Buyers Guide
If you are not aware that you can buy a property privately you are not alone.
Most people in the UK have yet to realise this is an option. Most people assume that
you have to use an estate agent as there is a lot of legal paperwork involved that
the agent will take care of for you........ This is not true.
If you buy through an Estate Agent
When you are looking to buy a property the estate agent will basically do the following, most of which is done for the seller.
a. Values the property
b. Markets the property
c. Manages the viewings
When you visit an estate agent you will be asked what type of property you are looking for, where you would
like to buy, number of bedrooms and location etc. They will then check through all the properties on their
books and provide you with details of the relevant properties. Once you have chosen a property the estate
agent will arrange a time for the viewing and usually meet you there to show you around. As you can imagine,
estate agents will have a number of properties for sale at any time, you should not expect to have all your
questions about the property answered by the agent and they will probably have to contact the seller to find
answers to specific questions.
Once you have viewed the property and decide to make an offer, you should
remember the estate agent is being paid by the seller and charging them usually between 1% - 3% so they will
want you to pay as much as possible for the property. It is not uncommon to read about estate agents not
passing buyers offers to the seller because they want to get a higher offer to receive more commission.
Assuming your offer is relayed to the seller and they accept it, the work of the estate agent is basically over.
Your solicitor and the buyers solicitor are contacted, informed of the amount accepted and they deal with the
purchase/sale process.
If you buy Privately
As you may be aware, most people who are looking to buy a property will search the internet as a first
point of call, there are numerous sites to allow this, some only allow estate agent to market property, some
only private sales and some allow both.
If you see a property on our site that you are interested in it will
obviously be for sale privately by the owner. The seller will be waiting to hear from you so contract them
straight away, this is simple, you can email them from the link on their advert or telephone them if they
have provided a contact number, arranging a viewing with the property owner will usually result in a far
more informative visit, as generally, nobody knows a property better than the person that lives in it.
If you like the property then you make an offer direct to the seller, they may or may not accept it but
at least you will know they have heard it and you can discuss it directly with them until you both agree
on a price.
Once you have agreed a price, you exchange solicitors details and they will deal with all the
legal paperwork, explaining about the charges involved, deposit, stamp duty, searches and their charges,
you should also contact your mortgage company and inform them. Both the solicitor and mortgage company will
ask you what they need to know and then they will arrange surveys, contracts, land searches etc.
Your solicitor will keep you informed of how the process is progressing, when contracts have exchanged,
the money has been transfered and when the keys are available, then it's all down to you to move in and
make yourself at home.
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