Swoffers Local Market Negotiator Scott Ingrouille provides some advice and guidance for First Time Buyers
Buying a property is one of the most important financial events of your life so it is important you choose an Estate Agent who has your best interests at heart.
As a First Time Buyer you might feel nervous or unsure about the process of buying your first home. Don’t be. The experienced team at Swoffers are here to help and will be with you from start to finish helping you find and buy your perfect home.
These are our top tips:
Determine how much you can afford
Speak to your bank, building society or a mortgage broker to get some advice on how much you can borrow. In most cases you will need to have a deposit, usually 10% of the purchase price, and you will need to take into account the legal and court fees as well as any bond fees and document duty. As a rule, allow approximately 4% of the purchase price to cover these buying costs.
Start your research early
Now you know what sort of price bracket you can look in, start considering your main requirements for your perfect home. How many bedrooms do you need? Are you happy living on a Clos? Do you want a house, bungalow or a wing? A detached property or a terraced or semi-detached? Is parking or a garden essential? Are you happy to do work to a property? What sort or area would you like to live in?
Register with Swoffers
With access to the internet so readily available, it may be tempting just to search for properties online via your phone, tablet or PC.
However, some properties are sold even before they reach the internet and only registering with Swoffers can guarantee you get to see properties first – and before they have been sold.
You can fill in our registration form via our website or call one of our experienced negotiators on 711766 and they will be happy to discuss your individual requirements and help with your property search.
Viewings
The best way for one of our experienced agents to gauge your real demands from a property is to meet you in person. By meeting you we can build up a clear insight into your individual requirements and what you like and don’t like.
If in doubt, book a viewing at a property that seems to meet your requirements and meet one of our team.
It is rare that you will find your perfect home on your first viewing, but the more viewings you undertake, the more you will understand your own property needs.
We will keep in regular touch with you by phone, text or email, notifying you of any properties new to the market. We recommend you keep checking our website as well in case anything else catches your eye.
Making an Offer
Once you have found your perfect home you need to make an offer. Talk to your negotiator about the offer you want to make, and we will contact the vendor on your behalf. Your initial offer may not be accepted and so you will need to consider whether you wish to increase your offer or continue searching.
Once your offer has been accepted, we will guide you through the buying process and prepare all the necessary paperwork.
You will need to appoint an advocate (we can provide you with a list of local advocates but recommend you call around to request some quotes) and let your finance provider know that you have had an offer accepted.
Survey, Conditions of Sale and Deposit
Your finance provider will instruct a surveyor on your behalf and they will contact us to arrange access for the survey. Your advocate will visit the property, prepare a title report and liaise with your finance provider to ensure that what you are buying is what you think you are buying. When they are happy with everything, they will ask Swoffers for Conditions of Sale, arrange for you to sign them and then you need to pay the deposit into Swoffers’ holding account. The vendor will then sign the Conditions of Sale. As agents for the vendor we will hold on to the deposit until completion.
You now have an unconditional sale and you can prepare for completion day.
Completion Day
With the deal signed up, you must now appear in Conveyancing Court on the day of completion at 9.30am when the property will become yours and you collect the keys to your perfect home.
Congratulations!
