Your quick guide to finding a new home and making an offer
Published on
29 December 2023
Searching for your property is the exciting part! We’ve got some quick tips to get you started:
Start by exploring the area you’d like to move to in order to get a good feel for the neighbourhood.
Keep an open mind to areas you might not originally consider.
After you’ve chosen a few homes to view, try to visit them in person a couple of times.
View them at different times of the day, if possible, so you can see how the property and neighbourhood differ at peak traffic periods and after dark, for example.
When you’re viewing the property, don’t be scared to check walls for signs of damp, request access to the loft to see the condition of the insulation and the internal roof.
Ask about the neighbours and keep your ears open for noises – it’s worth getting the full picture before you commit.
Consider any relevant factors such as school catchment areas, transport links, flood zones, development applications and even crime levels, which can all be accessed online.
Make an offer through an estate agent.
You’ve looked around and fallen in love with your dream home. To put an offer in, you need to call the estate agent selling the property and tell them you would like to make an offer, and how much you’d like to make an offer for.
Things to consider:
If any structural work needs doing on the property either immediately or in the near future, you might count this as a reason to make an offer below the asking price to reflect the extra future expense. Alternatively, if you believe that other people are interested in the same property you might consider matching the asking price straight away and in return asking for the house to be taken off the market.
Research the price of similar houses in the area on sites such as Rightmove and Zoopla, where you can also check how long the property has been on the market. If it’s been on a while, then the seller may consider a lower offer.
Consider your position as a first time buyer as a very positive one as you’re not waiting for your house to be sold so you can move in swiftly – this can be a real plus.
Once your offer has been made, the estate agent will discuss it with the sellers who may accept, or you might be invited to make a higher offer. Upon acceptance, the estate agent will want to see your ‘decision in principle’ before they take the property off the market.
Your mortgage is secured on your home. Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.