Arrange the Finance...

Before you start to look for a property to purchase you will need to know what you can afford to buy.

If you will need a mortgage, you will need to find a financial adviser to look into this for you, or go round the various lenders to see what they will offer and what their criteria are, e.g as to the maximum they will lend on your income and the percentage of the price they will lend (Loan to Value Ratio (LTV)).  

Estate agents often are happy to provide a mortgage service to assist in selling their properties.   Generally estate agent financial advisers are quite reasonable in the advice they give about different lender's deals. If they try to sell any life insurance or investment policies such as endowments, be careful, because they may be tied only to selling the products of a company with a mediocre track record.  

If you use the mortgage adviser attached to the agent that you buy through, there is a danger of them knowing too much about your financial affairs, which can be a handicap in any price negotiations.

Although 100% mortgages can be obtained, the associated fees charged by the lender and interest rate can be higher than normal. So it is sensible to save up towards the purchase and have some money to pay the Deposit, which is normally required at Exchange of Contracts, and to pay the legal costs and disbursements. 

If you are budgeting and need to know what these costs are likely to be, then you may wish to Get A Quote from us.

You will not be able to submit a formal mortgage application until you find a property, although some lenders will give you some kind of certificate that means they have checked you out and will, in principle, lend you a particular amount.  Estate agents like these certificates.

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