Buying For The First Time

Before you start doing the rounds of estate agents, you need to know how large a mortgage you can get – there’s no point searching for the house of your dreams if it’s out of your price range. Start by approaching several lenders and ask how much they will let you borrow and request an ‘agreement in principle’ that confirms this amount. You can use this to add leverage to any offer you make on a home.

Trading Up
Again sound financial advice is important in assessing your purchasing power as is an accurate assessment of the value and saleability of your own home. Contact your local office to arrange a Marketing Appraisal. This will assess the likely value of the property in relation to its location, condition and amenities taking into account local market conditions, availability of other similar homes and comparative evidence of past sales. We will also advise on the best way to make sure your home is marketed properly and effectively to establish the maximum market value.

Viewing A Home
Having found the details of a suitable home the next step is to view it at first hand. Contact us to arrange a suitable and convenient time for an appointment.

Making An Offer
Making an offer on a home is an exciting step – you’ve found the house you want and you’re working towards making it your home. Be sure you’re serious about buying before you make an offer. If the seller accepts your offer, it becomes a legal contract after a few days. Details and planning are important. Know what you would like to pay but also think about the most you’re willing to pay and the total home financing amount that your lender has pre-approved you for. Once the owner has been informed, we will report the response and owners instructions to you. Owners will consider the following when deciding on your offer:

• The amount of your offer.
• Your situation (First-time buyer? Property to sell? Own sale agreed? Timescale to complete the transaction?)
• If you have a mortgage arranged.
• If you are in a chain of other sale.

Once Your Offer Has Been Accepted
Once your offer has been accepted, Kelly Estates will ask you for a holding deposit (subject to contract) and will write to the vendor’s solicitor with the details so they can, in turn, draw up a legally binding contract for you and the vendor to sign. Contracts are usually signed within 21 days after the deposit is paid. In this correspondence they will confirm: address and legal description of the property; sale price; special conditions; suggested closing date. When your solicitor has checked the title and contracts you will be required to visit your solicitor to sign them and pay the balance deposit (10 percent of the purchase price, less booking deposit already paid). Your solicitor will then return the contracts in duplicate, together with the contract deposit to the vendor’s solicitor for their clients to sign.

When Is A House Sold?
A Contract of Sale is signed by a purchaser first and then countersigned by the present owner. Within this Contract, there may be conditions relating to the purchase eg: a condition of mortgage or survey and undertakings to provide certain legal documents to prove there are no issues that might be likely to affect the value of the property. Only once the Contract has been countersigned and the conditions met, is the house considered SOLD. It is therefore important that anything that can be done to speed up the process is put in place. This will shorten the time between agreeing a sale and a binding Contract being in force and will reduce the chance of disappointments. If you need any assistance with any aspect of the process just telephone us for guidance.