Buying your First Home

Stepping onto the first rung of the property ladder and buying a first home is a big step. This may be the first time you have dealt with solicitors and it will almost certainly be your first mortgage consultation.

There are several parties involved with the process of buying a home and it will be up to you to manage those 'players'.

We think it's best if you go into the situation with some information so you feel in control of the process yourself.

When buying your first home the key contributors are: You (the purchaser), the property seller (the vendor), the estate agent, the solicitor, the mortgage broker and lender and finally the surveyor.

The property solicitor you hire to carry out the ‘conveyancing’ will lead the contractual aspects of the process and will be a great help to you, but you might need to chase people up occasionally. Sometimes it can be very stressful as you need to make several transactions happen on particular dates.

Here’s our step by step guide to how it goes and who does what when buying a first home

When you have decided the time is right to purchase your first home, you will need to decide where you want to buy, what sort of facilities you need nearby and what your minimum property needs are.

You gather together the money you have at your disposal for use as a deposit - maybe your parents have given or lent your some to help you out and reduce the size of your first mortgage. Remember to account for house-purchasing and set up costs.

To choose the right first mortgage, contact a good mortgage broker or advisor. They will help you with your application and you will receive a ‘decision in principle’ on the amount you can borrow from your mortgage lender.

Look at on-line property portals and contact the estate agents in the area you want to buy in. Let them know your requirements for your first home.

Find a solicitor to do the conveyancing and to draw up any agreements if you are buying with a friend.

Start looking at properties that are within your budget and meet your needs.

When you find your ideal first home, make an offer based on what you have seen and any useful information in the home information pack.

If the seller accepts your offer, ask the estate agent to stop marketing the property.

Instruct your solicitor you have chosen and give him the details of your chosen first home and the estate agent.

Your solicitor will contact the vendor’s, asking for title deeds to the property. Contractual proceedings will start.

You need to find out how 'intact' your first home is so find a surveyor and ask for a home-buyers report at the minimum or ideally have a full survey carried out.

The lender you have applied to for your first mortgage will carry out a valuation of the property.

On sight of the property valuation and data backing up your application and earnings, your first mortgage lender should agree to lend you the money for your first home.

Send a copy of your survey report to the solicitor. He will send you his questions and comments and you may want to discuss any remedial work.

The solicitor will check the property, carry out local authority searches and find out if any alterations have been made. This would be the time to negotiate fixtures and fittings you would like to buy. This can save you money when fitting out your first home.

The solicitor will finalise the details in the contract with the seller’s solicitor and confirm your first mortgage details with your mortgage lender.

You pay a deposit into your solicitor’s account. He keeps it there until contracts are exchanged.

On the day of contracts are due to be exchanged, your solicitor exchanges contracts with the seller’s solicitor and transfers the deposit over. A date for completion (when you can accept the key and move in to your first home) is set.

Your solicitor will liaise with your first mortgage lender to ensure the mortgage is available on the completion date. He will also prepare the property transfer deed, which is signed by you and the seller and kept by with the seller’s solicitor until completion.

The mortgage lender transfers the money into your solicitor’s account ready for completion day.

On completion day, your solicitor transfers the money to the sellers’ solicitor in return for the transfer deed, Land Registry certificate and the keys. The sale is complete and you now own your first home.

Your solicitor arranges for the transfer deed to be stamped, pays the stamp duty on your behalf and sends the transfer deed to the Land Registry to record you as the new owner.

Your solicitor passes the deed to your first mortgage lender as security for the mortgage and then he will send you the bill for his services, stamp duty and costs.

A summary of who does what:


All the estate agents you contact will be eager to sell you your first home. If first time properties are thin on the ground you will need to maintain a good relationship with them. They can be a good link to the property seller so stay in contact with them. Their costs are paid by the vendor.

Your mortgage broker or advisor will help you find the right first mortgage. It is possible to liaise with a lender direct and choose one of their first time buyer mortgages. However, the great thing about consulting a mortgage broker or advisor is that you will have access to a much greater range of mortgages with the added benefit of his expertise of the different lenders, mortgages, rates and charges. Most advisors charge a fee so it's worth knowing up front what that will be.

You may know someone who can recommend a solicitor to carry out your conveyancing for you. Ring round a few and ask them how they charge, whether it’s a fixed fee or a percentage, and what the costs might be. You might want to make sure they use email if that’s more convenient for you. Ask them what their searches cover, use this in conjunction with the home information packs to see if there is anything else you think you need to know about the area around your chosen property.

Surveyors probably don’t vary as much as other professionals you will need to deal with. However, there are different levels of detail available in the surveys and you need to decide which best for your first home. A full structural survey will tell you if the building is falling down whereas a home condition report will be a lot more superficial. Your first mortgage lender will also want to carry out their own valuation survey to make sure the property is worth more than their loan to you.