Buying: what to expect when you go Sale Agreed

Finally! It's taken some time, but you've found a property that you love, and your offer has been accepted- what a glorious moment. But how to get from here to collecting the keys upon closing? Here are the six steps to follow before you get your keys.

1: Find a good solicitor

First things first; you need to find a good solicitor that will support you throughout the conveyancing process.

Click here to find out what you need to look out for when choosing a good solicitor

It's important to remember that once you go Sale Agreed you've entered in the conveyancing process, which means that everything is in the hands of the solicitors. Your agent will send you an email looking for your details, identification, proof of address, solicitor details and booking deposit.

Once you send those to the office, the agency will prepare Sales Advice Notes, which specifies your details, the details of the vendor, both of your solicitors, the agreed sales price and the amount of money you sent in as a deposit - but this only happens once you've sent the booking deposit. This is the beginning of the legal process!

2: Waiting for the contracts

At this point, the ball is in the vendor's solicitor's court. They will have applied for the title deeds of the property, either from the bank (if there's a mortgage) or from the Land Registry office. It's important to note that this can take four or five weeks, as the title deeds have to be found and collected from the vault.

Only when the vendor's solicitor receives title deeds can they draft contracts to send to your solicitor.

3: Pre-contract enquiries

Once your solicitor has received the contracts, they will review them and prepare pre-contract enquiries. These are requests for documents such as the BER report, proof of payment of Local Property Tax, planning permission, etc, and sent over to the vendor's solicitor, usually in one correspondence.

At this stage, you need to decide if you need to get a bank valuation and structural survey. A bank valuation is only necessary if you're planning on getting a mortgage. This valuation will allow the bank to determine the risk it takes in lending you the money, by taking into account things such as the condition of the property and comparable prices in the area.

A structural survey is optional, but advised. It's a complete assessment of the property by an expert, to identify any possible issues or defects that would be missed by the untrained eye. The report will also outline recommendations for the issues identified.

4: Signing the contracts and closing date

Behind the scenes, the vendor's solicitor has been busy answering all the pre-contract enquiries and sending them back to your solicitor. Once your solicitor has reviewed them, and with the surveyors report coming back with flying colours, it's time for you to make an appointment with your solicitor to sign the contracts.

At this point you'll send the rest of the deposit to your solicitor. This is your 10% deposit minus the booking deposit that you sent to your estate agent at the beginning of the process. Once you've signed, both solicitors will negotiate a closing date that suits both you and the vendor. The count-down is on!

5: Vendor signs the contract and drawing down funds

We're almost there! Once your solicitor sends the contracts back to the vendor's solicitor, it's time for them to sign. At this point it's time to request your bank to drawdown the funds if you're getting a mortgage. This can take a couple of days.

6: Closing

Once the funds land in your solicitor's account, they will then send it to the vendor's solicitor. At this stage, final searches will be done, before the vendor's solicitor confirms that the property is closed.

It's important to note that the property has not closed until the vendor's solicitor informs the estate agent in writing- only then can the keys be released to you

As soon as the estate agent receives confirmation from the vendor's solicitor that the property has closed they will ring you to come and collect the keys- don't forget your ID!

All that's left to do is move in, get cosy and tag your agent in a photo!

If you are looking for an agent in the Dublin area to represent you and your property, contact me to get a free valuation and a better understanding of the housing market right now.