Buying your home

Step 3 of 5 - Making an offer (England, Wales & Northern Ireland)

You have now found the house of your dreams and need to contact the Estate Agent to make a formal offer. Do not be afraid to offer under asking price as you can always increase your offer if the vendor does not accept your first offer.

If your offer is accepted then you will need to instruct a solicitor to take care of all the legal work involved. We have negotiated preferential rates for Mosaic Mortgages clients with a number of Solicitors and if you would like more information on the legal work involved in the house purchase then click here to redirect to the websites of our recommended firms.

Your application will be submitted to the lender and the valuation of the property will be instructed.

There are 3 types of valuation report:

1. Mortgage Valuation Report - This is a report produced for the lender and advises on the suitability of the property for security for lending purposes. It is a limited report and is not a survey of the property and we recommend that you instruct a home buyers report or full structural survey.
2. Homebuyers Report - This is more detailed than the ‘Mortgage Valuation Report’ and provides information on the state of repair and condition of the property which is produced in a format approved by RICS/ISVA (Regulatory bodies of surveyors.)
3. Full Structural Survey - This survey is very detailed in nature and produces a comprehensive report on the condition of the property and any remedial works required. 

We recommend that you instruct either type 2 or 3 as type 1 is instructed by the lender for their own purposes and you have no contractual relationship with the valuer and thus no comeback if the valuer has missed a glaring defect with the property.