Brooklands are situated in a prime location with excellent High Street frontage. For most people buying a home will be their most important and largest investment, consequently it is important that you seek the correct advice from professional Agents who ‘know the market place’ – Brooklands fulfil that requirement.
It is essential that as a buyer simple rules are followed to make the transaction as smooth and trouble free as possible.
1. When you have chosen the property that you wish to purchase, submit your offer to the selling Agent, give as much background information as possible on your situation including any related sale, details of your mortgage requirements. We would strongly recommend that mortgage advice be sought prior to purchasing especially for first time buyers. The mortgage market is forever changing and it is important that you choose a mortgage to suit your financial commitments.
2. Once your offer has been accepted, the selling Agent will require further details in order to instruct solicitors to act on your behalf. Having completed your mortgage application and paid your survey fee the Building Society/Bank will instruct a surveyor to inspect the property. Surveys are undertaken in various ways depending on the fee. Providing that the surveyor is satisfied with the home that you are proposing to purchase he will submit a report to the Building Society/ Bank and a mortgage offer will subsequently be made. This will give you details on condition, necessary repairs and value both for mortgage and insurance re-instatement value. Be careful not to confuse these two valuations as these figures can vary considerably and this in turn will lead to confusion as to the price that you are expected to pay for the property
3. Your solicitor will check the contract documentation, raise any queries and apply for the necessary searches, for which you will be required to pay a fee.
4. Once you have signed your contract and exchanged with the sellers solicitor, having placed a deposit (usually 10% of the purchase price) a completion date will be set for the balance of the funds to be paid over, this is normally fourteen to twenty eight days after exchange.
5. On completion you may have to pay Stamp Duty (A tax levied by the Government)
The rates are as follows:
· Up to £125,000 – zero payable
· £125,001 – £250,000 – 1% on the total purchase price
· £250,001 – £500,000 – 3% on the total purchase price
· £500,001 – upwards 4% on the total purchase price
The Government decided in certain areas that stamp duty would not be applicable on purchase prices upto £150,000. We suggest that when purchasing you enquire with the selling Agent whether your purchase falls into this category. (Rates do change with budgets, we suggest that you check the prevailing rate at the time of purchase.)
6. Finally, on completion day keys are not handed over to you until the sellers solicitor has advised the Selling Agent that all monies have been received. This can mean that you may not be able to move into your new home until the mid afternoon.