Buying Your Property

When you have decided to move house, for whatever reason, you have to consider whether you are going to buy or rent. Making a decision between buying a home and renting a property often relate to your budget and also for how long you are likely to stay in an area. These days, more people are considering renting as an option, but really, now is the time to buy property. Prices haven’t been this cheap for years, and those properties that are coming on to the market are either priced to sell or open to offers, so you’re best to get in there now and get a bargain!

When you’re in the process of buying a home, it is often stressful. EPO Estates can help you there with their wealth of experience in buying and selling property. You need to be aware of the basics of how to buy a house, so that when there are the inevitable delays, you are prepared for them. The least delays in buying a house are when there is no chain of transactions each end, which simply means the people who are selling to you are not buying another house and that their purchase date is dependent on the sale to you, and also that you aren’t dependent on selling your house or getting a mortgage in order to purchase the house you want.

So the quickest transactions are usually between cash buyers and sellers with no other houses in the chain. Even so, delays can still occur, for example when the house or flat is leasehold and consent or lease details need to be obtained from a landlord or head lessee by your solicitor from the sellers (vendors) solicitor. Since Landlords are not really bothered whether your sale or purchase goes through, they can delay matters considerably and there’s no legal way to speed them up either, so if you want a speedy transaction, take note!

Before you start looking at property , you need to know what you can afford to spend, so get a valuation of your own house, and make enquiries about mortgages and what you can obtain, what you need to prove to  and what you can afford before you set out otherwise you are wasting our time and your own. In the current market, the best deals are being had by canny buyers who either have the cash , or those who have already sold and who are renting. They are what we call ‘Buyer Royalty’ and they are the best bet for our clients, the sellers, and our clients will be more inclined to accept offers from those people.

When viewing a house it is always a good idea to have an idea of what you want to find out from the visit. Have this written down on paper, in case you get distracted and forget to ask some important questions, for example, service charges, ground rent charge, council tax band. Ask the estate agent or the seller about Stamp Duty , too, as this can be very costly, dwarfing your solicitors fees.

Have some idea of when you want to move in (date of completion) so that you can tell the estate agent and your solicitor, so there are no surprises for anyone, and you can be told at an early stage if your expectations are different from the reality of the situation at an early stage.

Make sure you employ a good solicitor and remember that the best solicitors are not usually the cheapest. EPO Lawyers are renowned in the area for excellent service and competence and remember that EPO Lawyers won the People’s choice award for legal services.