Buying a House? Here’s How to Make It Stress-Free
Buying a house is a huge milestone—but it can also be one of the most stressful experiences of your life. The good news? It doesn’t have to be. With the right guidance, you can navigate the process smoothly and avoid common pitfalls.
You’ve found your dream home, had an offer accepted, and it already feels like yours… but hold on! There are still important steps ahead. Understanding the process will help you set realistic expectations and avoid unnecessary stress.
🔹 Know the Key Steps – Learn what to expect at each stage of the buying journey.
🔹 Avoid Common Pitfalls – Watch our expert videos on the most frequent mistakes buyers make (and how to avoid them).
Take control of your home-buying experience with confidence. Call us today!
Important steps we will help you with when buying a house:
Step 1 – Client Care
This can be the longest part of the process but no need for it to be so. Can send us money online – in fact we prefer it. We need to have your money on account and to have your signed client care letter and ID back as soon as possible, as this can be one of the biggest hold ups in the whole process. The sooner we have this the sooner we can start.
We need the funds in so we can request your searches, normally once your mortgage offer is issued, as we have to get these instructed and someone physically goes out to get the replies. The sooner we have the replies the sooner we can report to you on them!
Also if you are getting a mortgage, your mortgage lender will want to see certain search results, as well as your ID documents. So it is really important to be able to get going soon.
Step 2 – Money On Account
Getting a mortgage offer. An offer in principle is not a full offer Once you have received your offer in principle you can begin the fun bit, looking for your new home! However, it is important to remember that you only get your formal mortgage offer once you have a property to buy and a surveyor is instructed by the mortgage company. Buying a house requires a lot patience!
The mortgage offer is issued to you once a valuation has been done of your chosen property. Although the legal process normally starts before your offer comes through, it will not progress until your offer is in place.
Step 3 – Searches
What searches are, how long they take and you need one to get your mortgage We carry out searches for two reasons; so that we have more information on the property and surrounding area, as well as them being a requirement if you are buying with a mortgage .
We use personal searches, which means they are cheaper for you and a physical person carries them out.
The agent we use aims to get the searches back to us within 14days for most areas although the Ryedale area takes up to 28 days. We then report to you on the search results and will ask the sellers solicitor any queries raised from the results.
Step 4 – Contracts & Transfer
Things you might want to hold off doing until exchange ie Booking removal van or giving notice to landlord etc Exchange means – exchanging of contracts, this is the point that you are legally agreeing to buy the property and the seller agrees to sell only to you. Before exchange we will ask you to sign the Contract, Mortgage Deed & Transfer (if necessary).
We will not exchange until: our queries have been answered and we have reported to you about the property and you are happy to proceed. We will agree a date for completion and the exchange date will be before this, usually around a week before. We recommend to wait until this point before booking removal vans or giving notice to your current Landlord (if renting). It is only officially at this stage where you are guaranteed the house & the completion date.
Step 5 – Exchange
Getting funds in place – from lender and also deposit. This is the legally binding commitment from yourselves to sell the property and for the Buyer to buy it from you. So you are then actually buying a house!
This stage is where the finance element is sorted, whether it is sending us your deposit or us getting the mortgage funds into our account. Depending on who you are getting the mortgage from, we could have the funds the day before or the day of completion.
We will send you a completion statement showing the final amount we will need from you to complete, which will need to be cleared funds in our bank account ideally the day before completion so there are no delays on the completion day.
Step 6 – Completion
Transferring funds, completing, collecting keys & moving. In step 5 we mentioned ideally having the funds in our bank account the day before completion, which would mean we can arrange to have this transferred to the sellers solicitors on the morning of completion.
However, it does not always happen like this. If we are receiving the mortgage funds that day, they could be arriving at any time. We will send them on to the sellers solicitors straight away but this will normally not be at 9am. We have until 4pm to complete and it could take until then.
Once the funds are sent, we then wait to hear that the sellers solicitors have received the funds & completion has taken place. The estate agents are then instructed to release the keys to you. Congratulations – home owner!