Originally posted 2nd February 2007 on MySpace
As you all know I have been out of touch recently – far more than is forgivable. There is a reason for this though and as promised here it is…
Phil and I have been house hunting. After 2 years together we decided the time was right to set down proper roots together. Well that and the fact our flat mates are scarily reminiscent of Gary and Tony from Men Behaving Badly and have friends who have voices like fog horns. Great at 3am when you have a 12 hours day at work the next day!!!
So about a month ago we starting checking out the internet for houses to go and look at. We had already decided we were moving to Rotherham – Phil works in Rotherham and my job in Sheffield is only a couple of miles away, so it would be great for us both. We chose about 7 to look at initially over one weekend. We promised each other at the outset that if ones of us wasn't happy then the house was a no… we both had to be happy. So on the Saturday we set off to Rotherham (where all the houses were)….
The 1st 2 houses were nice, but definite no's. They were either 2 small or needed just too much work doing on them. The 3rd and 4th houses were gorgeous. I loved them both but Phil just wasn't sure. Bearing in mind what we agreed in the first place I was disappointed, but we still had 3 more houses to see that weekend and we weren't expecting to find the right house on the first day of looking anyway.Then…. House number 5… Didn't look much from the outside. It ticked some boxes – garage and a good drive, plus it was in a nice, quiet area. Then we were taken into the 1st room of the house… the kitchen. All Phil and I both said was "wow". The kitchen alone would have sold it to us but every room just got better and better after that. I had had the beautiful kitchen I wanted so I was happy. There was just one more question mark – Phil had his heart set on a big garage. This was the last thing we saw and if there were any doubts about the house they were blown away at this point. The garage was HUGE!!!! A big double garage with a basement… Phil couldn't have dreamt such a perfect garage.
So we found our dream home… we said thank you to the vendors and walked back to the car. We managed to drive 5 minutes down the street before Phil stopped. We both looked at each other and said yes, that was the one. We tried the estate agents but they were shut. We didn't want to lose the house so drove straight back to it and offered the vendors the selling price there and then. We were accepted immediately!
The best part is we are first time buyers so we don't have to worry about selling a property before we move. The couple who currently own the house are emigrating to Australia and the sooner they can go the better, which brings me to today.
We saw the house 3 weeks ago tomorrow and we have been waiting this long for our mortgage advisor to secure a mortgage for us. Thanks to interest rate rises in the UK, plus a few other issues, this has been nothing short of hard work and has taken a lot of work by our mortgage advisor and a lot of money and patience on our part. However… the call finally came at 4.50pm this evening – we got the mortgage and the offer is in the post to us. All that is left now is for the solicitor to sort out the legal stuff. Completion date is hopefully going to be 1st March 2007, with Phil and I moving in that weekend.
It feels so good to finally tell you all… My superstitious nature meant I couldn't bring myself to say too much in case I jinx it all which is one of the biggest reasons both myself and Phil have been in hiding. Things can still go wrong, but the hardest part – actually getting the money for the house – is done. Hopefully it's all plain sailing from here…
Phil and I have been house hunting. After 2 years together we decided the time was right to set down proper roots together. Well that and the fact our flat mates are scarily reminiscent of Gary and Tony from Men Behaving Badly and have friends who have voices like fog horns. Great at 3am when you have a 12 hours day at work the next day!!!
So about a month ago we starting checking out the internet for houses to go and look at. We had already decided we were moving to Rotherham – Phil works in Rotherham and my job in Sheffield is only a couple of miles away, so it would be great for us both. We chose about 7 to look at initially over one weekend. We promised each other at the outset that if ones of us wasn't happy then the house was a no… we both had to be happy. So on the Saturday we set off to Rotherham (where all the houses were)….
The 1st 2 houses were nice, but definite no's. They were either 2 small or needed just too much work doing on them. The 3rd and 4th houses were gorgeous. I loved them both but Phil just wasn't sure. Bearing in mind what we agreed in the first place I was disappointed, but we still had 3 more houses to see that weekend and we weren't expecting to find the right house on the first day of looking anyway.Then…. House number 5… Didn't look much from the outside. It ticked some boxes – garage and a good drive, plus it was in a nice, quiet area. Then we were taken into the 1st room of the house… the kitchen. All Phil and I both said was "wow". The kitchen alone would have sold it to us but every room just got better and better after that. I had had the beautiful kitchen I wanted so I was happy. There was just one more question mark – Phil had his heart set on a big garage. This was the last thing we saw and if there were any doubts about the house they were blown away at this point. The garage was HUGE!!!! A big double garage with a basement… Phil couldn't have dreamt such a perfect garage.
So we found our dream home… we said thank you to the vendors and walked back to the car. We managed to drive 5 minutes down the street before Phil stopped. We both looked at each other and said yes, that was the one. We tried the estate agents but they were shut. We didn't want to lose the house so drove straight back to it and offered the vendors the selling price there and then. We were accepted immediately!
The best part is we are first time buyers so we don't have to worry about selling a property before we move. The couple who currently own the house are emigrating to Australia and the sooner they can go the better, which brings me to today.
We saw the house 3 weeks ago tomorrow and we have been waiting this long for our mortgage advisor to secure a mortgage for us. Thanks to interest rate rises in the UK, plus a few other issues, this has been nothing short of hard work and has taken a lot of work by our mortgage advisor and a lot of money and patience on our part. However… the call finally came at 4.50pm this evening – we got the mortgage and the offer is in the post to us. All that is left now is for the solicitor to sort out the legal stuff. Completion date is hopefully going to be 1st March 2007, with Phil and I moving in that weekend.
It feels so good to finally tell you all… My superstitious nature meant I couldn't bring myself to say too much in case I jinx it all which is one of the biggest reasons both myself and Phil have been in hiding. Things can still go wrong, but the hardest part – actually getting the money for the house – is done. Hopefully it's all plain sailing from here…
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