Buying Guide
Virdee Step By Step Guides
1
Start your property search
Browse Online
Online property portals are one of the most useful resources out there for people looking for property, but quite often they can be overwhelming and their search criteria may not be able to match exactly what you are looking for. Let our team do the hard work for you. Tell us what you are looking for, be as specific as you can and we’ll come back to you with a personalised selection of properties.
Register with us
Registering with Virdee will give you special access to newly instructed properties – before they appear on our website of the online portals. We are instructed on a huge range of properties to fit all circumstances and budgets; and we look after our own, so make sure you register in order to get first refusal on suitable properties.
2
Financing your property
Arrange you mortgage
Most people buying property will need a mortgage in order to fund the transaction. We recommend that you get started early in order to secure your financing and be in the best position to make an offer once you’ve found your perfect property. A good independent mortgage advisor will have access to the full spectrum of mortgage products available and work out which ones best suit your circumstances.
Prepare paperwork
In order to assess your eligibility for a mortgage, your lender will need to see your existing finances. They will look at all your outgoings to assess your financial health, so make sure you have everything ready to go in order to expedite your application. You will need to provide proof of income, savings and deposit as well as details of all your regular outgoing. If you would like us to introduce you to one of our trusted mortgage partners, we’d be delighted to.
3
Viewing properties
Book your viewings
Once you have your budget in place, you’ll be able to focus your search on properties you know you can afford with confidence. Get some viewings booked in. Walking into a house which has been prepared for viewings can be distracting, so make sure you arrive with a list of questions. Our accompanying agent will be happy to answer any questions regarding about running costs, council tax rates and property history.
View your shortlist twice
Initial viewings can be overwhelming and you might walk away with a general idea of the property and some of the more functional and informational aspects of it. However, we recommend that you view any property you like at least twice. The second viewing should be more romantic, try to envisage living in the property and the area; imagine how you would furnish it. A little imagination can really help you make a final decision.
4
Making an Offer
Putting in your offer on a property
Once you have decided to make an offer, let us know and we’ll contact the seller and make your best offer official. We are legally bound to notify the seller of all offers received. There may be a period of negotiation before the final price is agreed but we keep the lines of communication open at all times so you know as soon as it is agreed.
5
Conveyancing
The Legal side
It is at this point that your mortgage lender will instruct a conveyancing solicitor; transferring ownership of a home is a legal transaction. Your solicitor will oversee the purchase to contract exchange and eventual completion, and will coordinate the release and transfer of your mortgage funds.
Memorandum of Sale
Both you and the vendor will be sent a Memorandum of Sale, this is a document which confirms the details of the agreement, including the price, any special negotiated conditions, and the names and addresses of all appropriate solicitors.
Searches
When you instruct a solicitor you will be asked to add funds to your case file. Your solicitor will use these funds to carry out local authority searches. These will clarify and identify any issues which could affect the transaction; matters such as flooding, convenants, boundaries, restrictions, contamination, planning permissions and rights of way.
Documents, contracts & deeds
The vendor’s solicitor will pass all necessary paperwork to your solicitor who will, in turn pass it to you. Once you have reviewed the documents and added your own initial enquiries your solicitor will pass back to the vendor’s.
6
Organise Valuation and Survey
Valuations & surveys
Once your offer has been accepted in writing, you can instruct your lender to organise a mortgage valuation. They will also instruct a surveyor to carry out a home buyers’ report / structural survey. This enables your lender to confirm that the property is worth more than what they are lending you.
Which survey?
There are a number of different types of surveys, the one you choose may be dictated by the property’s age, location or history.
- Condition Report
- HomeBuyer Report
- Home Condition Survey
- Building or full structural survey
- New-build snagging survey
7
Contract Exchange
The Legal Exchange
The exchange is when the contracts binding the buyer and seller to the deal are swapped, and the buyer’s deposit is transferred to the seller’s solicitor’s holding account.
Coordinated by the respective solicitors, the exchange is a legal transaction. You will need to make sure your funds are ready, the relevant people are in the right place to sign the contracts and your solicitor is happy with the details of your purchase and/or sale.
Once the exchange has taken place, you’ll need to agree a moving date and either book a removal company or, start to make arrangements to complete the move yourself.
8
Completion and move in
Preparing for the move
Completion is when the buyer’s funds are transferred from their solicitor to that of the seller’s. This enables the agent to release the keys to the new owner. From that point you are free to move in whenever is convenient, the property is yours – enjoy.
