Buying
What a chain actually is, and why it breaks
A chain is a set of simultaneous transactions that must all complete on one day. Any link can stop it.
Buying
Offers, chains, timelines and the order the decisions actually arrive in.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Buying
The order property decisions actually arrive in
Most buying guides start with viewings. The decisions that constrain everything else are made weeks earlier.
More in Buying
Buying
Buying versus renting is arithmetic, not a proverb
Dead money is a slogan. The comparison is a sum with transaction costs, forgone returns and a time horizon in it.
Buying
Working out the year a purchase breaks even
Break-even is a calculation you can do on one sheet of paper, and it decides whether a short stay makes sense.
Buying
What best and final offers actually tests
A sealed bid is not an auction. You are bidding against an unknown field with no chance to respond.
Buying
Gazumping, gazundering and the price of a non-binding agreement
In some systems an accepted offer commits nobody until a later formal step. Everything spent before it is at risk.
Buying
How to view a house when you are not a surveyor
A viewing cannot replace a survey, but it can tell you whether a survey is worth paying for.
Buying
The second viewing is a different job from the first
The first viewing decides whether you like it. The second should be spent testing the things liking it made you ignore.
Buying
Buying at auction: the moment risk transfers
In many auction systems the fall of the hammer is the binding moment, which puts every check before the sale rather than after it.
Buying
Buying off-plan means buying a description
There is no building to inspect, so the contract and the specification are the property until completion.
Buying
The properties lenders dislike, and why cash buyers should care
If banks will not lend on a building, your eventual buyer pool shrinks to people who do not need one.
Buying
The cash a purchase needs that is not the deposit
Buyers save for the deposit and then meet a second bill made of taxes, fees and the things a house needs in week one.