New Year buying advice - Jo Eccles, Sourcing Property

New Year buying advice

The New Year brings renewed energy so is often the time when those who are considering moving decide to act and start their search for a new home. So, if you are aiming to buy a property, what are the first steps you should take? Below is my advice to help ensure your search runs as smoothly as possible.

1) Get your finances in order.
Speak to a mortgage broker or your bank because there’s no point in starting your search without knowing exactly how much you’ll be allowed to borrow. It also allows you to get comfortable with what your monthly interest repayments will be.

Now that 100% mortgages no longer exist, you will need to pay in cash for some of your purchase - approx 25% of the purchase price if you want to access the lower mortgage rates. You will also need to factor in other costs including your solicitor fees, the cost of a homebuyer’s and valuation survey, land registry fees and stamp duty, so remember to hold some cash back for this. For example, if you’re buying a property for £300,000, I would recommend budgeting for approximately £12,000 in fees.

2) Assess your buying position.
Do you need to sell your current home in order to buy? If so, you need to prepare it for sale, whether that’s doing a clear out to ensure it shows well, or simply instructing a good estate agent to put it on the market. If you do need to sell in order to buy, any offer you make on your new property won’t be taken seriously until your existing home is under offer.

If you’re renting, check your current tenancy agreement and when you can break your contract. Most rental agreements have a break clause after six months. If you have renewed your tenancy agreement, don’t assume that you’re simply on a two month rolling notice period as usually you sign up for another six month period before you can exercise the break clause again.

To give a rough idea of the time scale you need to budget for, from the time you have your offer accepted on a property, it typically takes approximately one month to exchange contracts and then usually another four weeks before you complete and get the keys to your new property.

3) Establish what you’re looking for.
This is crucial and one of the best ways to do this is to start looking at different properties - usually your preferences and likes/dislikes will surface fairly quickly. Looking around potential areas on foot is also a good idea to get a feel for the different locations.

If you’ve been searching for a long time and claim that the right property just hasn’t surfaced, in our experience it’s often because either you’re not being realistic or you simply aren’t sure of exactly what you’re looking for. Speak to people who can advise you on your options, whether that’s an estate agent or a buying agent. Remember that estate agents’ knowledge is usually limited to the area they cover so if you want an overall view of different areas and your options within those areas, an experienced buying/search agent should be able to add a lot of value.

4) Start searching.
January is when a lot of new buyers come to the market, or existing buyers renew their enthusiasm, so you’re likely to face competition. In central London, there are typically 30 estate agents who cover each small area, and you want to ensure that you’re on their radar so that they notify you when the right property comes up. Having a good relationship with each of the agents is key as a lot of good properties will go under offer before they are uploaded to estate agent websites and property portals, and you want to be one of the agent’s first calls when a new property comes onto the market.

Next month we’ll talk about how to ensure you maintain good relationships with the agents and stay on their radar until you find property that’s right for you…

Jo Eccles

Jo Eccles is Director of Sourcing Property, an award winning and independent London property search company. She is also a widely regarded property expert and frequently comments on the property market in the national press and on TV, appearing as the property and relocation expert on London Tonight, BBC News, BBC2's Daily Politics programme and ITV's Homes & Property series. For further information call 020 7244 4485 or visit: www.sourcingproperty.co.uk