What's the process of buying a house?

Understand the Private Sale Buying Process

We understand the home buying process can feel a bit daunting, especially if it’s your first time. That’s why we’ve created this easy-to-follow guide to help you every step of the way.

From finding the right home to completing the sale, we’ll walk you through what to expect so you can focus on the exciting part—making your new place your own.

Step 1: Set your budget

First you need to weigh up your budget to decide what kind of home is the right one for you. As well as considering your monthly finances you’ll need to think about one-off costs like solicitor fees and Stamp Duty. If you need help, we can put you in touch with a specialist to help you work out your finances.

Step 2: Sort your current home

If you’re already a homeowner, you need to decide if you want to sell before you buy. If you need to sell your property to fund buying your new home, we can’t guarantee a sale until you find a buyer.

Step 3: Start your search

Explore our locations to find your ideal place. Get looking at locations

Step 4: Arrange a mortgage

It’s time to start getting your finances in place including an ‘agreement in principle’ (AIP). you’ll need to get your mortgage lender to make you a formal offer before you can exchange contracts - find out more about the process of applying for a mortgage here.

Step 5: Choose your home

Now for the exciting part, take a look at our wide selection of new build homes for sale and choose the one that suits your lifestyle.

Step 6: Pay the deposit

Once you’ve found the place you want to call home, you’ll need to put down a deposit - usually £2,000 for private sale and around £500 for Shared Ownership.

Step 7: Appoint your solicitor

Let your solicitor know the reservation period, which is usually 20 working days, and they’ll take care of the legal stuff. If you’re selling a home your solicitor will need to apply for title deeds, which could take up to three weeks. Find a recommended solicitor here.

Step 8: Apply for your mortgage

Submit your mortgage application and your lender will value the home to make sure they can lend against it. They’ll then issue a mortgage offer. Make sure you send us details of your mortgage once you’ve applied.

Step 9: Legal Work

We’ll send your solicitor the draft contract, conveyance plan and other relevant documents to check over.

Step 10: Mortgage offer confirmation

Once your mortgage lender is happy, they’ll issue a mortgage offer - tell us and your solicitor when you’ve accepted your mortgage offer terms.

Step 11: Organising the paperwork

Talk to your solicitor about the contract and agree how you want to pay the deposit on exchange (10% of the purchase price). You’ll then need to sign the contract and agree how to pay the balance of the money on completion.

Step 12: Exchange contracts

Your solicitor will exchange contracts and pay the deposit on your behalf. This is the point when the buyer and seller are legally bound by the terms of the contract. Find out more about conveyancing, exchanging contracts and completion.

Step 13: Getting ready to complete

We’ll keep you up to date on the sales completion (when your new home is ready to move into), and give you notice in advance (usually 10-14 working days) of completion.

Step 14: Organising your move

Whether you’re going solo or getting a removal company, now’s the time to start planning for the big move. As well as packing up your current possessions you’ll need to think about other life admin like letting people and organisations know you’re moving and changing your address on important documents.