I thought things were taking ages and I thought we had come across lots of problems, however now a free damp survey has found damp, at a cost of £2000! They've also said there could be outside building work too… Argh!
And on top of this we have a new agent who doesn't respond to any of my messages.
Yesterday was an absolute nightmare trying to work out what to do and it's still not resolved!
I'm pulling my hair out and I have advise coming from every angle on what to do and what not to do! Argh!
Wednesday 21 October 2015
Saturday 10 October 2015
The crap they never tell you...
So our offer was accept on our dream property nearly 5 weeks ago.
We have had to fill in a MOUNTAIN of paperwork. We've had so many sleepless nights.
We've been on the phone to different people at least every two days. It's just mind-blowing how crazy this whole process is.
And do you know what pisses me off? We've paid lots for solicitors searches and I.D. checks and we don't know yet if we've got a mortgage let alone got the house.
We've gone through a Mortgage advisor for the mortgage and we are really glad at this stage that we have because he is on the ball and chases everything.
But now, the mortgage provider has de-valued the property and wants a damp report before they've decided if they're actually going to give us a mortgage. More money we thought, although we found someone for free they're bound to find something wrong with the property.
And to top it all off our agent has left! Yup, gone up and left and not even told us. We try to get hold of him to be told he's out on viewings, but I know really this is a lie, and then Monday morning comes and they say he's moved on… really? REALLY? REALLY? REALLLLYYY???
I need to chill!
This whole process is fooking me off so much. I just want to be in. I want to start decorating and pinning pictures of my new house on pinterest to make all my followers jealous!
So now it's a waiting game. I almost feel sorry for the vendor if I didn't feel so sorry for us waiting and waiting.
Why don't we know anything and what's taking everyone so long?
I need to ring my mortgage guy to tell him the damp report has been moved by two days. I wonder who is responsible for that!!!
We have had to fill in a MOUNTAIN of paperwork. We've had so many sleepless nights.
We've been on the phone to different people at least every two days. It's just mind-blowing how crazy this whole process is.
And do you know what pisses me off? We've paid lots for solicitors searches and I.D. checks and we don't know yet if we've got a mortgage let alone got the house.
We've gone through a Mortgage advisor for the mortgage and we are really glad at this stage that we have because he is on the ball and chases everything.
But now, the mortgage provider has de-valued the property and wants a damp report before they've decided if they're actually going to give us a mortgage. More money we thought, although we found someone for free they're bound to find something wrong with the property.
And to top it all off our agent has left! Yup, gone up and left and not even told us. We try to get hold of him to be told he's out on viewings, but I know really this is a lie, and then Monday morning comes and they say he's moved on… really? REALLY? REALLY? REALLLLYYY???
I need to chill!
This whole process is fooking me off so much. I just want to be in. I want to start decorating and pinning pictures of my new house on pinterest to make all my followers jealous!
So now it's a waiting game. I almost feel sorry for the vendor if I didn't feel so sorry for us waiting and waiting.
Why don't we know anything and what's taking everyone so long?
I need to ring my mortgage guy to tell him the damp report has been moved by two days. I wonder who is responsible for that!!!
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Paper work coming out of my ear holes!
With our offer accepted, it was like ten years of trying and desperation, something was lifted from our shoulders.
But no one ever said how stressful it was going to be from now on!
That brings us to now. I said a while back not to go and see all the Mortgage Advisors, well we went and visited one, in house with the agent selling our 'hopefully' new home. We had discussed it, and we were completely out of our depth and felt with the agent, solicitor and mortgage guy all being linked, it would probably make our life easier.
And we were glad we did! Our guy was very open and honest, he didn't push us into anything, he told us all he could and answered all the question we threw at him. We had originally gone via Nationwide and had heard they required a 3 hour interview with the Mortgage Manager delving into every aspect of your life and your spend! WHAT?? Apparently they ask, 'Are you likely to have children, or get married'? What?? Why would you ask that? The majority of 'couples' do make these choices and shouldn't be penalised for them! Fortunately for them I can't have children and we can't afford to get married, but yes, we would like to. Would they not have given us as much money in case these things did ever happen?
Our Mortgage guy didn't ask anything. He copied all our paperwork and sent it off. He only asked us if we spent hundreds on the lottery each month. NO!
Simples! Or so we thought. We are now a month down the line and I have already filled a large binder folder… With the solicitors, the agents, the mortgage, the gift letters, the savings, the proofs of I.D. the list is endless. I shall explain more in another post.
And I have notes dotted everywhere, thoughts and questions I keep thinking of.
But no one ever said how stressful it was going to be from now on!
