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Once you have worked out much you can afford to pay for your new home, you can start looking at property. There are many routes you can take to finding the house of your dreams - the most obvious place to start, of course, is at your local estate agents.
Estate agents
You should register with as many estate agents as possible within the area in which you want to live. They will send you details of any properties they have on their books which match your criteria. Also, remember, the estate agent is working for the seller of the property who pays his fee, so he won't mind how many properties he shows you. He is also legally obliged to give you an accurate description of the property as it is now a criminal offence for estate agents to make false statements about a property or even leave out something important.You should:
• register with a number of different estate agents
• visit a number of properties before making a decision
• do not be afraid to go back for a second or even third look. Do take notes because it is very easy to forget things when you have left the property and it is very easy to confuse two properties
• ignore the decor and furnishings - try to picture the property empty.
Local papers
You should also check out the property pages of the local newspapers or papers such as Loot. These will also include property that is not being sold through an estate agent and may be cheaper because of this.
Housing associations
Housing association property may also be advertised in local papers, or get in touch with your local association (now also known as Registered Social Landlords (RSL)) to see what they currently have on offer. As well as providing homes for rent some RSLs also help people to buy their own homes.
The Right To Acquire scheme gives eligible tenants of Registered Social Landlords the right to buy their property at a discount. You may also be eligible for the Social HomeBuy scheme which offers eligible housing association or council tenants the chance to buy a share of the market value of their current home as well as benefit from a discount of between £9,000 and £16,000 depending on the location. Tenants can buy a minimum 25 per cent of the value of the property and pay a rental charge of not more than 3 per cent of the market value of the remaining equity owned by the landlord. The amount of discount you receive will be in proportion to the share of the property you buy. The criteria for these schemes constantly change so check with your local association to see if you are eligible to apply for Shared Ownership.
See also our features on self build, buying brand new and buying at auction
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