Buying From A Builder

Where to start

Buying from a Builder gives you the opportunity to move into your dream home and everything is brand new. Often you have the opportunity to have a say in the final layout and finishes. The process of buying a New Build does however involve some special considerations.

What you can afford

Let’s see what you can afford to buy. This is determined by your income. Lenders generally lend 3 or more times your annual income plus your partners income although higher multipliers are available if you want to borrow less than 100%.

Mortgages up to 125% are available and are very popular with first and second time buyers. You can include all your legal fees and outlays in with the mortgage so that you could buy your home with no savings!

We can check to confirm whether you qualify. What type of Mortgage should you go for - fixed, capped, tracker, flexible, discounted rate or cashback depends on a number of factors unique to your own situation and how you see the future – there are over 3000 mortgages to choose from!

Use our free online BudgetPlanner to see how much you can afford.

Timing

If you have a property to sell it is important to get the timing right. If you were to buy a house privately, we would normally submit an Offer with an entry date in about 12 weeks to give you time to sell and your purchaser time to get his mortgage through. With a new Build we establish the completion date and suggest you launch your property on the market around 12 weeks prior to the anticipated completion date.

The Purchase Process

Reservation

When you have found your property you will be asked to sign a reservation form and pay a reservation fee. This acts as holding exercise and the Builders undertake not to sell to anyone else during the reservation period which is normally around two weeks. This is the time to do your homework!

The Missives

The missives are the legal documents which constitute your contract for the purchase. During the reservation period, the missives will be sent to us for you to sign. A binding contract will be constituted when the missives are signed by both parties and you will have to pay the price on the completion date otherwise there are financial penalties. We therefore have to establish that everything stacks up financially.

Budget Plan

We discuss your mortgage requirements and show you the costs involved, We undertake a pre sale valuation of your present property and from all this information we give you a financial summary called a BudgetPlan so that you can check the affordability of the whole project.

The Valuation

Assuming everything is in order we then arrange for a mortgage valuation. You may find it strange that we need to do a mortgage valuation if your dream home is just a muddy hole in the ground at present, but remember you are signing up to pay for something down the line and you have to ensure that it will be worth the money on completion. The mortgage lender also needs the valuation to process the mortgage application. The valuation takes place on the basis of comparable properties elsewhere, the show house, the plans, and other information the Builders provide to the surveyor. The property is normally reinspected on completion by the surveyor for a small additional fee.

Deposit

When you are happy with everything, and before the reservation period expires, we submit the Missives to the Builders’ solicitors. Assuming everything is agreed missives are concluded shortly afterwards and you then have a binding contract for the purchase. A non returnable deposit is usually payable at this stage.

How Neilsons can help you

Free initial Interview

At this meeting we tell you all the do’s & don’ts; the difference between offers over & fixed price and the tactics & tips you need.

You need to know how it all stacks up and if you can afford to proceed, so we give you a BudgetPlan.

BudgetPlan

Available only from Neilsons this comprehensive summary shows you all your costs including: fees, outlays, Insurances and monthly mortgage costs. It also calculates your maximum mortgage and what you can afford to offer for any property.

What to offer

Most Offers are submitted “Subject to survey” so you need an experienced Professional to guide you in what to offer, otherwise you could end up paying too much or offer too little and not get the property.

Neilsons specialise in property sales and purchases - we are the second largest advertiser of properties in the ESPC and all of our Property Advisors, Solicitors and Consultants are experienced experts in their field.

ESPC Link up

Our computers are connected to the ESPC so we can show you past prices for any property in any street, or the going rate for any type of property in a particular area.

Mortgage Advice

Our computers are updated daily with all mortgage products. We can show you the cheapest available mortgage in any class of mortgage you like – even showing the true cost of each product over a number of years. If you’ve got your mortgage sorted out that’s fine – we can show you how it compares with all the others so you can be sure you’re getting the best deal!

Property to sell?

No problem. We will guide you on selling or buying first; show you an ESPC price comparison and our Property Manager will undertake a FREE PRE-SALE VALUATION.