When should I start the process to buy a house?

Rikkka

Hi all, 

I read the forum but it's one of the first times that I write.

I open this thread because I have a question about the process to buy a house. It might look like a stupid one but I have a lot of doubts about this. I explain my situation... basically right know I'm renting and the contract is going to end in January 2024. The plan is to buy a house by the end of the year.

The question now is: when should I start the process to buy a house? Decision in principle, viewing etc...

I was thinking to start everything in May, is it too early? Too late?

Thank you in advance for all the answers.

tacpot12

May is good time to start. 

• It will take roughly two months to find a house you want to buy and have an offer accepted on it. (Ideally you would have your decision in principle before you start searching because you need to know how much you can afford to borrow - so I would start getting your decision in principle in May).
• It will take roughly two months to complete all the due diligence on the house (searches, surveys, etc.) 
• It will take roughly two months to complete the legal steps to get the keys. 

You can make it happen a little quicker, and you can make it take longer if you want to.

You really want the keys in your hands early in January. You don't want legal problems in the last couple of weeks before your tenancy ends as this will create too much stress.    

mebu60

If you can afford it, complete on the house purchase before the end of your tenancy, makes for a lot less stress and you can do things to the new property before moving stuff in. 

Good luck! 

theoretica

Start looking at listings now and especially keeping an eye on how fast properties are selling and what they go for if you can find that.  So that your eye is in for the market and what you want in a property once you decide you are ready to make offers.

Which country are you in?  I believe the Scottish market can still move much faster than the English.

user1977

theoretica said:

Which country are you in?  I believe the Scottish market can still move much faster than the English.

A tenancy with a fixed end date suggests somewhere not-Scotland.

OP, assuming England or Wales, bear in mind that the contractual end date of the tenancy isn't a hard deadline - you can stay beyond that and go onto a periodic tenancy, without signing up for another 12 months.

Rikkka

Thank you all for the answers, much appreciated.

Yes, I'm in England.

May will be the month hopefully. It would be a good thing to finish everything in December, one month before the end of the contract. I know that a lot of things can go wrong in this situations so it's also difficult to plan. There could be delays for everything... We'll see.

Thank you again.

diystarter7

Hi

Start now, seriously looking now for chain-free homes - you may not see a chain free for months in the area you want to be in and style/price so start looking now and even if you fine one by the end of mach thing could easily drag out for 4 months and or exchange contracts adn tell them you cant move for xx months and see how it goes.

chain free is the way forward and as you have no chain imo that could work in your favour re price etc

Good luck

moneysaver1978

Something to bear in mind - the Spring is generally a busy time with the house market, at least according to some articles like https://www.cjhole.co.uk/news/buying-a-house-when-are-the-best-and-worst-times-to-do-it-8460 although with the current climate, who knows?

In our case: we slowly started searching in December, found a dream house in late Feb, offered price accepted last week. Wheels already in motion but no idea on completion yet as it's still early.

RelievedSheff

Even simple chain free transactions can take more than 6 months to complete right now.

You could well end up in a chain which will extend that even further.

I would be starting to look now and getting your paperwork in order. Get a DIP and start home hunting.

Good luck.

Rikkka

RelievedSheff said:

Even simple chain free transactions can take more than 6 months to complete right now.

You could well end up in a chain which will extend that even further.

I would be starting to look now and getting your paperwork in order. Get a DIP and start home hunting.

Good luck.

Let's say I start know, I get the DIP and I view houses. If I find the right one, what's going to happen next? Do I have to tell them about moving in December? Could that affect their willingness to accept the offer because that month is too far?

Thank you

lindos90

Start looking on Rightmove now, set up alerts for the area and price range so you can get a feel for what's on offer locally. Maybe even do a few tentative viewings. Have you spoken to your landlord about you planning on moving out? Not sure of the details of your contract, but the date could be more flexible than you seem to think.