Buying a house should be easy!

There is a narrative that says that buying a house will be a nightmare, and it doesn’t need to be. You’ve done the hard work, saved your deposit and got a surplus to pay fees, found the house, flat, bungalow whatever you fell in love with and, CONGRATULATIONS, your offer has been accepted.

Now all you need to do is apply for you mortgage and work with your conveyancer to get to your keys.

Speak to some people and they may tell you stories of how it took 6 months, or they had to apply for an offer extension.

While delays and issues can still happen, following these steps can help reduce the chances of running into some of the common problems buyers face.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!

It’s your responsibility to have your documents ready and waiting. This starts with the simple stuff like ID and proof of address, you’re going to be giving this to everyone you work with, estate agents, solicitors, mortgage lenders or your mortgage adviser. So avoid the back and forth, get scanned copies of your passport and driving licence as well as things like a council tax bill, or a utility bill, and if you don’t have access to a scanner take very clear pictures.

Now think of things you are being asked to prove, like income and expenditure. Are you employed? Get your 3 months of payslips, in fact get 6 because being overprepared is key. Okay so you’re self employed, or you own your company, think about how you tell HMRC about your income, because those are the figures which matter. Now collate all the proofs from your accountant or gateway, like SA302s, SA200s, Tax year overviews, Accountants certificate.

Got some credit commitments? Don’t guess at the outstanding balances, monthly payments, interest rates etc. Get an updated statement from your credit provider so you can tell the lender exactly what you owe, the last thing you want is to get your agreement in principle based off estimated figures, have your offer accepted and then when you go to apply find out that you were wrong and your new home is not affordable.

Now check your credit file, find any issues which the lender may find and be unhappy with. An agreement in principle is a soft search, so rely predominantly on what you tell the lender. If this information isn’t completely accurate, they are going to find it when they do a hard search and could change their decision.

Working with your solicitor

It's not your responsibility to keep your solicitor moving but if you are heavily involved and maintain communication, the timeline gets a lot shorter.

This starts before you even need one. Selling? Instruct your solicitor the day your home goes on the market, not the day you accept an offer. Buying? Have one lined up before you start viewing. The first few weeks can be slow, someone in the chain hasn't instructed a solicitor yet or haven’t completed the buyer’s/seller’s forms, don't let that someone be you. If you're buying with a mortgage, check your solicitor is on your lender's panel before you sign anything. If they aren't, your lender will insist on a separate solicitor to act for them, and that's more cost and more delay you don't need.

Okay so you're selling. Your solicitor is going to send you forms asking about the property, things like boundaries, disputes, alterations, what's staying and what's going. Don't leave these on the side for a fortnight. Sit down and do them in one go, and be honest. If you don't know the answer, say you don't know, don't guess.

Now think about everything you've done to the house since you've lived there. New windows? Find the FENSA certificate. Had an extension or knocked a wall through? Dig out the planning permission and the building regulations completion certificate. New boiler, rewire, damp proofing, a new roof? Get the certificates and guarantees together. If you can't find something, tell your solicitor now so they can sort an indemnity policy or a retrospective approval, rather than finding out when the buyer's solicitor asks for it six weeks in. Leasehold? Tell your solicitor straight away, because the management pack from your freeholder or managing agent can take weeks to arrive and it isn't cheap, so order it early. And have your mortgage account number to hand so your solicitor can get a redemption statement from your lender.

Now you're buying. Your solicitor has a legal duty to know where every penny of your money has come from, and they will want to see it. Saved your deposit? Get six months of bank statements for every account that money has passed through, and be ready to explain any large deposits. Getting help from family? Whoever is gifting you money will need to sign a gifted deposit declaration, provide their own ID and show where the money came from too, so give them a heads up now rather than springing it on them at exchange. Selling as well as buying? Your solicitor needs to know your sale proceeds are going towards the purchase, so make sure both sides of the transaction are joined up.

