Offer accepted - help, what next?!!!

[GoinSouth]

Haven't bought a house in like 20 years. Just had our offer accepted; EA has now asked us for a solicitor so I know I need to find one. What's the next steps? Sorry, so many questions..

1. We are going to have a very small mortgage - £20k.. when do we advise the mortgage broker?
2. Presumably they will then do a valuation?
3. When do we get a survey booked in? Any recommendations for any good companies? We know house has damp so we'll expect that on the report. As we offered just 2k less than asking price, if other issues come upon in the report, can we ask for a further reduction in offer price? House is 1910 - should we go for the Level 2 HB survey?
4. Do we get vendor to do the damp repairs or do we? Should it be done before we move in?
5. What else at this stage do we need to consider?
6. How long is the purchase process on average - 12 weeks or less?
7. At what point do we give our landlord notice - how do we prevent being homeless if sale falls through and we've given notice?!

Anything I've forgotten to include, or should bear in mind?? Thank you!!

Hi @GoinSouth I've (hopefully) attached a photo of a timeline checklist I had from my last purchase. Hope it's helpful for a general overview. From memory the broker/solicitor sorts the surveys etc and you don't have to do much arranging yourself. Hopefully someone else who's bought more recently can add tips

1, I'd let them know asap so they can start the application

2, Mortgage company will get valuation done as part of the application

3, My mortgage provider offered to bolt on my homebuyers to their valuation for a reduced cost. This is a modern house though. Older with known issues I'd go for level 3 personally.

4, You'd usually do that once moved in. You've offered based on there being existing damp

5, Mortgage, solicitors and survey at this stage. If you think the survey might be awful and result in pulling out I'd instruct solicitors not to start searches til you have survey back

6, How long is a piece of string?!

7, it's advisable to only give notice after exchange. Then everyone is committed to the sale.

Good luck! :)

It's scary. I mean, buying was our aim but now I'm like ... nah... can we please just stick to renting now?!!! ;-) And then my father's like... 'oh, you know that a house will always keep you poor!' Thanks for the positivity Dad!

OK.. big girl knickers and a spreadsheet - hubby can at least bloody well do one of those!!

You’ll find it difficult to get a mortgage for under £30,000 with any mainstream lender because it can then be covered by the Consumer Credit Act which imposes strict limits on lenders. I’d advise getting in touch with both a mortgage broker and financial advisor to discuss whether it’s more beneficial to you arrange your finances so that you take out a larger mortgage, or an unsecured loan.

Whether the vendor does any works is a negotiation point. If indicated in the survey, it’s common for buyer and vendor to meet half way (they reduce the offer price by half the cost of the works indicated); but they’re also perfectly entitled to outright refuse and say that the condition has already been accounted for in the asking price.

12 - 14 weeks is average for a purchase outwith Covid. Many people are currently experiencing delays with valuations, surveyors and getting searches returned so it could take much longer.

Get a proper survey to diagnose cause of damp - not just someone that comes and injects chemicals. A property of that age would use breathable materials.

Thanks all. We've now:

1. Got a really good mortgage deal for 20k on a 5 year fixed mortgage which suits us perfectly. So now we've filled in mortgage application and waiting for lender to organise the valuation.
2. Contacted solicitors and given details to EA.
3. Now we need to decide on which house buyers report to get and get a survey done before we instruct solicitors to do any searches.

Is it worth getting life insurance for 5 years @ £11 per month?

You'd think I'd never bought a house before.. well, back in 2000 but completely forgotten procedure!

So far so good.