On Wed, 15 Jul 2015 08:18:46 +0000, AnthonyL wrote:

For a variety of reasons I've got to being a pensioner and have never
bought a house through an agent in the UK.

I've just had an offer accepted on what appears to be a well presented
and maintained 1960's extended (floor level only) bungalow.

Yes there are lots of websites but I'd appreciate some of this groups
experiences especially with solicitors and surveys plus anything else
you'd do differently if you had known what you know now.

Whatever you do, don't go with the EA's "recommended" solicitor. The EA
works for the vendor, and their pet solicitor will be kicking them back.

Get recommendations from friends/neighbours for who they used.

Surveys - well, you're here, so I'm guessing you can figure your way
around a house pretty well... Do you need to pay somebody £5-6-700 to
give you a rough overview of what's what with it?

There's three levels of survey.
- Valuation. A mortgage lender will insist on that, at the least.
"It's a house. It's worth £x"
- Home buyer's report. Quick once-around, is it falling down? Pretty
colour-coded document results.
"It's a house. It has four walls and a roof. It's not actively falling
down. The electrics and gas are untested - RED!"
- Full structural survey. Frankly, the only one worth considering, but
even then really only if you think you might have missed something
yourself. Even then, they won't move anything - even rugs - to actually
look in depth.