Timescales for Completion on your First Home
We’ve detailed some of the main milestones in the house buying process, from your initial reservation through to completion, with rough estimates of how much time can be needed for each.
Finding the perfect property
Finding your perfect home, can vary depending on your situation and what homes are available on the market. You might get lucky and find something relatively fast, or you may end up waiting a while for something to come up. Usually though, this part of the process tends to last a few months.
If you are interested in one of our homes, we ask that you are qualified by The New Homes Group, so both parties get a clear understanding of your financial situation and we can provide better guidance on the right home for you. You can then of course proceed with The New Homes Group, or use a provider of your choice.
For more information about The New Home Group
Putting in an offer
The actual act of putting in an offer and having it accepted can be completed within days.
Getting a mortgage offer
With an offer accepted, the next step is getting a mortgage in principle if you need one. This could take a few weeks if you include the time it might take you to find an appropriate provider, speak with them and receive your offer. For a first time buyers guide, click here.
The next four to twelve weeks
With the above in place, the next period will typically involve:
Appointing a conveyancing solicitor
You’ll next need to appoint a conveyancer, which can take a few weeks depending on who you want to use. Although if you’re buying from a developer, they may be able to assist you with this as well.
Colours and extras
This is a really exciting time as you can start to think about how to personalise your new home – if you are indeed buying a new build. Depending on the stage of construction of your home, your sales executive will invite you to a meeting to discuss the different options available.
Having surveys and legal checks completed
The next few months will see the searches, any property surveys and the drawing up of contracts. You should note that these parts of the process are currently experiencing a backlog and subsequent delays due to the pandemic, so it may last a little longer than normal.
Final Stage
Once the legal side of things is sorted, you’ll be on the final stage towards completion, the timings of this may vary depending on the build stage of the new home you are purchasing.
A confirmed mortgage offer
It can be a few weeks for your mortgage to be confirmed by your lender. This is also likely to be delayed and take even longer if they haven’t received all their documentation from you, or they need additional information.
Paying deposits and exchanging contracts
Some of these aspects may have previously been covered by your solicitor in an earlier stage and it may just be a formal matter of transferring money, agreeing a completion date officially and then exchanging the legally binding contracts. If this is the case all of these processes can be swiftly agreed within a few weeks, but if you’re still yet to sort some of them, it can cause delays and potentially last a few months.
Please note most developers expect exchange of contracts within 28 days from receipt of draft contracts.
Home demonstration
If you were buying your new property with us, when your home is ready, we will contact you to arrange a new home demonstration. This is an important step on your journey and a great opportunity for you to inspect your new home, see how it operates and check that everything is in good working order.
Completion
The money for your purchase of your first home will be transferred on the day of completion. Once this goes through, you’ll officially be able to collect your keys.
Extra help from Living
You should remember that this is just a rough guide of the timescales to completion when buying your first home and it can vary depending on a variety of different circumstances such as the covid delays we mentioned earlier. Also, if you’re buying a new build – especially if you’re buying off-plan – you of course have the additional wait of having the property built.
If this is an option you are considering as a first time buyer, if you were to choose one of our quality new homes, you’ll also get service and support throughout the whole buying process. To find out more about this, get in touch today.