Buy your first home in eight easy steps: Part Two!

Check out this comprehensive eight-step guide for first-time buyers by a man who's done it all and seen it all: lovemoney.com head broker Tim Wilson. Here's part two: ensuring the buying process goes smoothly!

If you're read Part One, you'll know I'm Tim Wilson, a mortgage broker here at lovemoney.com, and I'm writing this article to try to impart some of the knowledge and experience I've gained over the years to would-be first-time buyers.

In Part One, I explained how you can get the best possible mortgage deal in four easy steps. If you've read that, you should have your agreement in principle sorted and you should know how much you can afford and therefore the price range of the home you are looking at to purchase.

I'll now explain how you can ensure the buying process goes smoothly.

Step 5: Find a good property

Start looking at the local market of the area you want to live in. Which types of properties are in your price range? Have a look at Rightmove, Findaproperty and Zoomf, where you can search specifically on areas and at the price range you require.

It's always good to register with a few local estate agents. A good agent will talk to you and try and identify what type of property you're looking for and as soon as they come on the market you should get a call from them to go and view it. It usually doesn't go onto the website until the following day, so you may be the first people though the door.

Don't be scared to go and have a look at some different houses and styles, get a feel for what size you are looking for. It also doesn't hurt to look at houses that are slightly above your budget figure. Most owners will at least consider a cheeky offer in this environment.

Have a good look around the property inside and outside. This might seem a little overboard, but when I bought my first house, I drove past it in the evening as well to check the noise levels and the parking arrangements!

Step 6: Making an offer

When you do find the property that you love, find out a little more about the people who are selling. Have they found a property yet? Are they in a hurry to move? If so this might be a good chance to make a lower offer.

It's also a good idea to do some research into the history of prices paid for that property and its neighbours. Check out nethouseprices.com for free Land Registry data or purchase an in-depth valuation report for £20 from Hometrack.co.uk. You can also use upmystreet to find out more about your new neighbourhood, including house price trends and crime rates.

Don't ever forget that, as a first time buyer, you're in a powerful position. You have no chain below you and, if you've followed my advice in Part One, you already have your agreement in principle. So you can offer a speedy completion instead of a higher offer. Often, owners will agree to this because they don't miss out on their dream home also.

Before you make your offer, make sure you are comfortable with it. Don't be pushed into offering anymore than you want to. The estate agent may try to pressure you by claiming it's insulting or some such nonsense, but it's vital that you resist. Estate agents are legally bound to present any offer you make to the seller.

If it gets rejected, you can increase it and offer again, as many times as you want. You may find the seller comes back with a counter-offer. Remember your budget and don't offer more than you can afford in any circumstances.

Step 7: Buying your home

So the offer is accepted! Where do you go from here?

A vital step often missed is that your broker should shop around again for you, just in case a better deal has come out while you were looking for your dream home.

Either way, you should settle on the deal you want ASAP. Then, your broker will typically ask you for to provide documents, for example proof of identification ( passport or driving licence), proof of residency (utility bill, credit card/bank statement) and 3 month's payslips. This will then be sent to the lender.

Once you apply to the lender they will do a basic valuation on the property which usually you have to pay for. This isn't a survey of the condition or structure of the property. It is purely a valuation to establish on the saleability and value of the property for the lender, not for you.

That's why it is usually wise to opt for a slightly more expensive 'Homebuyers' report'. This report will assess the condition of the property and the estimated cost of rebuilding it for insurance purposes. It usually only costs a few hundred pounds more than the valuation, and is often well worth it for the peace of mind it brings, if nothing else. The only possible exception is a new build property with guarantees on its workmanship and appliances.

You will now also need to instruct your solicitor. The estate agents will probably recommend a solicitor they work with but it's always a good idea to have a shop around. Use a site like Compareconveyancing.com to compare quotes or ask friends and family for some recommendations.

It's always best to use a solicitor who has a "no sale no fee" policy, as you don't want to paying for all the service if the house purchase doesn't go through. And bear in mind you will usually need to hand over about £250 upfront to instruct the solicitor.

You should also by now be setting a timescale for when you want to complete on the purchase. If you are renting, you may want to do it closer to the end of a month so you don't waste a rental payment.

The solicitors and estate agents can liaise with owners throughout the property chain to identify some dates. I always advise clients to make a list of their mortgage broker, estate agents and solicitors so that you have the names of the people dealing with your case, telephone numbers and reference numbers all in one document. I would suggest you call them all once a week to see what the progress is and if there is anything that you need to do.

Once you've done that, it's time now to sit back and let everyone do their jobs:

• the mortgage advisor will be making sure they are getting the mortgage offer,
• the solicitor will be making sure all the legal work is complete,
• the estate agent will be liaising with the owner to sort out any delays.

You will start to get some paperwork in the post from the solicitors.  As soon as it arrives, deal with it. Don't put it off. I can't stress that enough. A lot of house purchases fall down because the paperwork is not completed on time. If you are unsure of what you need to do with the paperwork, speak to your solicitor or even your mortgage advisor. They should be able to point you in the right direction.

Step 8: Completing the purchase

Your solicitor will tell you when you will have to 'exchange contracts'. This is when you will need to have your deposit ready and with the solicitor. Until this point, you can change the offer or pull out - and equally, the seller can refuse the offer that's already been agreed, or put the price up. After this point, your transaction is 100% legally binding. If you pull out after exchange of contracts, you will lose your deposit. If the seller pulls out, he or she will have meet all your costs.

After that, you need to complete the purchase transaction. This is the day you get the keys and legally take on ownership of the transaction. It is also the day the mortgage lender hands over the cash you are borrowing to the seller.

It's wise to set the exchange of contracts and the completion of the purchase at least a week apart, just in case there are any last-minute delays. Also, make sure that you have sorted out your buildings insurance and it is in place on the day of the completion of contracts, as otherwise your mortgage lender will not lend you any money!

And finally, my last tip in buying your first house would be to keep a couple of pounds in your budget for when you move in. This could be a life saver from buying light bulbs to filling the fridge full of beer/champagne for that first toast to a hard day's work moving in!

I hope this article has helped some of you in the process of buying your first house. If you need any more tips or even advice then please do not hesitate to drop me an email on tim.wilson@lovemoney.com or to give us a call on 0800 804 8045.

I am sure that some of you have your own tips for first-time buyers and I welcome any ideas that I have forgotten or even not thought of. Let's all get together and use our expertise in a positive manner to help others!

> Compare mortgages at lovemoney.com

> Read Part One of this series to get Tim's other top tips