Finding a Home.

This is the fun part. There isn't much I can say about finding a house as everybody tastes and needs are different.

The best thing to do is just keep looking. Drive or walk around areas you would like to move to, keep a look out for 'FOR SALE' signs. Keep an eye out in local papers, most areas will have a weekly property page or supplement.

Search your local estate agents web sites on a daily basis, most of them will have a search tool on them so all you have to do is fill in the relevant boxes and the best results will be displayed for you. If you do spot something you like its always worth checking to see if it is also registered with any other estate agents, I found a property at an estate agent that was £5,000 cheaper with a different one!

Sign up to estate agents mailing lists, they will send you relevant property information as soon as it comes in.

There are some great property finding sites on the Internet, FISH4HOMES and RIGHT MOVE are my favourites. You fill in the relevant boxes with your desired post code, eg, NP7 or MA22, and the search engine will scan nearly all the estate agents sites in seconds and display all the matching property's around that post code area.

When you do spot something you like, book a viewing. You can usually do this online. View as many property's as you can, if you need a second look, don't be afraid to book a second viewing.

Don't be rushed into putting in an offer, its your choice so make it the right one.

Find out what you can about the property's that you are viewing. Find out if its a repossession, if it is freehold and if there is no chain. You can view the hips report online, there is a huge amount of information available in these reports. There are also sites that can give estimates of the value of the property and information on when and how much it was last purchased for.

Use google earth and have a look at the surrounding buildings and gardens. Google earth can also help with the finding process. Anything you spot on a web site or newspaper, Google earth will take you straight there, without leaving your living room!

Friends and family can also keep on eye out, they might hear that someone is selling and that will give you a head start before it even gets to the estate agent.