Buying your first home involves many steps, and knowing the order they come in makes the whole process far less daunting. From saving a deposit to getting the keys, here is what happens and when. This guide walks through buying your first home step by step, in plain English.
Step one: save your deposit
The journey starts with saving your deposit, usually at least 5% of the price you hope to pay. This is often the longest part, taking months or years. Setting a clear target and budgeting steadily gets you there, as our guide to saving a deposit faster explains. While you save, it is also worth keeping your credit record healthy, since lenders will examine it later.
Step two: work out your budget
Before viewing homes, work out what you can afford, combining your deposit with how much you can borrow, as our guide to how much you can borrow explains. Remember to budget for the other costs of buying too. Knowing your realistic budget stops you wasting time on homes out of reach and focuses your search on what you can actually finance and afford to live in.
Step three: get a mortgage in principle
Next, get a mortgage in principle from a lender or broker, indicating how much they would lend, as our guide to the mortgage in principle explains. This confirms your budget and shows sellers you are a serious buyer. With it in hand, you can house-hunt with confidence and be ready to move quickly when you find the right home, which matters in a competitive market.
Step four: find a home and make an offer
Now the exciting part: viewing homes and making an offer on one you want. Offers are made through the estate agent and can be negotiated. Once an offer is accepted, the property is usually marked as sold subject to contract, meaning the deal is agreed but not yet legally binding. At this stage nothing is guaranteed, but you can begin the formal mortgage application and legal process.
Step five: apply for your mortgage
With an offer accepted, you make a full mortgage application to your chosen lender, providing detailed information and documents about your income, finances and the property. The lender carries out full checks, including a hard credit search and verifying your income. This is more thorough than the mortgage in principle, and it leads to a formal mortgage offer if all is well. A broker can help manage this stage.
Step six: valuation and survey
The lender arranges a valuation to confirm the property is worth what you are paying, protecting their loan. You may also choose to pay for a more detailed survey to check the property's condition, which can reveal problems and is often money well spent, especially on older homes. The valuation and any survey can affect whether the mortgage proceeds and whether you renegotiate the price.
Step seven: the legal work
You instruct a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to handle the legal side, known as conveyancing. They carry out searches, check the contract and the property's legal title, and manage the transfer of ownership. This stage involves enquiries and paperwork and can take some weeks. Good communication with your solicitor helps keep things moving, as delays here are a common source of frustration in the buying process.
Step eight: exchange and complete
Finally, when everything is ready, you exchange contracts, at which point the sale becomes legally binding and you usually pay your deposit. A completion date is set, and on that day the money is transferred, the sale completes, and you get the keys to your first home. After completion, your solicitor deals with paying any stamp duty and registering you as the owner, as our guide to the true cost of buying notes.
How long the whole process takes
From having an offer accepted to completion, buying a home commonly takes somewhere in the region of two to three months, though it varies widely. Saving the deposit beforehand can take far longer. Delays can arise in the legal work, the mortgage application, or the chain of buyers and sellers. Knowing it rarely happens overnight helps you plan and stay patient, while staying responsive yourself helps keep things moving.
What can cause delays
Common causes of delay include slow conveyancing, hold-ups in the mortgage application, problems found in surveys or searches, and chains where each purchase depends on another. Being organised, responding quickly to your solicitor and lender, and chasing politely when needed all help. Many delays are outside your control, but being a prompt, well-prepared buyer reduces those that are within it and keeps your purchase progressing.
Gazumping and other risks
Until contracts are exchanged, either side can pull out, which leaves room for gazumping, where a seller accepts a higher offer from someone else after agreeing to sell to you. While not common, it can happen, and it is one reason to progress your purchase promptly. Moving quickly through the mortgage and legal stages reduces the window in which something can go wrong before the sale becomes legally binding.
Protecting your purchase
You can protect your purchase by being ready to move quickly, keeping your finances stable, and considering whether to insure against the costs of a purchase falling through. Buildings insurance is needed from exchange, when you become responsible for the property. Some buyers also think about protection like life cover for the mortgage. Being prepared on these fronts helps the final stages run smoothly and your new ownership start securely.
After you move in
Completion is not quite the end. Your solicitor handles paying any stamp duty and registering you as the new owner with the Land Registry. You will need to set up utilities, council tax and buildings insurance, and start your mortgage payments. Keeping your completion paperwork safe is sensible. After that, the home is yours, and the focus shifts to living in it and keeping up your mortgage payments.
Staying organised throughout
The smoothest first purchases tend to be the well-organised ones. Keep your documents ready, respond quickly to your solicitor, broker and lender, and keep a note of who is doing what and by when. Buying a home involves many parties, and gentle, regular chasing keeps things moving. Staying on top of the process, rather than waiting to be contacted, is one of the most useful things a first-time buyer can do.
Patience and preparation pay off
Buying a first home can feel slow and complicated, but breaking it into these clear stages makes it manageable. Patience through the legal and mortgage stages, preparation of your finances and documents, and prompt responses when others need something from you all help your purchase reach completion. With each step understood and planned for, getting the keys to your first home becomes a realistic, achievable goal rather than a confusing ordeal.
In short
Buying your first home runs through clear stages: save your deposit, work out your budget, get a mortgage in principle, find a home and make an offer, apply for your mortgage, have the property valued and surveyed, complete the legal conveyancing, and finally exchange and complete to get the keys. Knowing the order makes the process manageable, and getting your mortgage and finances ready early helps it run smoothly.
Where to get help and next steps
Read our guides to first-time buyer mortgages explained, the mortgage in principle, and the true cost of buying your first home. This is general information, not mortgage or financial advice.