MrsMomo and I have just had an offer accepted on our first house together (and my first house full stop, I’ve always rented before). Happy to report that it has a nice big garden with a garage and a workshop, I can’t stop grinning!

Unfortunately I don’t get to celebrate with MrsMomo until Friday as she’s away with a school trip

well done , shall we run a sweepy on the time from acceptance to completion 😀

You’re married to a school kid?

Don’t bother with a general survey. Get individual survey reports from;

Structural engineer
Heating engineer
Electrician
Plumber and/or drain survey

Overall price will be the same but you will get a lot more detail.

hold your horses young fella mi lad, it ain’t yours till you have the keys in your hand, celebrate then. BUT yes it’s ace buying a house and one with a garden & a garage for your first, that’s great and better than most people expect.

it ain’t yours till you have paid off the mortgage

Colleague of mine just got his first ever mortgage offer at 26, choked on his tea when he read that you pay back £1.81 for every £1.00 you borrow!
Welcome to the real world 😀

exactly as leku said.. worth thier weight in gold esp the central heating one.. excellent for renegotiation as well.

Agree with above; I held of getting sozzled until completed.

Now I’ve got it, I just get sozzled throughout each day to cope.

(Best of luck, hope it goes smoothly for you both)

Every spare penny you have will now go back into the house, Annoying but worth it.

Thanks for the tips on the surveys.

I know it’s a long way to go until we can say that it’s our house, but it’s still rather exciting!

Nice one, I’ve been in my first house for just over a month now and I’m loving it 🙂 had a few expensive jobs needed doing but otherwise I’ve got pretty lucky with mine. 2 weeks off now so I’m redecorating everywhere whilst I have the time. My sale took ages to go through due to solicitors being shit at their overpaid jobs but worth the wait.

Re individual reports … Structural engineers in these parts don’t get out of bed for less than £300 and it’s at least another £150 if any calcs need doing. Heating engineers can be on the look out for work (that doesn’t need doing) so use one you already trust else through a mate. Same with sparkies and plumbers.

Don’t be surprised if you’re quoted IRO £750 just for site visits with reports.

Well done on having your offer accepted. Hold your horses on getting excited though as you may well encounter months of BS from the vendor, estate agent, solicitor, lender (especially their valuation report) blah blah. I sincerely hope you don’t.

All the horror stories came true for us, land issues, useless solicitors and last minute panic, however, it has all been worth it as MrsMomo and I are in the house now, currently camped out in the lounge on an inflatable mattress and I don’t think I could be happier!

Congratulations to you both.
Nothing better than owning your own bricks and mortar.

Congrats. I own two of the buggers. Scary, scary night time thoughts.The stress is far greater than the financial reward.

Congratulations- the house we’re hoping to move to sounds like yours- workshop/ big garden. Didn’t bother with a survey just got a builder I know to have a good look around.

Selling for the first time is proving a bit of a nightmare. 2 people have pulled out on us- one after 4 weeks the other after 5! Sold again so fingers crossed/3rd time lucky etc etc.

Just hope the local church doesn’t have roof issues…

Well done. Don’t be too daunted by the mortgage. They do get easier, in fact i’m kicking myself that I didn’t take peoples advice at the time and stretch myself further when I first bought 16yrs ago, and then again when we moved into our current house about 10yrs ago – i’d be a couple of rungs further up the ladder effectively for free given how house prices have gone over that time.

You’re far better off paying a mortgage despite the interest payments than paying a landlord. You’re not living at the beck and call of someone else who can kick you out at their convenience, have to re-negotiate rent every year, not limited to modify the house to suit your life etc. Renting is crap, I hated every second of it and begrudged every penny of rent I paid. It serves a short term purpose, but that’s it. Far better off in your own place.

Just hope the local church doesn’t have roof issues…

Chancel indemnity policy’s are cheap as chips these days.
Congrats momo, your ~3month of stress starts here 😉 it will all be worth it in the end.

it ain’t yours till you have paid off the mortgage

There’s always one.

But keep the champers on ice until contracts are exchanged.

Best of luck and prepare to get stressed.

Don’t bother with a general survey. Get individual survey reports from;

Structural engineer
Heating engineer
Electrician
Plumber and/or drain survey

Overall price will be the same but you will get a lot more detail.

Bear in mind, with all these surveys, and especially if you’re buying an older property, you’ll probably be told the house is likely to fall down, blow up or give you an std.

The reports are extremely verbose, don’t be worried that’s what they’re paid to do.

However on the flip-side, when were selling our first house, our buyers wanted to re-negotioate due to possible detection of rot in our wooden floor downstairs after full surveys were under taken.

The entire downstairs floors were sold concrete. 🙄

Subsequently we discounted the report and didn’t budge on the price – as it’s often a dirty trick – and the people still bought it.

The champers has already been drunk, it was fantastic waking up in the house this morning, although was a bit early for my taste, really must put some curtains up today!

Heading out now to buy a steam cleaner to give the house a proper deep clean, the previous owners had dogs and there is a certain ingrained odour!

Ah, congratulations. Venture to new ‘local’ & takeaway tonight? 🙂

Hind sight is a wonderful thing wobbliscott.

But if shit disnt go to plan for you , it could be painful if stretched

Rememeber There is no ladder , there is only your inbuilt consumerism needing satisfied with bigger= better