Tag: house

At last, around 6 months after first looking for a new house we’ve finally moved. Even better, by the time I set-up the PC (a whole 4 days after moving!) broadband had been installed. I only needed 3 minutes of dial-up to get my new ADSL username etc and I was away. Kudos to Plusnet.

As for the house – superb – wish I’d done it years ago, but then I wouldn’t have had enough money to do it years ago. What I can’t believe is just how much there is to do in the house. Small jobs take forever. And I’m shit at DIY, although I’ve just subscribed to the uk.diy newsgroup…..as if that will help.

Even after a week I’m still surrounded by brown boxes – it’s going to take quite a while before we’re fully unpacked – months even! But I’m pleased with the chaos and the new house especially compared to the old place!

Well….things are moving apace. Two weeks from now I’ll be in my new house. Two weeks from now I’ll have no broadband! Bugger. I can only order BB once my new phone line is enabled, then it will be up to 10 days before BB is setup. Ouch. Back to dial-up.

But the mortgage is sorted, new insurance dealt with, removal firm booked, sixty (yep 60) fucking boxes arrived from Pickfords yesterday – I’ve only got a two bedroomed flat – I’m not that bad a hoarder. Still got utilities to fix and tons to pack (not 60 boxes worth though).

But I can’t wait to move.

Woo-Hoo. Missives finally concluded on the old and new homes. Hopefully there’s no going back now. Just got two weeks of packing to get through and then the removal. Only downside is that I’ll be without broadband for a couple of weeks. Bummer.

Can’t believe how much it costs to move house. Estate agent fees, solicitors fee’s, tax to govt, removal firm, mortgage arrangement fee’s……the list is endless. But still the cost that sticks in the throat most is the wasted surveys I had to pay for while trying to find a house. £200-£300 pounds for a 2 page report. Dogs.

Other costs – gas and electricity re-connections, BT reconnection, broadband connection blah blah blah.

Well, after 12 days on the market I’ve sold my house. Was suprised we got 14 viewers in that short space of time, especially as its the festive season. Just the mortgage to get now…gulp. I’m in debt for the rest of my like 🙂

An the entry date is 16th January – thats now less than six weeks away. So much to do…so little time!

After a few months of looking, a few too many expensive surveys carried out and a lot of disappointment I’ve finally managed to buy a house. Thought I had paid quite a bit for it but it turns out my price matches the valuation exactly. Top smart.

Well, we didn’t get the house we were after. I wasn’t that surprised but what really got to me was just how much it finally went for. The house had appeared in the GSPC as offers over £110k. This was way below the selling price in the area which is around 180k to 190k but we were warned that it needed re-wiring, a new kitchen and a new boiler/central heating. It valued at 165k but if done up properly, 185k.

I estimated around 20k was needed to carry out the work so put in an offer of 175k. It was sold for 215k. Unreal. Madness. Disappointing. Not only that but we were 6th out of 12 bidders so there were 5 ahead of our bid!

If someone wants to pay that much for a house in that state they are welcome to it, but I can’t help but feel the lawyers selling the house were deliberately stoking the buyers – they put the house on the market at an infeasibly low price and even a couple of days before closing they were stating to my solicitor they expected well over 180k again making bidders push up their bids. I considered going to 185k which wouldn’t have made a difference in the end, but I couldn’t afford to as it would have left me short for the work required on the house.

So its back to the drawing board and the house hunting – this time a little wiser and a lot more cynical.

We’ve put an offer in for a house! Closing date is this Friday at noon but to be honest I don’t think we’ll get it. The house needs a lot of work (re-wiring, new kitchen, new boiler, decor throughout) but it has great potential, its a really good location and its a fantastic size.

The downside is there is a lot of interest in it – 6 surveys including ours have been conducted and others are showing interest. Also its valued at �165k but it was advertised at offers over �110k to try and generate maximum interest and turn it into a bidding war.

If we get it – great. If we don’t then it wasn’t meant to be. But the next day and a half will drag until we know whats happening.