That brings us to now. I said a while back not to go and see all the Mortgage Advisors, well we went and visited one, in house with the agent selling our 'hopefully' new home. We had discussed it, and we were completely out of our depth and felt with the agent, solicitor and mortgage guy all being linked, it would probably make our life easier.
And we were glad we did! Our guy was very open and honest, he didn't push us into anything, he told us all he could and answered all the question we threw at him. We had originally gone via Nationwide and had heard they required a 3 hour interview with the Mortgage Manager delving into every aspect of your life and your spend! WHAT?? Apparently they ask, 'Are you likely to have children, or get married'? What?? Why would you ask that? The majority of 'couples' do make these choices and shouldn't be penalised for them! Fortunately for them I can't have children and we can't afford to get married, but yes, we would like to. Would they not have given us as much money in case these things did ever happen?
Our Mortgage guy didn't ask anything. He copied all our paperwork and sent it off. He only asked us if we spent hundreds on the lottery each month. NO!
Simples! Or so we thought. We are now a month down the line and I have already filled a large binder folder… With the solicitors, the agents, the mortgage, the gift letters, the savings, the proofs of I.D. the list is endless. I shall explain more in another post.
And I have notes dotted everywhere, thoughts and questions I keep thinking of.
That Victorian did it!
We found two Victorian Conversions!!! My imagination went into overdrive when we found these, but they were right at the top of our budget - something we were only going to do if we had a two bed.
My goodness and one has a garden, with two reception rooms and a garden room… these aren't just any one beds. We found these back in September, so retrospectively I was an absolute bag of nerves.
One in particular I had this amazing feeling about. And I couldn't even go and see it, I had to work that weekend, bloody work… wait, I have to work to buy a house, damn… So I sent Big G and his mate… a major life decision was out of my hands, my mad control freak nature was not coping well, and every five minutes I was texting them making sure they took a million pictures!
They took 11 images… seriously guys, there should have been at least 11 per room!!!!!!
However, it was truly amazing, I new my feeling was right, so we booked in for a second viewing, one that I could go and see it!
So two days later we pulled up and someone else was looking at the property… this gave me an edge of determination, it was like a race, like I was at an auction… but being at the top of our budget I had to see it before we put an offer in…
I can't begin to tell you how beautiful it was. It is!!
I was like a cheshire cat, my grin was wider than my hips. It was tired, but full of character, it was one bed, but had room for my crap and more, the light was great and there was outside space. I don't think we really needed to discuss it, or at least I didn't - I was sold!!
So the next day we put a full asking price offer in, and you know what, we were pipped to the post! My heart sank, luckily though we had offered a second amount… £500 extra, along with a very heartfelt personal email. And WE GOT IT!!!!
The agent, lovely as he was said it was the email that did it, cause she could see we wanted it as a home, and a bonus for us, she was an artist too… ah ha, the link!!
My goodness and one has a garden, with two reception rooms and a garden room… these aren't just any one beds. We found these back in September, so retrospectively I was an absolute bag of nerves.
One in particular I had this amazing feeling about. And I couldn't even go and see it, I had to work that weekend, bloody work… wait, I have to work to buy a house, damn… So I sent Big G and his mate… a major life decision was out of my hands, my mad control freak nature was not coping well, and every five minutes I was texting them making sure they took a million pictures!
They took 11 images… seriously guys, there should have been at least 11 per room!!!!!!
However, it was truly amazing, I new my feeling was right, so we booked in for a second viewing, one that I could go and see it!
So two days later we pulled up and someone else was looking at the property… this gave me an edge of determination, it was like a race, like I was at an auction… but being at the top of our budget I had to see it before we put an offer in…
I can't begin to tell you how beautiful it was. It is!!
I was like a cheshire cat, my grin was wider than my hips. It was tired, but full of character, it was one bed, but had room for my crap and more, the light was great and there was outside space. I don't think we really needed to discuss it, or at least I didn't - I was sold!!
So the next day we put a full asking price offer in, and you know what, we were pipped to the post! My heart sank, luckily though we had offered a second amount… £500 extra, along with a very heartfelt personal email. And WE GOT IT!!!!
The agent, lovely as he was said it was the email that did it, cause she could see we wanted it as a home, and a bonus for us, she was an artist too… ah ha, the link!!
We know what we want, but is it out there?
We've been saving for far too long but at least it's given us the opportunity to know what we really need in our first property.
We've been living with my parents for a while and in that time we've bought a lot of things, as a pair of 28 year olds you can't not, so when the time comes that we do actually move out we'll have enough stuff to get us started with.
