Home Truths! The MMW guide to homebuying and selling

When you’re thinking about buying or selling a property, the road ahead can feel complex and a bit overwhelming, but with the right support behind you, it doesn’t have to be!

Millar McCall Wylie has a dedicated team of expert residential lawyers who will be in your corner, every step of the homebuying or selling journey. We get that it can be a busy and stressful time – but with years of experience behind us, you can know the ‘legal bit’ is in safe hands!

Our motto is ‘preparation is key’ – and being well informed makes things feel a whole lot easier to tackle. We’re always here to share advice and information to help buyers or sellers feel better prepared (and hopefully relaxed)!

Here’s some of our residential team’s top tips…

What to expect when you’re buying
If you’re a first-time buyer, you may feel in the dark about what lies ahead, but, whilst every property purchase is slightly different, there are some general stages you can expect to go through. These will include:

– Speaking to a mortgage broker.
Fully understanding your affordability as early as possible is crucial – your broker will help you grasp all the costs involved and what you can afford, based on your circumstances. This will allow you to work out the price range you can buy in. They’ll also advise you on all the paperwork you’ll need to gather for the lender and can give you specialist advice on insurances. It is never too early to check your affordability!

– Making an offer and going sale agreed.
Once you’ve had an offer accepted, it’s exciting! But really that’s when the legal process will begin. This is when your lawyer takes over and will act in your best interest to handle the transaction as smoothly as possible.

– Admin!
Be ready for your solicitor to ask for documents from you including proof of your deposit funds, proof of ID and proof of your current address. These are needed for regulatory compliance and getting these to your solicitor as early as possible can help with the timescales and move you towards getting those keys. At MMW, we use leading software Verify 365 to make this process as smooth as possible for you and documents can be uploaded with a few clicks of a button from your phone through our app.

– Mortgage offer
While you are waiting for your mortgage offer to issue, your lawyer will be working behind the scenes to make sure all the legal documentation is in place as soon as possible. Once your mortgage offer is officially issued and all the legal documents are in place, we’ll get you to sign a contract and discuss proposed completion dates (the day you get the keys).

– Completion day
The day you’ve been waiting for! Contracts are signed, money is transferred to the seller’s solicitor– and the keys will be in your hands before you know it!

You might think the buying process feels drawn out at times… but rest assured, we’re doing everything we can to make sure the process goes ahead with your best interests in mind. It’s one of the biggest purchases you’re ever likely to make, so we want to make sure everything is right for you.

Budgeting
There’s nothing worse than surprises when it comes to bills! When you’re buying a property, here are the main costs you need to factor into your budget:

Legal fees – these are charged by your solicitor to cover the time required in handling the purchase and all the legal process behind it. You can use our Legal Fees Calculator on PropertyPal to give you a great idea of what these fees will be for a specific property:
Legal Fees Calculator – PropertyPal
Outlays – your lawyer will also have to arrange for you to transfer these costs on top of their fees and organise for these to be paid to third parties on your behalf. Outlays include things like registering your name and mortgage against the property.
Mortgage product fees – these are fees your lender will charge you and your mortgage broker will advise on these. The mortgage broker may also charge you a fee for their services, depending on your arrangement.
Third party costs –You should also consider other costs that you might have to pay in the future once you purchase your property such as rates, service charges, ground rent and other utility bills.
Survey costs – you may wish to engage a surveyor to inspect the property and advise of its condition before signing the Contract (advisable). These costs are paid directly to the surveyor.
Stamp Duty – Stamp Duty is a tax paid by the purchaser to the UK Government. Your solicitor alongside your financial advisor will be able to help you calculate if any Stamp Duty is payable or any reliefs or exemptions apply to you

Other ways to be prepared!
There are a few other things you can do to be well prepared when buying or selling.

When you’re buying, it really helps to have a Mortgage in Principle in place through your mortgage lender. Your broker or lender will handle all this. This is basically a statement that says you will be able to secure a certain amount of funds based on your affordability. Having this ‘ready to go’ makes you an attractive bidder to sellers and ultimately will help speed up the mortgage application.

When you’re selling, we always stress how good it is to have a solicitor engaged as early as possible (and we aren’t just saying that because we are solicitors). A great time to do this is when you’re marketing the property. It means we can then go ahead and get title deeds, property certificates and other documents ready, so there will be no delay once you have a buyer secured!

Myth buster – it is a common misconception that you have to meet with your solicitor on several occasions throughout the transaction. As a buyer, you only need to meet with your solicitor to sign the contract and mortgage deeds (if applicable). As a seller, you only need to meet with your solicitor to sign the contract and deed transferring ownership to the new buyer.

Not all meetings can be done remotely but we are big on keeping things straightforward and can set up virtual meetings, calls and digital signatures where possible.

Give us a shout!
Our team is always available for advice. You don’t need to be ‘sale agreed’ to reach out to us. We also benefit from having very experienced in-house private client lawyers who specialise in wills and estate planning – it’s never too early to start planning for the future.