Moving house is much like going on holiday in terms of the excitement. You’re all packed up and ready to go, and you can’t sleep the night before you leave. If you can get past the sadness of the move because you’re leaving behind a property in which you created many memories, then the future isn’t so scary anymore. Enthusiasm about the move is like a slow burning ember or a pot on the stove almost at boiling point. It builds and builds the closer you get to actually moving out. It can hit a speed bump however and ruin the mood and possibly even bring the whole process to a grinding halt. A purchase of such large magnitude does not behave like a normal visit to the grocery store in terms of legalities. Big to colossal amounts of money are being forked over to one party in exchange for what is essentially a market product. You would do well to match your enthusiasm with knowledge of the legal process that can either act like your guardian angel or the monkey from Pirates of The Caribbean on your shoulder. 

Immersing yourself in the area

Picking out a home is difficult enough without having to factor in the community that revolves around it. But that’s just it; it really does matter what kind of local facilities, amenities and communities there are in the area. Many couples with growing families will have this in mind and in fact be ready and willing to say ‘no’ to a house they were first attracted to if the area just isn’t right for them. It's also not uncommon for couples to actually pick the area they want first and then see if any houses are on sale inside their selected zone. So before you actually decide on narrowing down your list of potential homes to go view, how about you immerse yourself in the area itself? This can start off small by using the local grocery stores to do your shopping. Next, see if you can attend a church service of a parish in the area if you’re religious that is. Take your dog for a walk in a park that’s in the area too. Get out and walk around with your pet and get used to being comfortable in among the other locals. Now step it up a notch and park your car on a particular street and go for a reasonable walkabout. Using your smartphone to navigate your way through, make a bit of heel-toe around the area just getting used to the streets and roads. Immersing yourself in the area will help to cool down any nerves and bolster your confidence while you’re at it.

Make em’ an offer they can’t refuse

One of the most exciting things about buying a home is the potential bidding war. Yes, yes, not so funny when it's your money on the line. Don’t be a grouch, instead play it smart and cool. The first bit of research you could do is find out the average price of the homes in the area. There are lots of sources online that you can use to give you an accurised guess as to what the price of the homes in the zone, i.e. postcode you have chosen. What these companies do is look at the sold price of each home that was bought recently, and correlate the mean average into one pricing range. Next what you can do is talk to real estate agents who are selling the home. Get a feel for what kind of bids have been made before you arrived on the scene. Feel them out a bit and see if you can come close or better to those bids. Now of course, don’t get carried away as you should take what the real estate agent says with a pinch of salt or two. They are trying to get the best price or rather, the highest price for their client after all. The home viewing is also important to get a feel for what makes sense in terms of a competitive amount.

Is it as good as they say it is?

A paradox is clearly in play when a home is now being sold and bought. One party has all the memories and experience of living in the home thus even though they want to sell it and move on; they are somewhat attached to the property emotionally. The other side is completely new and rightfully sceptical about what entails of their potential new home. It's very very easy to be led down the rabbit hole and be made to think the home is not far from perfect for your needs. It's the other side’s job to make it seem like the best possible option. Never go by their word no matter how persuasive they’re being and how much they try to hammer home that the property is worth your while in terms of an investment. Hire a professional surveyor who will come and value the home properly. If there are any hidden ghouls and horrors, be assured that they will find them. It's not uncommon to can enter into a pitched battle of the valuations both sides make. Their surveyor could possibly be biased and mark the price up just a little more than is necessary. On the other hand, your surveyor doesn’t want you to pay more than you should and could mark their surveyor made down a bit. This is the first real joust you and the selling party will get into, but enjoy it! 

Locking in the deal

At this point in the entire process, everything comes to a head. All your searching, the weeks and months of scouring the land for the right property with the perfect setting and ideal location for your lifestyle, all of it congeals to this final moment. The property must shift from one pair of hands to another, and do so without any hitches and hiccups. It's called conveyancing with regards to the true legal term. What this means is the legal transition of a property from one ownership to a new ownership with the former party relinquishing any and all legal claims to it. Just because it's now time for the solicitors to get involved doesn’t mean the fun has to stop. Many times when it comes to hiring a good conveyancing team, you do so not because it's just another legal hurdle that stands between you and your final goal. It's because there are fees which you must account for. There are the expert legal fees, as well as the additional fees that just so happen to get lost in the stereotypical fashion of these sorts of things; yes you guessed it, in the ‘small print'.  For this and possibly more reasons, you need to get a conveyancing quote that will be catering to your needs. Of course, not all properties are the same and nor will the process for handing them over be. Slow conveyancing can lead the selling party to get frustrated and drop the deal as they see fit. It's perfectly within their right to move on if your legal team cannot act in a timely manner, as the seller hasn’t signed anything that binds them to an obligation. The reasons for individuals solicitors being slow is anyone’s guess. There are even methods or lack thereof, of solicitors dictating notes to their secretaries thus unable to be contacted by their clients. You may have had a picture of how much the property was going to cost but didn’t calculate how costly the legal side of it would be. Expediency and efficiency are what the ideal conveyancing team will pride themselves on, so you don’t shell out any more money than you have to.

So there you have it, switching homes doesn’t have to be boring, does it? Moving homes is a very serious time in your life and for your family too. You can breathe it all in once it's over but in the meantime, have fun while you do it! Don’t just sit and daydream about the new area you’re interested in, get up off the sofa and drive to it when you have the time. Bring along the pooch and take your time going around the neighborhood. Make an effort to see if the local community really is for you or will you be spending your time mostly indoors to keep away from them. Pricing wars are just as fun as bidding wars because it can either be a game of cat and mouse or pinball. Your and the seller’s surveyors are contrasting each other’s price. It can feel like a competition between the two at times. Don’t panic as this doesn't mean they’re going to throw their professionalism out the window; it just means they’re going to come to an average price that will be the tennis court the two parties engage in returning numbers.