Where to start when buying a house

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Guest

Where to start when buying a house

I bought my home on the right to buy scheme, so almost everything was done for me by the council.

Now I want to sell it, but I don't really know where to start! What order do I do things in?

Do I find a property to move to first?
Should I try and get a mortgage?

Help!

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Report Abuse | Date 2/3/2001 10:12:00 AM

Guest

Where to start when buying a house (in reply to Guest)

The first thing you should do is speak to some mortgage lenders to find out whether you can get a mortgage, and if so for how much. Then you can get an 'in principle' agreement from the lender, which means that they are willing to loan you a certain amount of money on any property, as long as the valuation does not throw up any problems with the property.

That's the easy part. The hard part is trying to co-ordinate the buying and selling of your new and old homes, which is why so many people give differing advice. Different people recommend different things based largely on their own experience of how long things tend to take. Factors like the area you are buying and selling in and the type of property you are looking for and selling can also make a difference.

Generally, we would say that the following holds true:

It is best to put the wheels in motion for selling your home before you seriously start making offers on new homes to live in. There's nothing to stop you from researching new areas and building up a picture of the market in the area you are looking to buy in, mind you. This will make things happen more quickly when you start looking for houses to buy. But putting your house on the market first gives you a clearer idea of how much money the sale of your home will generate (and therefore the amount of money you are looking to spend on your new home) as well as the timescales to which you are working. In addition, some people will be unwilling to accept an offer from you, until you have a buyer for your own home. This is because they will worry that you won't be able to complete the purchase until your own home is sold.

Once you have found a buyer for your house and are sure that the sale is progressing normally, then you can focus on finding a new property to buy. Any work you have already done will help you do this more quickly. More often than not, it is easier to find a house to buy than it is to sell your house, particularly if you are selling an ex-council property and moving into private residential accommodation as is your case.

One possible risk is that if you are unable to co-ordinate things precisely, this approach can leave you with a short period where you have no home to live in. This means you may have to rent for a short while, or stay in alternative accommodation. The other alternative is making sure that the purchase of your new home completes before the sale of the old one, but this is likely to leave you needing some form of bridging finance, which can be quite a costly loan.

I hope this is of use. The HowTo Guides on the site are a useful source of information on the buying and selling processes and activities. I would encourage you to have a good read of them to familiarise yourself with everything that is involved. However, if you have any other queries or need me to clarify anything, please don't hesitate to ask - I'd be more than happy to hep in any way I can.

All the best, and good luck!

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Report Abuse | Date 5/3/2001 9:48:00 AM

Guest

Where to start when buying a house (in reply to Guest)

IF you are considering selling your home before you buy a new one, it is prudent to ensure that you have alternative accommodation and storage, otherwise you could find yourself in a situation where you have to move out of your home before you have access to a new property.

Sometimes selling first is a good idea as it means you have guaranteed funds available for your new purchase. It works particularly well in a scenario where the sort of property you are looking to buy is plentiful on the market, or where you wish to sell when the market is at a peak and buy when market prices are better value.

Buying first does, however, mean that you can select which house is right for you at a pace that suits you. It does, of course, have a downside in that you are due to hand over the funds for the purchase possibly before you have sold your own house. This could prove tricky if you are relying on capital from the sale of your house to purchase a new one and a bridging loan may be necessary. Buying first shouldn�t be too much of a problem in the Edinburgh market, however, as it is very buoyant and a majority of the time the moving dates coincide or are within a few days of each other, resulting in only a short period of bridging. It would, however, be inadvisable to buy first if, for whatever reason, you know your own house may take a while to sell as bridging in this case is an expensive option.

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Report Abuse | Date 19/4/2001 11:02:00 AM