But this means we have so much stuff, moving into a one bed is going to be a squeeze… we need more room, but we can't afford more room. And I'm an artist, and I have so much art crap it's untrue, I need a separate house just to store all of that!
So we're looking for something as big as possible, for our budget. Which is why we looked out of area. The two bed house with a garden could easily house us and our junk. So we've seen 4 houses… they're nice, good space outside, an extra room… But they still feel small. Out of area, in our budget, they're just little two up two down type of properties, with no character, built in the 60's if not sooner. You know there's just something about them, I am not sure if it's the fact we're miles away from everyone we know and love, or just the fact that they're not right for us.
So we decided to look nearer home… we see this horrible 'Flying Freehold' two bed flat. The picture on right move make it look stunning, and within budget… But when we get there it's the biggest pile of poop you ever did see. It was so bad you could barely step out onto the mouldy balcony, the second bedroom had about 2 inches above the head and the master bedroom had a shower in it. We didn't even have to exchange words… it was hideous…
Then we found two victorian conversions, things were looking up!!
We've been living with my parents for a while and in that time we've bought a lot of things, as a pair of 28 year olds you can't not, so when the time comes that we do actually move out we'll have enough stuff to get us started with.
But this means we have so much stuff, moving into a one bed is going to be a squeeze… we need more room, but we can't afford more room. And I'm an artist, and I have so much art crap it's untrue, I need a separate house just to store all of that!
So we're looking for something as big as possible, for our budget. Which is why we looked out of area. The two bed house with a garden could easily house us and our junk. So we've seen 4 houses… they're nice, good space outside, an extra room… But they still feel small. Out of area, in our budget, they're just little two up two down type of properties, with no character, built in the 60's if not sooner. You know there's just something about them, I am not sure if it's the fact we're miles away from everyone we know and love, or just the fact that they're not right for us.
So we decided to look nearer home… we see this horrible 'Flying Freehold' two bed flat. The picture on right move make it look stunning, and within budget… But when we get there it's the biggest pile of poop you ever did see. It was so bad you could barely step out onto the mouldy balcony, the second bedroom had about 2 inches above the head and the master bedroom had a shower in it. We didn't even have to exchange words… it was hideous…
Then we found two victorian conversions, things were looking up!!
Tuesday 6 October 2015
The search starts here...
Night after night sitting at my laptop looking on Right Move clearly wasn't getting me anywhere. I had literally searched the whole country at places we could live…
We, I might add is me and my partner, we've been together forever, lets call him Big G! He is just desperate to get out of my parents house, where we've been living together for the last 7 years. I give him some credit, I couldn't have lived with my in laws for that long without murdering them!
Anyway, I had changed my job at Easter and had to wait for 6 months to apply for a mortgage. Holy heck by August I cracked, Big G was arguing about anything, he was so fed up, so we went to see a Nationwide minion.
This, I might add, is the first thing to the start of the process rolling. You don't know what to look for until you know for sure what you can borrow. And we were told we could borrow £23k more than we had expected. This made our lives so much easier, and opened the market wider.
Now, something that you should be aware of is after this stage, this is not the end of the mortgage process, there's so much paperwork and interviews and a mountain of crap that follows.
Next, go and register with all the agents in the area you want to live in… We made the mistake of not deciding for sure, 100%, where we wanted to end up, and now… a little down the line are being FLOODED with emails from agents of new listings! Wait until you are sure. But don't wait once you have the mortgage offer, you only have 90 days to find the property!
Another point to mention is EVERY BLOODY ESTATE AGENT will try and book you in to see their 'in house' mortgage advisor! They do this because they get commission, I've heard it's at least £50… but don't fall for it, especially not straight away! Even when they say, 'Oh our guy has special deals with the banks that not even the banks offer'… They all say this and they all have deals and they all have the same computer system showing all the deals you can get. Don't be pressurised!
So we started our search in a small town in Sussex, commutable to London, close to the sea, a place we could get a house and not a flat. But after seeing 4 stunning houses we were left sad and cold and not knowing what to do. We wanted to be close to family and this was too far away….
This turned everything on it's head, as we were so sure we were moving away, to buy a two bed house with a garden and a drive way and a garage, near the nice schools for some future children we may or may not have...
We, I might add is me and my partner, we've been together forever, lets call him Big G! He is just desperate to get out of my parents house, where we've been living together for the last 7 years. I give him some credit, I couldn't have lived with my in laws for that long without murdering them!
Anyway, I had changed my job at Easter and had to wait for 6 months to apply for a mortgage. Holy heck by August I cracked, Big G was arguing about anything, he was so fed up, so we went to see a Nationwide minion.
