Before You Make an Offer on a House, Do This First
Most buyers only think about their mortgage and their solicitor once an offer has been accepted. By then it is often too late. Two buyers can offer the same price for the same property, and the seller will pick the one who has already proven they can move, not the one who promises to sort it out later.
Why this catches people out.
A seller's agent cannot put an offer forward with any real confidence if there is no evidence behind it, and sellers are understandably wary of taking their home off the market for someone who has not checked what they can actually borrow or lined up who will handle the legal side. Once an offer is accepted, the buyer who has already sorted both is the one who moves straight away.
The buyer who starts looking that week is the one who holds the whole chain up, and sometimes the one who loses the property altogether.
Sort this before you view anything.
Sort your mortgage and your solicitor before you view anything, not after you offer. This is exactly what we help our buyers do, and it costs you nothing to ask.
- Mortgage in principle. We do not arrange mortgages ourselves, estate agency and mortgage advice are genuinely different skills, and we would rather be upfront about that than pretend otherwise. Instead we work with the UK Mortgage Centre, who will talk you through what you can actually afford in plain English and get you a mortgage in principle before you view anything, so you are not left explaining your finances after you have already found the house.
- A solicitor you can trust, not the cheapest one you found online. The cheapest, high-volume conveyancing factories are price-led, and when you have a query it can be genuinely difficult to find the right person to answer it, something the Legal Ombudsman itself has warned poses a risk to buyers and sellers. Rather than gambling on a name from a search result, we can put you in touch with a solicitor we already trust with our own clients, someone who will personally manage your file and move quickly if the sale turns out to be anything other than straightforward.
- Paperwork ready, not promised. Proof of funds, proof of ID, and details of your onward position if you are also selling. Having it ready before you need it is the difference between an offer that gets pursued straight away and one that sits while someone goes to find a bank statement.
None of this guarantees an offer gets accepted, price and the property itself still matter most. But when two offers are close, the buyer who is actually ready is the one who gets the call.
Get buyer ready now.
Fill out the form below and a member of our team will be in touch with our recommended mortgage adviser and solicitor, so everything is in place before you find the house you want to offer on. No pressure, and no obligation.
