While you’re searching

Get alerts for your price range

• Choose the email address for your search first. Alerts and agent emails soon fill an inbox, so some people use a separate one.
• Search Rightmove and Zoopla or OnTheMarket, up to your top price. Not every agent uses all three.
• Save each as an instant alert, to see new homes straight away.
• Register with local agents too (see section 2).

Explore the area

• See if the places you’ll use are nearby, like a school, gym or station.
• Check your journey to work, and what it’s like at rush hour.

How it helps you

• Agents ask so they understand your search and how they can help.
• Clear answers get you matched to the right homes and into viewings. Without them, you could miss a home you’d love, sometimes before it even goes online.

What to share

• Your areas and price range.
• Your must-haves and preferences.
• Your position: for example, chain-free and buying with a mortgage.
• Whether you have an agreement in principle (no need to send it yet).
• Your timeframe.
• If you’ve been looking a while, how many homes you’ve seen and any offers you’ve made, even ones that weren’t accepted. It shows you’re an active buyer.
• Details of anyone you’re buying with, so they’re on the same file.

• You’ll speak to lots of agents. Save each one’s name, agency, number and email, so you can keep in touch.
• Tell every agent when your search changes, so they update your details and contact you about the right homes.
• Once you’ve found your home, let agents know, so the calls and emails stop. With their details saved, you can tell them all in one go.

Make sure it fits your plan

• It’s in your areas and has your must-haves.
• If you need a mortgage, “cash buyers only” usually rules it out.
• If you have a hard deadline to move, ask about the seller’s timing.
• For a flat, find out the service charge. Some are high enough to change what you can afford each month.

• Call before you email, if you can. It’s quicker, and callers often get the first slots.
• Three or four homes in a day is plenty. More can blur together.
• Daylight shows a home best. If the only slot is after dark, go anyway, and see it again in daylight if you like it (section 8).
• Add each viewing to your calendar and a list, to keep track of your search.

On the day

• Look round inside and out, and picture yourself living there.
• Take photos or videos, if the agent’s happy.
• Ask the questions that matter to you.
• Fill in its viewing card straight after (section 7).

When you book

• Go at a different time or day. If you first saw it after dark, go in daylight.
• Ask for longer than your first viewing.
• Ask about other interest or offers, and when the seller hopes to move.
• Bring a friend for a second opinion, if you like.

On the day

• Look again at anything you missed or weren’t sure about.
• Look for damp, such as mould or a musty smell. Not every mark is damp.
• Think about any work you’d want to do, from decorating to a new kitchen.
• Check your phone signal in a few rooms.
• Ask any questions still unanswered.

Note what you find on its viewing card, under “Add notes from a second viewing”. A survey can check it later.

What’s in our guide to making an offer

• How to prepare and present your offer, to give it the best possible chance of being accepted, even if there are other offers.
• Everything to check first, from your top price to the seller’s chain.
• How to work out what to offer.

Have these ready

• Proof of your deposit.
• An agreement in principle that’s still in date.

Agents often ask for these to check you’re in a position to buy.

Continue reading this guide

• If you’re choosing between homes, compare them in section 10.
• For a flat, ask the lease questions in section 11 before you offer.
• For a new-build, shared ownership or accessible home, see section 12.

Ask the agent before you offer

• Ask how many years are left on the lease. At 80 years or less, extending it costs a lot more, so ask if the seller has a quote or is extending it.
• Check with your mortgage adviser how many years your lender needs.
• Ask what the ground rent is, and whether it rises.
• Ask what the service charge is. If it seems high, ask what it covers and what it was in past years.
• Ask about any big work planned, such as a new roof or lift.

Depending on the flat

• In a block of flats, ask whether any cladding or fire safety work is needed. If it is, tell your mortgage adviser and conveyancer.
• With a share of the freehold, you co-own the building and its land, but still have a lease. A short one is usually cheap to extend, and your lender may want that done before you buy.
• If you have a pet, ask whether the lease allows pets.
• Ask which spaces are yours, such as parking, a garden or storage.

If you’re buying a new-build home

• You usually pay a reservation fee, often £250 to £1,000. Builders on a new homes code give you at least 14 days to cancel and get it back.
• Ask which warranty covers the home. Most last 10 years.
• Off-plan homes can take months, but most mortgage offers last about six months. Ask your mortgage adviser what happens if it runs out.
• Ask about estate charges: yearly fees for shared roads and green spaces.
• From 2027, Your First Home can help in England: you put down at least 2.5%, the government lends 20%, and a mortgage covers the rest.

If you’re buying through shared ownership in England

• Ask for the key information documents before you reserve.
• You pay rent on the share you don’t own, and all of the service charge.
• Rent usually rises each year, by a capped amount.
• Check the rules for buying more (called staircasing) and for selling.

If you need an accessible home

• Ask about steps, door widths, the bathroom and parking before you go.
• Your council may give a Disabled Facilities Grant for changes. Ask before you buy, and don’t start work until it’s approved.

• How much can I borrow for a mortgage?Your top price, from what a lender might lend and what you can comfortably pay.
• How much do you need to buy a house?Your deposit, Stamp Duty and every other cost, added up.
• Stamp Duty calculatorStamp Duty in England, with first-time buyer relief, or Land Transaction Tax in Wales.
• Mortgage repayment calculatorYour monthly payment and what a higher rate would cost.
• Lifetime ISA calculatorYour bonus by the time you buy, and the £450,000 price limit.
• First-time buyer schemesWhich government schemes might suit you, with your own figures.
• Get mortgage readyWhat lenders check, what to sort out first, and the documents to gather.
• Estate agent emailRegister with every estate agent in one email.