FTB - Offer accepted - what next?!

Bigphil1474

Don't rely on the mortgage offer to confirm the house is 'fine'. Depends on numerous factors. The lender will only be interested in if they can get their money back from day 1 should they need to repossess. We had a very low LTV (Loan to value) which meant the mortgage was approved online almost immediately (because they knew their money was covered). 

I would look at getting your survey done earlier. We arranged the survey and the mortgage as soon as we'd sorted out the conveyancer - which was fine for our circumstances. A level 2 survey is fine for most purchases, a L3 if there has been any structural work or it's a really old house. We did tell our solicitor not to spend any unnecessary money until the survey was back and the mortgage approved. Surveys can throw all sorts of things up. 

You don't need a fixed fee solicitor, you need one that provides you with a full costing that explains what will definitely cost, and what may cost you, so there aren't any surprises. Our final bill was about a couple of hundred quid below what the maximum could have been from the original quote, because we didn't need some elements. 

Albermarle

housebuyer143 said:

So I tend to do it in this order. 

1. Offer accepted 
2. Find a solicitor
3. Get mortgage offer so you know the house is fine etc, you can always extend it. 
4. Wait until the chain is completed. 
5. When the chain is complete instruct your survey.
6. If happy with everything, instruct your solicitor to do the searches. 

My friend had a few problems and lost money because she did survey and then mortgage offer, as she found out it was devalued or had issues the lender didn't like. 

As you have noticed, the solicitors will get you for every penny they can! Get a fixed fee, no completion no fee one if you can. It won't be fixed really, but at least you will have a rough idea of the end price when you start.

If you are wanting to speed things up, you can start the searches and arrange the survey at the same time.
There is of course a risk that the survey finds something serious, and you pull out and have spent money on the searches. However it could speed up the whole process by a couple of weeks at least.