The importance of being organised

As a buying agent, I am here to fight my client’s corner throughout every step of the search, negotiations, and purchase to ensure they don’t drop the ball. However, for this to be effective, I also need my clients’ cooperation.

If you’re buying a property, you must prioritise it. I deal with numerous clients who risk dropping the ball once the purchase is agreed. They have spent a huge amount of time and money (and emotion) to get to the point of me securing a property for them, but they then underestimate the need to stay on top of everything until they’ve exchanged contracts.

During a purchase, the main thing I can’t do is help my clients get their paperwork together for their mortgage. Getting a mortgage is usually an incredibly time consuming task, with endless requests for years worth of pay slips and current valuations of any investments and so on.

My advice to any buyer is to drop everything and respond to these requests as soon as you can. If not, you end up losing the odd day here and there, and you’re no closer to having a valuation survey booked in, which is the biggest milestone in any purchase because it demonstrates to the seller that you’re serious and committed.

I am currently advising a buyer who has lost out on 3 purchases so far because he has faced delays with his mortgage, and each time he has been gazumped by another buyer who can move more quickly. Now that I’m on the case, the whip is being cracked and we’re moving much more quickly, but still not quickly enough for my liking and I using every charm to appease the other side.

If you’re buying, don’t take your foot off the pedal once you’ve secured a property. If anything, press down harder as this is where a purchase reaches crunch time. If you’ve been lucky enough to secure a great property, make sure you do everything you can to get to the exchange, as only then are you safe from being gazumped.

If you have a question you’d like Jo to answer please email enquire@eccord.com or tweet her @joeccles.