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Get the home report and read it in detail before the viewing. Anything marked as a 2 or 3 you should look at closely. 3 means you should be ready to do the work right away.
Get your solicitor ready to "note interest" on your behalf as soon as you think you might want to make an offer.
Pay lots of attention to the area. Especially public transport connections and roads/bike paths. Some bits of the burbs have excellent bike path provision and are a joy to get to. Others are very much the opposite.
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similar broker/solicitor relationship
Every day is a school day - I only just discovered this...
So. Solicitors cannot work with every mortgage provider. Yes, this was news to me, as in the past I have presumably just got lucky and the stars have aligned.
If you do use a separate solicitor, make sure they can work with the mortgage provider!
If you go with L&C's kick back I mean recommended broker, you won't have to worry about this. You might have to worry about other things.
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but the ease of having someone that the broker has worked with to make things smoother.
They're getting commish. The only advantage is that you can try and use them to beat up the solicitor if they're shit. But it won't stop them being shit.
Avoid and use someone you trusts recommendation.
A shit solicitor is a headache and puts you in a weaker position at every turn.
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They're getting a kickback.
The entire chain is about referrals - every business involved in buying and selling property will pay for the opportunity of new business. As a rough calc they will accept 10-20% CoS so this is what you should be negotiating if you go straight to the provider.
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The interaction between broker and solicitor is minimal so far as I understand. The broker has already put the mortgage in place.
There is a relationship between the bank/building society and the solicitor and they tend to have lists of approved solicitors. These tend to be pretty wide ranging lists so it isn't that restrictive. The same was also the case when doing a lease extension and other stuff that impacted on the mortgage.
On the one time my solicitor (my recent purchase) wasn't on the approved list for the lender thy had a relationship with another solicitor who was on the approved list and it made no actual difference.
TL:DR pick whoever you want.
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More potentially stupid questions:
Conveyancing - L&C has given me a quote for a solicitor along with my decision in principle. Wondering if I should do my own research shopping around etc which seems sensible to me - but the ease of having someone that the broker has worked with to make things smoother. Wondering if anyone has used them or had a similar broker/solicitor relationship. Aware solicitor in Scotland plays a slightly more prominent role so very keen not to balls up.
Arranging viewings: we are looking to head up for a few days and check out areas and view properties. What is the process for this? Not dealt with an EA since we rented out flat in 2014 but assume just call each one up and try and get to view properties at times across the days, with time left between to drive? Or is there a more efficient prudent way?
Thanks as always