Back in May, David and I became home-owners and it is bloody awesome. Since being at university I have always struggled to feel that I had a true home; my home was split between my mums home, my boyfriends home and my university home.
But ever since we have bought our own place, things have changed. My last trip to Saint Lucia was the first time I felt home-sick ever. You see, now, I feel secure. Now I have a place where I have my own little family*.
However, buying a house is no easy task and there is a lot of BS out there that can be incredibly confusing. I wrote a long guide about the process of buying a house, but today I wanted to share a few observations on that process.
Some observations are serious, some are slightly tongue in cheek but I hope all the home-owners can relate and I hope I don’t scare off any prospective home-owners. Owning a home is fun. I promise.
*My own little family consists of me, David and Luna (AKA my little pickle, pictured above).
People have a lot of opinions
As soon as people know you are in the process of buying a house, everyone around you becomes mortgage experts. But you know who is an expert? MORTGAGE ADVISORS. So listen to them instead, please.
(read: next point).
Financial advisors are worth their weight in gold
I am so glad we went to a financial advisor to help us apply for our mortgage, as ours made the process SO much smoother and easier to understand, which, as first-time buyers, was really useful.
We aren’t financially savvy and had never experienced this kind of process before, so our financial advisor took away the need for us having to learn all the lingo and negotiate with the mortgage companies. This, of course, took away so much stress and offered us peace of mind that everything was taken care of.
If you are able to afford a financial advisor (ours was an independent and his charge was £99), then do as it is an absolute life saver.
You’re not doing the stressful part, but it is stressful
Really, buying a house isn’t difficult because you aren’t doing any of the difficult bits. The solicitors and estate agents are doing all the hard work for you and all you have to do is sign where they tell you to, as well as read a large contract (which isn’t as scary as it looks).
The stressful part is having to WAIT. It absolutely sucks being in limbo, knowing that you have to rely on other people. Until you exchange, you don’t know if the house is even yours and having to sit around and wait for a moving date can be tiresome. Of course, then comes PACKING (which is stressful, but here is how you can make it stress-free), setting up utility bills, deciding what renovations need doing… the list goes on.
Despite how busy a time moving house actually is, the worst part for sure is the waiting. And that is because…
Chains are the worst
I think anyone who has bought a house would be able to agree, chains are the absolute worst. In essence, a chain is a ‘sequence of linked house purchases’. You are buying off of one person, who is buying off another, who is buying off another… and it can be bloody endless.
Even if you aren’t in a particularly long chain, there still can be hold ups with people not being good at responding to their solicitors, people changing their minds or just being so unbelievably inconsiderate to others in the chain. As a person who likes to be in control at all times, it can be endlessly frustrating to have to rely on other people to get a wiggle on.
So, just to clarify. Chains are the worst.
Your partner has way more of an opinion on decorating than you’d think
David doesn’t have a huge opinion on anything. Period. Except for football of course.
So imagine my shock to discover that as soon as we went furniture shopping, he suddenly started to form an opinion on how the rooms should look. Out of no-where came colour schemes and ideas! Who knew?!
All of a sudden he thought he was Bobby from Queer Eye, which he really really isn’t.
Flooring is expensive
The first thing that I wanted to invest in was new flooring for the entire house, but the quote (albeit a reasonably priced quote) was still a shock to the bank account. We bit the bullet and went for it as it is an investment, but flooring is not how I imagined I’d be spending a couple of thousand pounds!
In fact, most things are bloody expensive
That being said, most good quality things are bloody expensive. We have invested in key pieces of furniture such as a bed, mattress and sofa so we don’t need to keep forking out money every few years but boy oh boy, good quality key pieces of furniture can be where you splurge most of the money.
Can’t I just sit on the floor and go on holidays forever?
But, overall it is really bloody awesome
I know I am one of the lucky ones to be able to afford to buy a house so young, but despite a lot of it down to luck, we have worked and saved for a long time to make it so. Now, we are financially better off, have our own freaking house and can *finally* enjoy our money.
There are a lot of people that say that it is better to enjoy your money while you’re young as there is plenty of time to save for a house. Of course, that is true but I feel very fortunate to be able to say I am a home-owner at 23. My enjoyment starts now and I now really appreciate the money that I work so hard for.
I am now able to live comfortably and go on lots of adventures but still, have a gorgeous home to come back to. And that is a wonderful feeling.
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