see. Look PAST the decor and furniture. Look behind furniture. Get a clue about what potential problems look like. When it comes to offering, be prepared to walk away, and don't be pressurised to up your offer beyond what you WANT to pay for any given place.

Seconded. And don't fall in love with it and label it "your forever home" else you'll be held over a barrel by the vendors and the agents and make decisions in haste you may later regret.