Find Professionals You Trust

Buying a property is one of the most stressful things you will ever do which is why you need a team of people you trust around you that will have your best interests at heart. Good communication is vital! Your Solicitor and Mortgage Broker should be available, easy to approach with any questions on concerns you have and should keep you in the loop at all times. Buying a property is often the biggest purchase you ever make, and so it’s completely normal to want to know what is going on at all times so that you can feel confident throughout the process.

Practice Patience!

Patience is a virtue: a sentence that will almost become your mantra, because the process of purchasing a property is not quick, so you’ll need to be prepared.

Finding the right home takes time, but once you’ve found the property this is where the waiting often begins—and many people tend to forget the process which comes after finding the one. How long the process takes, varies, it’s one of those “how long is a piece of string” moments, but to give you an idea, you can expect it to take around six months from starting to look for a property, to you getting the keys and moving in.

However, it’s important to know that this varies so much as it depends on numerous variables: such as how long it takes you to find a property, the complexity of your mortgage case and the people in your chain, to name a few.

Identify Your Line Between Compromise and Sacrifice!

There’s often a fine line between the two, and my personal advice is to create a list of your “non-negotiables” prior to your house hunt commencing. This is a list of the things your home must have, as once the search commences, you may find yourself making concessions you wouldn’t normally do—especially if the market is competitive.

Perhaps it’s a garden. Or a home office. Maybe there needs to be a convenience shop within walking distance. Or you want direct transport links? Whatever it is, make a note of it, and during your property search refer to it often to ensure you’re not sacrificing on things that you want/need in order to be happiest in your new home.

This simple exercise can save you heaps of time (and stress!) during the search, which helps to make the search less overwhelming and stops you panic buying a property.