In any industry you’ll find jargon, but when you’re making probably the biggest financial commitment you’re likely to make, you need to be sure you understand what the estate agents, mortgage broker/lender or solicitor/conveyancer are talking about. So, here’s a quick run-down of a few terms you might hear during the house buying process:
Offer – When you see a house you like and would like to buy it you make an “offer”, this can be at the full asking price (the price the home is advertised at), less or even more, depending on what you would like to pay for it.
Mortgage Offer – If you’re needing a mortgage to buy your home, your mortgage broker or lender will require you to complete an application. Once this has been approved, you will receive a Mortgage Offer from the lender, advising how much they are willing to lend you. They’ll make this decision by checking out your financial situation and working out a value for the property by doing a valuation (normally sending someone out to look at the property and give an estimate on how much it is worth).
Exchange – Once your offer has been accepted by the owner of the property, you’ll need to instruct a solicitor or conveyancer who will take care of the legal side of things for you. They’ll do checks called searches to make sure that there are no planning or environmental issues and report their findings back to you. You’ll also receive documents clarifying what’s included in the sale of the property. Once all of this information is collated, a contract will then be drawn up between you and the owners of the property. At a stage that you are both happy to proceed, the contracts will be signed and exchanged. At this point the sale becomes legally binding and if you were to pull out of the deal, you could be sued.
Completion – This is the point of the purchase where everything is completed by the solicitors/conveyancers and you become the legal owner of the property. The day this happens you will receive the keys to the property and be able to move in.
