Your move: The common mistakes that buyers make
One of the most expensive investments – if not the most expensive – in life is purchasing a home.
To make sure you cut the costs, but not the corners, the whole process needs to be treated with care and precision, almost like delivering a major project.
It’s very easy to assume that it’s a straightforward process – sometimes it is, of course, but these are the unusual ones! Whether it’s the choice of lender furnishing the loan to buy the place, or getting the right professionals involved from conveyancers to removals people, or simply choosing the right property in the first place, there is so much to consider.
There are potential pitfalls everywhere but, if you know what to look out for, you can save yourself a lot of emotional turmoil, stress – and money!
Your Move, the multi-award-winning estate agency with a network of branches across the UK, has provided a helpful guide to the five most common mistakes they often see that a buyer can make when looking for a property to purchase.
These are:
- Lack of budget planning – the advice here is simply to be realistic about what you can afford. Letting the heart rule the head might mean you buy a property without the funds to update it, decorate or even afford some of the ongoing costs such as council tax, utility bills, maintenance and so on.
This is where your research is essential, identifying all the costs associated with the move from providing a deposit to paying the monthly repayments to the mortgage company, from the average cost of utility bills to the monthly council tax payments, from insurance premium payments to management company bills, etc.
Right Move and other companies provide useful online budget planners so you can identify exactly what you can afford.
- Searching without a Mortgage in Principle – This document is an estimate provided by a mortgage lender stating how much they would be willing to lend you, based on your finances (your income and regular outgoings).
As Right Move points out, this is not an offer, but it is a reasonably accurate estimate of what you can afford to borrow, and it can be used as a reference document when it comes to putting in an offer on your chosen property.
- Lack of research – When you are looking at properties, it’s very easy to be seduced by what you think might be ‘the one’ without thinking of the practical aspects of living there – how important are the transport links? Are the local amenities from shopping to the nightlife a consideration? What about membership of a gym or access to schools for the children? If you are a driver, what is the parking status and what if you have more than the one vehicle? If you are a dog-owner, is there sufficient space to exercise your pets?
There are so many different things to consider beyond what the house and its rooms look like, so make sure you itemise your requirements and prioritise them, highlighting where compromises might be acceptable.
- Going with the first lender – As Your Move observes, it’s very easy to be convinced by the spiel of a lender that inclines you towards going with their products.
However, there are many different lenders offering different mortgage products out there, where digging down through the pile will identify the best fit for your needs. And that may not be with the first lender you talk to.
Once again, it’s worth taking the time to research the options, look at comparison sites, and even consider talking to a mortgage broker to do that legwork for you.
- Not making the most of viewings – Some prospective buyers don’t see the property at all but rely on the estate agent’s particulars with reference to the layout and description of the rooms.
But it is imperative to see it physically and to look at the details of the property. Look up as well as down, and don’t be afraid to look under or behind things (without disrupting the current owners’ lives) as this can reveal potential problems such as damp, mould, woodworm and so on – as a practical point, finding these obvious issues mean that you won’t be spending money on a surveyor to tell you the same problems.
Increasingly, estate agencies are now providing virtual viewings online, and this is a good start for your research, particularly if you would have to travel a distance to view it in person.
But nothing replaces your presence in the property to look it over thoroughly.
In addition, Best Value Conveyancing would recommend appointing a quality conveyancing solicitor like ours, who will start on the legal work as soon as you sign them up, so that you don’t have to worry about the associated legal tasks as they will be looked after as a priority.
Finally, what the best experience for moving to a new home comes down to is the effort that you put into the process at the beginning. If you have all the information to hand, backed up by any relevant documentation, lists of questions, facts and any other points that are appropriate to the property, you won’t go far wrong.
Ultimately, you’re looking for the smoothest house-moving experience as possible – and, by extension, the smoother it is, the sooner you’ll be putting your belongings into their new positions – and the less money you’ll likely have to pay out along the way!
