People have been moving house for years and so many different things have gone wrong over that time. It is likely the experienced people involved such as estate agents, and solicitors have probably seen it all before. But here are three common nightmares you can help yourself to avoid when buying a home.
Be Careful When You Give Notice
If you are moving from a rented place to buying your new house, then you know that you will have to give notice on your existing tenancy at some point. It can be tempting as you start working towards what seems like a firm date that you give notice on your existing place so that you are spending as little money as possible on rent. However you need to be very careful about when you do so.
Delays can enter the house buying process at any stage, even on moving day. It might not even be a delay caused by you as someone further up in the chain has a problem. Funds might not get released when they should have been, there may be sudden illnesses or other events that cause things to be delayed. A number of people moving from rented properties have suddenly found themselves in a difficult situation as they have given notice on their current place and suddenly their new place is delayed.
It is important that you work closely with your current landlord and maybe have an open discussion before you give formal notice so that they understand the situation. It may be that a few days delay can be handled relatively easily.
Triple Check Your Costs
House buying is an expensive process and at times it will feel like you are bleeding money. Solicitor’s fees, survey fees, stamp duty, moving costs, all these things add up. It can be easy to miss things like admin fees and other costs when you are dealing with the stress of moving, so it is important that you go through everything that you receive and make a note of the costs as well as any extra costs that may come up.
You want to make sure that you have budgeted to cover all of these and a bit more aside. You may even see things like your mortgage company asking you to pay off other loans that you have conditional on you getting your mortgage, so you want to make sure you have funds available to cover these as well.
Removal Issues
Moving day itself is ripe for things going wrong, and this is one that can be overcome by careful organisation. Whether you are moving yourself or hiring a company, make sure that you budget well both in terms of time and money for the move. Traffic may slow things down, and if you are paying by the hour this will cost more. Things may get lost, or broken. There may be delays at the other end activating things like electricity and water. Make sure you have packed a separate ‘day one’ box that you take yourself which has enough stuff to get you through your first day in the new place.
