What order to do things in - house buying

[OhWesternWind]

Hi - sorry about this as it is a bit gormless, but it is ages since I bought a house and can't remember what comes first.

What order do I have to/shoud I do the following in?

• See financial advisor about mortgage
• Get mortgage decision
• Start viewing properties
• Put an offer in?

The main question is, which comes first, the mortgage decision in principle or the offer?

I am half way through a six months rental, having moved areas, so ideally would like to move end of Feb when my contract expires.

Also, does anyone have a rough guide how much below asking price you can reasonably offer? I have my eye on an "old lady" house which needs quite a bit of cosmetic work but is, I think, structurally good.

Thank you!

Get a mortgage in principle first. Not many vendors will want people round without evidence they can actually buy the house. It also shows you are serious and puts you in a good bargaining position.

Yes, start by getting your Agreement In Principle first. And I definitely wouldn't advise putting an offer in before you view properties...

Re. size of offer, I think it very much depends on what you think the house is actually worth - plus the age-old issue of how long it's been on the market for, etc. And ask the agent - they might know how much fluidity there is on price. On the whole though, I wouldn't offer more than 10% less.

To go against the grain, we were advised not to get an agreement in principle until we'd seen a house we liked. We had however chatted to a mortgage adviser about how much we were likely to be able to borrow.

So we

Saw an advisor to get an idea of what we could borrow
Viewed properties in our price bracket
Saw a property we liked and got an agreement in principle
Put in an offer

The mortgage decision will only ever happen once you've made an offer and had it accepted as whether the mortgage is given relies on getting a valuation survey carried out on the property.

Agreement first, so you know what you can afford. Then start looking, that way you can move quickly etc.