Buying a house...

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 14:00

From a first time buyer's perspective- WHAT A BLOOMIN NIGHTMARE!

After looking at god knows how many different places you finally work out what your really looking for in a property,
...then you only look at that type and all of a sudden they start to merge into one,
...then you find one you like more than the others only to find something major negative wrong / against it (repeat 3 times)
... you finally find what you like and almost disregard it because you know something's bound to be wrong with it, go back for a second look and find that infact it appears to be all it says it is,
... then you get scared that this might actually be what you end up buying,
... you decide to put in an offer, but how much? (cue day and a half long discussion with gf about how much to offer so we don't pay ott or lose out on the best place we've seen)
... then you finally put in an offer and sit twiddling your thumbs by the phone whilst writing a post on an internet forum about what a stress its been

If it gets accepted from what I've hear we can expect to up the stress level a bit more for the next month or 2

I can't even begin to think what its like when your trying to sell at the same time

OK vent over!!

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 14:18

I'll see if I can dig one out.

Just had my, what I consider quite fair offer, refused.

To be honest I don't blame them if they want they could hold out for the asking price and similar properties in the area are either more expensive, not as well located or need work.

EDIT - plus its been on the market for less than a week

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 14:28

Kell_ee001 said:
Just because it's been refused, it doesn't mean you can't put in another offer

Of course you only do this if you can afford to and if you think it's actually worth it

Its priced pretty well anyway and as I say its a popular location, very well positioned within the development its on, has got nice little extra's like a 27' garage *claps like an excited schoolboy at workshop space* and hasn't been on for very long so not exactly a good basis for us striking a deal.

Asking price is £156500 and when I got the call back I was told they wouldn't accept anything below £155000 and as I said before they should easily be able to get the asking price anyway.

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 14:31

Desmo said:
Stressful? What is there to stress over? You either get this house or you get another one. Maybe I'm just too laid back :/

LOL, its my gf. She can't wait to move but is also a perfectionist

I get a constant barrage of questions to which I can only answer "I don't know" "I don't know" "I don't know" "I don't know"......

I'm going grey I tell ya!

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 14:31

Von Luck said:
Just do what we did with our first house - panic, run around like headless chickens and pay near to the asking price in a spasm of fear.

Sounds like a plan

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 14:39

Nismo said:
I agree, first time buying isnt stressful in the slightest. When we bought ours last year we hardly had to do anything apart from make a few calls and sign a few forms.

Moving from one house to a new one is the stressful part

Its only really been the making an offer bit that we find stressful... the idea that we might be paying too much for a place etc

I wasn't too fussed until I put it in terms of "x months wages after tax"

At the end of the day if we mess up and pay £5k OTT then in real terms that means that about 3 months time our place will actually be worth what we paid for it

... that is of course assuming things carry on as they have for the last few years which all the financial experts say they won't

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 14:43

Cookie-Monster said:
First time buying didnt seem that bad

mine's been stress free, just posted off the contracts today, so should exchange within a week.

3 bedroom flat in Addiscombe.

just keep on top of everything paperwork wise, and make sure good communication streams with vendor/solicitor/estate agent.

In your situation how long was it before you actually had to stump up the deposit money as ours is scattered in about 10 different places

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 14:55

Your right about the mortgage thing, basically every £ extra we spend on the house we will be paying £1.79 back :eek:

however we're in a slightly different position in that the amount we will put on the mortgage will be a fixed amount (already pre-arrange) and we (actually my gf

) will vary the deposit accordingly to make up the price of the house.

We need 10 to 14 days to get the money moved so that should be fine.

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 15:00

rayer said:
"Bit of a nightmare...."

Sounds like a real PITA! I'm guestimating about 1.5 to 2 months to complete, would be ideal if that fell around August time as I can book as much time off as I want in the kids summer holiday so I can get decorating and doing those finishing touches that the other half will insist on

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 15:25

kaiowas said:
When me and vix start looking properly I expect that I'll predominently be trying to buy a nice garage with plenty of space to put cars that happens to have a house attached whilst she'll be worrying about all this homely stuff.

LOL that what I like about this place. 27' Garage plus off road parking for 3 cars :cool:

EDIT- Oh and by the way I caved in on the price under the condition that a bit of remedial work was done

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 15:41

kaiowas said:
Think I've found it, Mulbarton?

Yup

We've looked at a few down there but this one is down a little cul-de-sac so it feels less crowded which is why we were quite desperate to buy it. Others would come up but we might have to wait a bit for one as well located.

Probably moving my work to Hethel too (near Lotus site) so commute will be a doddle.

lordrobs · 16 May 2006 at 15:47

kaiowas said:
Is that at the new tech centre? Few people from here have left for jobs there.

Yeah thats the one, nothing definate yet but fingers crossed as its a good facility... or at least it will be when its all finished.

lordrobs · 17 May 2006 at 00:18

Vix said:
Yay! You will have to nip in for a cuppa

Are you actually in Norwich or somwhere on the outskirts?

I'm currently back living with my parents in Brundall so Mulbarton will be a nice change of scenery

will also be easy for Jane to get to work as she works in Norwich City Centre.

lordrobs · 18 May 2006 at 01:13

kaiowas said:
We're in Wymondham.

Ah, I'll be just up the road if this sale goes through

Oh and I'm guessing the whole second thoughts and "is this really what I want" thing is normal

People keep asking me if I'm excited and tbh at this moment in time I'm not excited in the slightest