Posted on

Preparation… Part 2 (Buyers)

Hello again, and we do hope you have had a good and safe week.

Following on from our comments for those selling their homes, we now move on to our thoughts for Home Buyers (Purchasers), and using our experience, hope to offer some comments and insight that will be both useful, and even interesting, to those seeking to buy a home, whether it be for the first time, a change to a bigger or smaller home, or as will be perhaps the case for many, that you have decided to move to a new location or area where you want to live – work – retire or holiday in!

(Even the national press has started to comment on the changing agenda of some property seekers, who are now targeting areas to live in that they may not have done just a couple of months ago!).

First time buyers are sometimes the least complicated buyers, in that their main priority and major need, is to obtain good honest financial advice in order to establish just how much a lender will offer them, and from that, how much deposit they will need to provide to make up the price of the property they wish to buy.

The sooner ‘would be homeowners’ set off and get good financial advice the better, but there are other things to consider when budgeting for a house purchase. The cost of surveys, legal fees, (hopefully no stamp duty!), and of course the trip to the local furnishing store, all need to be on the list when putting your budget together.

Existing homeowners are the most common buyers, and they have more preparation to accomplish before they can move. Every time someone sets off to view a potential new home, the current owner or the agent will (or should!) ask:

    1. Have you got a house to sell?
    2. Is it on the market? and
    3. Will you need a mortgage to complete a purchase?

All of these questions need answers, and in many cases, action need to be undertaken.As a ‘would be buyer’, if the answer to question 1 is “No I haven’t even had it valued yet”, then you won’t be of much interest to a keen vendor (seller), and some might not even want you to view! “Just do a virtual viewing until you can proceed”, might be the come back!

You will however be of interest to the agent, who should be keen to help get you firmly into the property world that you wish to enter.

Questions 2 and 3 also need addressing, and there is currently talk in the property world, that in the future, as lockdown and travel restrictions are eased, some vendors will only want physical viewings from prospective buyers who have already had a virtual viewing, agreed a sale on their current property, have cash in hand, or have a provisional mortgage offer. Time will tell how far people go, but it definitely won’t hurt to be prepared as possible!

If someone needs to sell their current home in order to buy, they should really already have it on the market (lottery winners are exempt this comment), those needing mortgages should have a mortgage offer in place (subject to survey), and everyone should have a budget for the whole transaction, including agents and legal fees, stamp duty, moving expenses and upgrade costs.

Being properly prepared simply makes you a much more interesting to a seller and gives you great bargaining power.

It could make the difference to a vendor who has more than one interested buyer!

Buying to let, either for long term tenants or holiday visitors, will require special attention to safety issues, gas, electricity etc, and when purchasing a rural property (whether to let out or for you own use), you should always look carefully at water supply and drainage installations.

Lots of buyers don’t realise that a good agent is there to help you both sell and buy!

Next week, Landlords!

Stay Safe.