When your solicitor sends you something, whether that's a question, a form or a report on the property, read it and reply within 48 hours. When they ask for a decision, give them one. Solicitors work through a queue of files, and every time you go quiet, yours drops to the bottom. Chasing is fine, in fact it's expected, but chase with purpose. An email once a week asking "is there anything outstanding from me, and what are we waiting for?" gets you a lot further than ringing every day asking if there's any news.

Finally, a warning. Your solicitor will never change their bank details by email. Before you send any money, ring them on a number you already know and confirm the details verbally. Fraudsters specifically target people who are buying homes, and losing your deposit is the fastest way to lose your new home.

Estate Agents, are a tool

First thing to get your head around, the estate agent works for the seller. They're paid by the seller and their job is to get the best price and a sale that actually completes. That doesn't make them the enemy, far from it, a good agent can be the most useful person in the whole chain (apart from your mortgage adviser). But it helps to know whose side they're on.

Before you even make an offer, the agent is going to want to know you're serious. Expect to be asked for your agreement in principle, proof of your deposit and whether you've got anything to sell. Have it ready. If you send it over the same day you view, you look like the buyer who's going to get this done, and when a seller is choosing between two similar offers, that counts for a lot.

They'll probably also offer you their mortgage adviser and their recommended solicitor. You don't have to use either. If you've already got people you trust, just tell them that. Your offer shouldn't be treated any differently because of it, and if it feels like it is, that's worth questioning.

Once your offer is accepted, ask them to take the property off the market. Ask them about the chain too. Who's the seller buying? Has everyone above them found somewhere? Has everyone got a solicitor? You want to know now if there's a first time buyer at the bottom or someone still looking three houses up, not in week ten.

Then keep them in the loop. Survey booked, tell them. Valuation done, mortgage offer issued, tell them. Agents chase the chain every week and they pass what they hear back to the seller, so the more they know about your side, the less nervous the seller gets. A nervous seller is the one who starts entertaining other offers.

And if you're selling as well, the same applies the other way round. Get your agent everything they ask for quickly, ask them to push your buyer for updates, and don't assume no news is good news. Sometimes it is, sometimes it just means nobody's picked up the phone.

Your mortgage application

Agreement in principle accepted? Offer accepted? Solicitors instructed? Now you’re applying for your mortgage.

Once it's in, and you’ve sent your ID, proof of income and bank statements, an underwriter will look through it and there's a good chance they'll come back with questions. Why is there a £2,000 transfer from your brother in March? Can you send a P60? It's normal, it doesn't mean anything is wrong. But they work through a queue, and if you take a week to answer, your case waits a week. Answer the same day if you can.

The lender will also send out a valuer to check the property is worth what you're paying. This isn't a survey, it's for the lender's benefit not yours, and it's usually a fairly quick look round. Occasionally it comes back lower than your offer, and if that happens, don't panic, speak to your adviser, because there are usually options.

From the moment you apply until the day you get your keys, don't change anything. Don't take out car finance, don't open a new credit card to buy furniture for the new place, don't switch jobs or drop your hours, and don't start moving big chunks of money around between accounts without saying something first. Lenders can and do recheck things before completion, and I've seen offers withdrawn over a sofa on finance. If something does change, and sometimes life just happens, tell your adviser straight away. It's much easier to fix when we know about it early.

Once your mortgage offer is issued, make a note of the expiry date. Most last around six months, which sounds like loads, but if the chain drags that time goes quicker than you'd think. Keep an eye on it.

So, is buying a house easy?

It can be. Not every purchase will go perfectly, chains are unpredictable and some things will always be out of your hands. But most of what goes wrong comes down to delays, missing paperwork and people going quiet, and all of that is in your control. Get your documents ready, pick a good solicitor and stay on top of them, keep the estate agent in the loop, and don't touch your finances until you've got the keys.

If you're thinking about buying or moving and want someone in your corner from the start, let me know. I can take the majority of this off your hands, and the bits I can’t I can guide you.