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If you are not aware that you can buy a property privately
you are not alone. Most people in the UK have yet to realise this is an option.
Most people assume that you have to use an estate agent as there is a lot of legal
paperwork involved that the agent will take care of for you........ This is not true.
If you buy through an Estate Agent
When you are looking to buy a property the estate agent
will basically do the following, most of which is done for the seller.
a. Values the property
b. Markets the property
c. Manages the viewings
When you visit an estate agent you will be asked what type
of property you are looking for, where you would like to buy, number of bedrooms
and location etc. They will then check through all the properties on their books
and provide you with details of the relevant properties. Once you have chosen a
property the estate agent will arrange a time for the viewing and usually meet you
there to show you around. As you can imagine, estate agents will have a number of
properties for sale at any time, you should not expect to have all your questions
about the property answered by the agent and they will probably have to contact the
seller to find answers to specific questions.
Once you have viewed the property and decide to make an offer, you should remember
the estate agent is being paid by the seller and charging them usually between 1%
- 3% so they will want you to pay as much as possible for the property. It is not
uncommon to read about estate agents not passing buyers offers to the seller because
they want to get a higher offer to receive more commission.
Assuming your offer is relayed to the seller and they accept it, the work of the
estate agent is basically over. Your solicitor and the buyers solicitor are contacted,
informed of the amount accepted and they deal with the purchase/sale process.
If you buy Privately
As you may be aware, most people who are looking to buy
a property will search the internet as a first point of call, there are numerous
sites to allow this, some only allow estate agent to market property, some only
private sales and some allow both.
If you see a property on our site that you are interested in it will obviously be
for sale privately by the owner. The seller will be waiting to hear from you so
contract them straight away, this is simple, you can email them from the link on
their advert or telephone them if they have provided a contact number, arranging
a viewing with the property owner will usually result in a far more informative
visit, as generally, nobody knows a property better than the person that lives in
it. If you like the property then you make an offer direct to the seller, they may
or may not accept it but at least you will know they have heard it and you can discuss
it directly with them until you both agree on a price.
Once you have agreed a price, you exchange solicitors details and they will deal
with all the legal paperwork, explaining about the charges involved, deposit, stamp
duty, searches and their charges, you should also contact your mortgage company
and inform them. Both the solicitor and mortgage company will ask you what they
need to know and then they will arrange surveys, contracts, land searches etc. Your
solicitor will keep you informed of how the process is progressing, when contracts
have exchanged, the money has been transfered and when the keys are available, then
it's all down to you to move in and make yourself at home.
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