The Buying Process: What to Expect

Buying a home involves a lot of moving parts, and it's easy to feel like you're the only one who doesn't know what happens next. Here's the process laid out plainly.

1. Register your search with us. Tell us your budget, your must-haves, and the areas you're interested in — Windlesham, Ascot, Sunningdale, Virginia Water, Chobham, Lightwater, Woking, Staines, Egham or the surrounding commuter belt — and we'll get in touch the moment something matching comes to market, often before it's publicly listed.

2. Sort your finances early. Get a mortgage agreement in principle from a lender or broker before you start viewing seriously. Sellers and agents take offers from buyers with their finances in order far more seriously, and it can be the difference between winning a competitive property and missing out.

3. View properties. We'll always give you a straight answer about a property's condition, the area, and anything we think you should know — including things that might not show up well in photos.

4. Make an offer. We'll present it to the seller along with your position (cash buyer, chain-free, mortgage agreed) since that context genuinely affects how offers are weighed, not just the number.

5. Instruct a solicitor and arrange a survey. Once your offer is accepted, your solicitor handles the legal side — searches, checking the title, raising enquiries — while you arrange a survey appropriate to the property's age and condition. This is worth doing properly rather than skipping to save money; it's much cheaper to find a problem now than after you own the property.

6. Exchange of contracts. Once searches are back, enquiries are answered and your mortgage offer is finalised, contracts exchange and a completion date is fixed. A deposit (typically 10%) is paid at this point and the sale becomes legally binding.

7. Completion. The remaining funds transfer, and you collect the keys — the home is yours.

A note on timing: the period between offer acceptance and exchange is usually where delays happen, largely due to how long local searches and mortgage underwriting take rather than anything either party is doing wrong. Staying responsive to your solicitor's requests for information is the best way to keep things moving.