First time buyer.

[Tootsiroll]

Any advice would be welcome.

After a kick up the behind I finally started the ball rolling and we're buying our first home. I knew it was going to be a bit stressful so I did a ton of research before hand, however we find ourselves getting confused and my confidence is taking a bit of a knock. The order we're supposed to do things and how long things should take area the biggest hurdles. We did our research online to find out what to do and when but in reality it's not working....or I'm being made to feel that it's not.

We started by looking at mortgages a few months ago and got a decision in principle through a mortgage broker, we looked up solicitors and surveyors in our area etc and got quotes and decided who we'd like to use. Then we started looking.

We've had our offer accepted on a house we like, contacted our mortgage broker and applied for a mortgage, contacted our chosen solicitor and paid a deposit, let the estate agent know the solicitors details and that's as far as we've got.

Then yesterday our solicitor started asking for mortgage details we don't have yet, like the mortgage account. I sent an email saying I didn't have this information yet and they said this should have been arranged before I started looking.

I've had similar comments from the estate agent who was asking for solicitors details before we had one set up. But I didn't have one set up becasue they said I needed to have the details of the purchase property before they would open up a file. Which I didn't have until I had my offer accepted.

I feel like I'm playing a game where everyone else knows the rules and I'm just winging it. That or i'm just not understanding things and am making mistakes. I'm sure when I was making enquiries the solicitor said to put an offer in and get it accepted before contacting them....but did I get it wrong.

It's still early days but I'm already getting stressed. My partner said he'd be dealing with the solicitors from now on but there's so much I don't know.

Anyone else going through this or can someone offer some guidance as to what I should be doing and what to expect?

We’ve always had (4 houses so far)mortgage in principle, view houses, made offer on house, once accepted apply for mortgage then contact conveyancing solicitors and things go from there.
The process is frustratingly slow tbh. You don’t hear anything for ages and then everything happens at once but yes, feeling like you don’t know what you are doing is par for the course tbh. I think because it’s an everyday occurrence for the professionals they forget we are, mostly, clueless and need some reassurance/direction.
Don’t worry about it, it will all fall into place once you have your mortgage details, and then you can arrange for a survey.
I hope all goes smoothly and you are soon in your new home

https://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/the-hoa-step-by-step-guide-to-buying-a-home/?paid&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21793262294&gbraid=0AAAAADRk5OXX6dLuFTlQhm2kNHDATULmh&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItaen5M7kjgMVdoBQBh0GcBOeEAAYASAAEgJULfD_BwE

Sounds like you're doing fine to me, you can't apply for a mortgage until you have a property you want to buy- perhaps the Estate Agent meant an AIP/DIP? This shows them that you are "proceedable" your mortgage broker can talk you through all of this.
Sorry you are having a stressful time of it, just like in any other walk of like people can be absolute knobs and when they work in it day in day out i think some forget quite what a huge thing it is. You're doing fine.

I’m not sure what your solicitor is asking for, I didn’t have mortgage account details until about 2 weeks before exchange, though I had approval before that, my mortgage took about 2 weeks to approve as low ltv