A step-by-step guide to buying your new home

Sometimes, when the complicated process of buying your new home seems a bit overwhelming, it can really help to take things back to basics. This step-by-step guide is designed to do just that. It’s a checklist of the stages you’ll go through on the way to owning your new home. Print it out and keep it somewhere where you can easily cross off the steps as you get through them. When it all gets a bit much, it can help to see at a glance exactly where you are in the process - and what’s next.

Work out how much you can afford
Decide what type of mortgage would suit you
Figure out how much a mortgage lender will loan you
Decide what type of property you want and consider locations
Get a mortgage agreement in principle
Register with estate agents, look online and in the papers
Get stuck in and view lots of properties
Find a solicitor
Make an offer
Get a valuation and a survey
Exchange contracts if you are happy with the price and all the details you’ve uncovered
Arrange insurance and home emergency cover
Contact removal companies
Inform utilities about change of ownership and arrange for final readings from your existing home
Completion
Notify companies you are moving, redirect your post
Move into your new home!

*Interesting Fact: 17% of people who buy a new home will stay in it for less than four years! On the other end of the scale, 7% of people who buy a new property are thinking long term, and expect to live there for more than 25 years.

*Birmingham Midshires survey cited in What Mortgage July 2007.