Jump to content
N-Europe

House buying is the worst


Shorty

Recommended Posts

Congratulations!

 

That sounds crazy...

 

Thanks!! Even more mad thing is that we actually put an offer on another flat the same day, barely above asking price, and got that one accepted too. Tiny tiny place, but still, 11 offers less than the one from the previous week on the same road.. Luckily there's no fee in withdrawing a succesful offer..

 

Yeah but its Scotland so houses are like £10, right?

 

Congrats!

 

Haha unfortunately we rather fell in love with the most expensive part of already-pricey Edinburgh so not quite - but yeah definitely saved a quid having moved here from London!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup. It's a 3 stage process:

 

1. The Shoppening

Everything is great. You look at houses and they all look rad as fuck. You imagine what you'd do with every house if you bought it and suddenly turn into a DIY expert. "Yeah mate, I'd smash that wall through and have a walk-in refrigerator"

 

2. Them

You decide on a house, make an offer and have it accepted. That's when "they" emerge. Your solicitor of choice, the seller, their solicitor and the estate agent. All of them are twats. No exceptions. Pick whichever solicitor you want, they'll either be shit (most likely) or they'll be great, but everyone else will fuck shit up. Everything is shit, everyone is shit and you start to wonder why we don't all live in the wild like Pagans.

 

3. The Prestige

Moving can be stressful, but after that, you own a house. Everything is pretty rad. You look down on mere renters with contempt. You'd shit in a bucket and throw it out of a window onto the peasants below, if only you hadn't bought a place with a big front garden and trespassers get set upon by Boswell, the comically aggressive dog you've bought. You spend your time doing stupid shit to the house, because it's yours and you can. A bookshelf full to bursting with different jars of chutney? Why the fuck not, you're the king/queen of this castle and no one can tell you not to. You contemplate building a moat and filling it with the most exotic alligators known to man, but realise that wheelie bins don't travel across draw bridges very well.

Edited by Goafer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just had the final crippling payment invoice from the solicitors. Wew.

 

Fuck solicitors. Seriously, what's the point of charging a set fee, if you're then going to charge extra for all the little checks and forms that you knew you were going to have to do anyway. Just put them all in the fee.

 

Also, for the local area check they'd circled the wrong house, so I'm not exactly sure we got our monies worth anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our financial advisor seems to have us sorted out with a mortgage and our Co-ownership application has been received.

 

They'll probably come looking for an application fee next week which is likely to tip the first domino of what I perceive to be the final hurdle but you just know that complications await!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup. It's a 3 stage process:

 

1. The Shoppening

Everything is great. You look at houses and they all look rad as fuck. You imagine what you'd do with every house if you bought it and suddenly turn into a DIY expert. "Yeah mate, I'd smash that wall through and have a walk-in refrigerator"

 

2. Them

You decide on a house, make an offer and have it accepted. That's when "they" emerge. Your solicitor of choice, the seller, their solicitor and the estate agent. All of them are twats. No exceptions. Pick whichever solicitor you want, they'll either be shit (most likely) or they'll be great, but everyone else will fuck shit up. Everything is shit, everyone is shit and you start to wonder why we don't all live in the wild like Pagans.

 

3. The Prestige

Moving can be stressful, but after that, you own a house. Everything is pretty rad. You look down on mere renters with contempt. You'd shit in a bucket and throw it out of a window onto the peasants below, if only you hadn't bought a place with a big front garden and trespassers get set upon by Boswell, the comically aggressive dog you've bought. You spend your time doing stupid shit to the house, because it's yours and you can. A bookshelf full to bursting with different jars of chutney? Why the fuck not, you're the king/queen of this castle and no one can tell you not to. You contemplate building a moat and filling it with the most exotic alligators known to man, but realise that wheelie bins don't travel across draw bridges very well.

 

 

I had a really crappy day and was crying sad tears, and you turned it around to tears of laughter. Thank you @Goafer. This is so real lol :bowdown:

 

I really need a walk in refrigerator........!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Saw a house at the start of May, got a mortgage accepted by PratWest, put in offer that got accepted, Solicitor's searches & checks all done and today got the Offer of Loan from PratWest... things moving quickly so far, hope nothing goes tits-up.

Edited by Kav
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally made a start on the garden/patio area. I don't have any before photos, but we had a rotten wood planter that was full of random engine parts and had a colossal blackberry bush growing on top. There were also weeds all along the wall about half way to the window sill.

 

The removed engine parts:

18953017_10158891359680341_8170749286833

 

19030517_10158891360265341_5570472231541

 

How the patio area looks now:

 

19400676_10158966416855341_4328639809774

 

Just need to take the old patio up, put a new one down (properly, so that we don't constantly have weeds between the slabs) and tidy the rest up.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard of people killing someone and burying them under a patio, but i've never heard of someone killing an engine and burying it there! i mean you can just drop it off at a scrappers, ifyou did that with a body there would be issues but an engine no probs

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had my brick driveway fully powerwashed and resanded and weeds are already coming back just a few weeks later, there's not a lot that can be done, buy a big container of weedkiller and have a spare knife handy....

I've been thinking for a while that I might need to move, somewhere with a less high maintenance garden and nearer to my friends. I might sacrifice the bike and the garage to keep it in to get somewhere with a bigger spare room and simpler garden.

However, the idea of going through the house buying thing again is a bit daunting to say the least, and now it'll be coupled with selling one too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/28/2017 at 10:07 AM, bob said:

Can't you put down some sort of membrane underneath the slabs if you're repaving it anyway?

membrane won't work, you can use concrete underneath, that's the only thing that will reduce it enough for any length of time, however:

1 that's a lot of work and expense

2 your garden can flood as there's no gaps to drain water,

and 3 weeds can and do grow through almost anything (concrete included). 

I used to have a concreted path around the edge of garden, and grass (the grass was slightly raised above the level of the path). It flooded, all the fckin time.  My house was getting damp.  I still had weeds.  I got paving put in on top of what i believe to be a sand mix of some description.  everrrr so slightly sloped with a drain.  Never floods.  I do have weeds but its just a job i do every few weeks to keep on top of it.  Cheap knife is all you need.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thought it would be a good idea to rip off all of my doorframes today.......... i am in a world of hurt lol

I have relatively ornate large wood ones which i bloody hate, in such a small house they take over.  My hallway has 5 doors (its like a long corridor) and with them being wood and with big frames its all too much.  Painting all the doors white as well as replacing the frames.  And realised my hallway is not magnolia but some sort of weird murky beige (behind the doorframes was actual magnolia...) so that will all have to be painted.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I envy you R_A, so motivated and... non-lazy! I have hardly touched anything in my house since moving in, although I did happily spend more for a place that had a lot of work done already.

The ceiling in my bedroom is the only bit I don't particularlylike, it's curved down at one end, covered in that artex stuff and has an out of place papered corner beam on it. I'd like it to just be simple flat plaster but I'm afraid of what's even under there if I peel that paper crap off....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...