First Time Buyer?

If this is your first house purchase, you might be considering using an estate agent to find a property and deal with the detail of the purchase.

Our experience of using agents to buy and sell houses is that they will probably won't do as much as you might expect. But usually finding the right house is the hardest bit, and then it's just following some standard steps.

Simple Steps to Buying A House

  1. Find a property that's roughly in your budget - most banks, building societies and mortgage providers will give you an indication of what they'll lend you without you having to make any formal application or commitment with them.
  2. Call the owner to make an appointment to look around - owners are often more flexible with timings in the evenings and at weekends than agents are. You won't get pressured or hassled; the owner will just walk round with you and give answers to any questions you might have (such as "where's the boiler?", "where do you store the bins?", "when were the windows replaced?")
  3. Make an offer to the owner - say what you're prepared to pay, even if it might not be exactly the amount it's being advertised for. You don't have to do it when you look around; you can call or e-mail later once you've had time to think about it.
  4. The owner will tell you if they accept your offer or not.
  5. If the owner accepts your offer, you can contact a mortgage company to get a mortgage arranged. They'll often recommend a solicitor to you (to deal with the legal stuff) and a surveyor (who will come round and check that house is sound), and often they'll discount the fees.
  6. Your solicitor and surveyor will take care of everything else. There's quite a lot of paperwork to sign, but it's all quite clear and self-explanatory, and nobody will mind if you call and ask questions. Your solicitors will deal directly with the owner's solicitors.
  7. If you want to do a follow up viewing, or measure up, you'll be more than welcome.
  8. When you exchange contracts, you're committed to buying the house. When you arrange contracts, you'll agree a moving-in date. On that date, you'll pay for the house, get the keys and move in.

Why Are You Selling Directly?

We've been underwhelmed with the service we got from agents, and rather than pay an agent thousands of pounds, we're doing it ourselves (like a lot of other people). That means we can sell the house a little cheaper and deal directly and openly with people.

Other Independent Seller Websites

Here are some other places that deal with selling houses directly, and answering some of the questions first time buyers might have:

The Little House Company

House Ladder

My Property For Sale

BBC's Guide to Buying A House

DirectGov - Government's Guide for First Time Buyers