First time buyer: when to start looking?

[dinahthecat]

We want to buy our first house soon. We're renting and can't afford to move until 1 February (as we're committed to our current tenancy until mid-Feb and paying rent and a mortgage for any longer would be too much of a stretch).

We've got our deposit together and enough for solicitors' fees but we need another couple of months to save what we need for SDLT.

If we start looking next month and find somewhere we like, is that going to cause us a headache with our timeline? We figure no one wants to move over Christmas and think January would be leaving it too late for a Feb move in date.

I'm no expert but its really not an exact science. Our move took almost 5 months from offer to completion, and that's really not unusual. It was totally out of our control.

GirlWithTheDirtyShirt - Yes, that's what we thought - these things can drag on.

I suppose if we're clear about our timeline (Feb onwards is fine) we might find a seller who'll be glad of the comfort of having found a buyer before Christmas but hasn't got to rush to move out.

We had to send lots of proof of our savings to our mortgage lender in order to get the mortgage approved.this was after finding the house but still within the first two weeks of the buying process. So not sure if it makes sense offering on a house when you don't have enough savings yet..

Sorry just saw that you already have the deposit together.

imme - We've got the deposit together and enough to cover solicitors' fees but if we go to our maximum budget then we need to find £2k for SDLT which will take us 2 months to get together.

Just don't want to find somewhere now and not be able to afford to take it but at the same time we want to be out of our flat in Feb as the rent is extortionate and a mortgage might even be cheaper.

I don't think that's an unrealistic time frame.

I would start now, and if you make an offer, be clear about your timescales.

It's likely that your vendors will need to find somewhere, and if there's a chain, and their vendors need to find somewhere (etc etc) you could have delays out of your control.

Also, people might start taking their homes off the market soon to relist in the Spring.

Best of luck.

Yes, I would start now too, for the reasons given above and also to familiarize yourself with what's out there. Even if you don't see anything to offer on straight away, at least you know what's out there and where, typical prices, areas to avoid, etc.

I'd start looking now.

We first saw our current house at the end of October and moved in in mid-Feb. Everything ground to a halt over Christmas.

It might take you quite a while to suss out the local market. Depending on where you live you might find the housing market pretty quiet at this time of year and there will probably be more options in Spring (ignore if you live in London!)

I'd start looking now to as it could take a while, I think it took us 4 months from when our offer was accepted, even then we threatened to pull out if the people didn't move. The trouble is the people you buy from might not have found anywhere. Some chains can be a nightmare.