This, I might add, is the first thing to the start of the process rolling. You don't know what to look for until you know for sure what you can borrow. And we were told we could borrow £23k more than we had expected. This made our lives so much easier, and opened the market wider.
Now, something that you should be aware of is after this stage, this is not the end of the mortgage process, there's so much paperwork and interviews and a mountain of crap that follows.
Next, go and register with all the agents in the area you want to live in… We made the mistake of not deciding for sure, 100%, where we wanted to end up, and now… a little down the line are being FLOODED with emails from agents of new listings! Wait until you are sure. But don't wait once you have the mortgage offer, you only have 90 days to find the property!
Another point to mention is EVERY BLOODY ESTATE AGENT will try and book you in to see their 'in house' mortgage advisor! They do this because they get commission, I've heard it's at least £50… but don't fall for it, especially not straight away! Even when they say, 'Oh our guy has special deals with the banks that not even the banks offer'… They all say this and they all have deals and they all have the same computer system showing all the deals you can get. Don't be pressurised!
So we started our search in a small town in Sussex, commutable to London, close to the sea, a place we could get a house and not a flat. But after seeing 4 stunning houses we were left sad and cold and not knowing what to do. We wanted to be close to family and this was too far away….
This turned everything on it's head, as we were so sure we were moving away, to buy a two bed house with a garden and a drive way and a garage, near the nice schools for some future children we may or may not have...
10 years later and we're ready...
Yeah, so this isn't a blog about my 'first time', that was far to long about to start writing about now!
After 10 years of saving for a property we're ready to buy our first property, and we have NO IDEA what we are doing. Nothing at all! All the articles I've read haven't prepared me for any of this, so I'm going to blog about it all!!!
I've seriously spent years trawling trough right move dreaming of all the properties me and my partner could live in. And if we had bought soon after we starting saving we could have bought a 3 bed house, but reality is now, living just outside of central London, we can't even buy a one bed flat for under a quarter of a million!
House prices have gone up faster than we've been able to save! Maybe we could have, if we didn't pay rent, didn't go on holiday, didn't socialise, didn't our a car, didn't eat….
We've even had to borrow tens of thousands off our grandparents just to buy a one bed flat. We had thought of looking further a field… approximately an hour away but moving away from family and friends, the life you're happy with, an area you love is harder than you think. People suggested we were brave to start a new life elsewhere but although we could have bought a two bed house with a garden and a garage, the life we were leaving behind wouldn't have been worth it.
So here we are, in Greater London, looking for the biggest property we can get for our quarter of a million pound budget. And every other property we are looking at, the price is going up, we have to MOVE FAST!
We're sitting here thinking to ourselves we can't afford anything, well maybe that dilapidated semi-new build that you can't swing a cat in, oh wait, of course you can't swing a cat in there, there's a wardrobe in the living room… Wait, where's the sofa, all we can see is a wooden armchair… SERIOUSLY Bilbo Baggins had a bigger Hobbit hole than this dive-hole!
Sitting on right move, we wonder what the heck we're going to do!
After 10 years of saving for a property we're ready to buy our first property, and we have NO IDEA what we are doing. Nothing at all! All the articles I've read haven't prepared me for any of this, so I'm going to blog about it all!!!
I've seriously spent years trawling trough right move dreaming of all the properties me and my partner could live in. And if we had bought soon after we starting saving we could have bought a 3 bed house, but reality is now, living just outside of central London, we can't even buy a one bed flat for under a quarter of a million!
House prices have gone up faster than we've been able to save! Maybe we could have, if we didn't pay rent, didn't go on holiday, didn't socialise, didn't our a car, didn't eat….
We've even had to borrow tens of thousands off our grandparents just to buy a one bed flat. We had thought of looking further a field… approximately an hour away but moving away from family and friends, the life you're happy with, an area you love is harder than you think. People suggested we were brave to start a new life elsewhere but although we could have bought a two bed house with a garden and a garage, the life we were leaving behind wouldn't have been worth it.
So here we are, in Greater London, looking for the biggest property we can get for our quarter of a million pound budget. And every other property we are looking at, the price is going up, we have to MOVE FAST!
We're sitting here thinking to ourselves we can't afford anything, well maybe that dilapidated semi-new build that you can't swing a cat in, oh wait, of course you can't swing a cat in there, there's a wardrobe in the living room… Wait, where's the sofa, all we can see is a wooden armchair… SERIOUSLY Bilbo Baggins had a bigger Hobbit hole than this dive-hole!
Sitting on right move, we wonder what the heck we're going to do!
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