buying a house

[Annie456]

Hi, I just got an offer accepted on a flat. What do I need to do now? I'm a first time buyer and it's a little daunting!

Thanks!

[Dom Tuk]

So you hopefully have a mortgage/finance in place.

next get yourself a solicitor and give your mortgage lender the name of the solicitor.

Arrange visa bank/solicitor for surveys to be done on the flat.

Once survey is done and bank is happy that the state of the flat is commensurate with the price, then all you do is wait for the money to be released. in the meanwhile the solicitor will do the title searches and ensure that the flat belongs to the person who is selling it. In the end the soliictor will invite you in to discuss the title and any covenants attached to it. By this time the whole process will be rolling smoothly and hopefully there will not be too long a chain. all the best

[jake-the-peg]

Decide what sort of survey you need - the cheapest one is nothing more than somebody looking at the place and telling your lender that it's worth more than he's giving you to buy it.

The next one up often called a home-buyer will give the place a quick once over and maybe a prod with a damp meter but will probably not unearth any more than the fairly obvious.

A full structural survey will cost a lot probably about �1000 (but it's ben a while since I had one) but it will tell you pretty much anything wrong with the property short of actually pulling up floorboards etc.

You should think about these choices depending on your position, the age and condition of the property and your attitude to risk.

PS congrats

[Octavius]

Also, as it is a flat you will need to find out any annual maintenance costs for your share in upkeeping/repairing the building.

A full structural survey may cost a fortune if it is a tower block so get some estimates to check out your flat alone with some advice on the whole building. You will have to have a survey of sorts carried out by your mortgage surveyor and quite frankly these are purely for lending purposes, so appoint an independant to do a check for you - but get some quotes from Chartered Surveyors (MRICS).

Good luck.

[lady_p_gold]

Make sure when you have the searches done that your solicitor does a full local authority search. Most people do not realise that there are different sorts of searches and they never ask their solicitor what sort of search they had and they never know that they only had a personal search instead of a full one, which costs a fraction of the price. And they pay a lot of money without realising that they did not have the full search.

[willowman]

I suggest you buy a copy of the Which Guide to Buying and Selling a House. The (relatively) small initial outlay will repay itself over the years.

It explains in great detail everything you have to do when buying, and will be useful in future years when you inevitably sell the flat and move on.

It really does cover everything, from making the offer to what to do on moving day. It also includes details of the Scottish system.

It will probably be one of the best small investments you will ever make - the voice of experience talking!