Gazumped

[kingandy]

Apparently, samharber has got bored with waiting for me to buy the house next to him, and is buying it himself (with a work colleague) to rent out. They're charging less than bacony and I are paying together right now, but bacony has already said she doesn't think the house there is large enough for the two of us to live in properly, and I don't think I want to pay that much by myself. Well, I could afford it, but it would curtail my frivolous spending somewhat. And anyway, it's a bad idea to have a mate as your landlord. I'll just have to find somewhere else to live when the contract runs out in June...

If only house-buying wasn't so daunting. It's not the expense, I'm reasonably sure I could afford it, it's just having to talk to a mortgage person, and a lawyer, and a surveyor and whatever the hell else and get it all organised ... if somebody would do all that for me and all I had to do was hand over the cash, I would probably have bought the house myself. I know that people are going to say that if Sam and Nook can manage it then it can't be that tricky, but that doesn't make it any less scary.

Oh well, I'm young yet. No need to rush into buying a house just because it's next door to my friends...

UPDATE: Having consulted with bacony, we have decided to see if Sam is still willing to rent to us. TO BE CONTINUMANUDE>

Comments

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

Well its quite east if you go via one of these all-in-one conveyancing firm deals you often get via estate agents. Sure you pay a bit more but you only have one number to ring every day to find out whats going on.

Its not *that* hard ;-)

[kingandy]

Yes, I suspect the House Next Door's independent sale nature, while reducing pointless estate agency feels, may have been one of the things that put me off actually doing anything. Soooo scary.

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

My house was found on Loot so not via an Estate Agents, however we did go and see 2 IFA's, one attached to Countrywide which is where we got introduced to the service. Have you actually been through step 1 which is find out how much mortgage you can get?

[arwel.livejournal.com]

Fuck IFAs. Do it all online, from reserch to applications. You'll probably have to find your own solicitor though. Never go with the easy option and ask do everything through the estate agent since they're all bastards.

[stsquad.livejournal.com]

We had no problems with our purchase. It took less time than the deed transfer that I did via an independant. Sure you have to be careful with IFA's (especially when it comes to bollocks like endowment mortgages) but there is a lot to be said for the easy option.

[kingandy]

Not recently, but using rules of thumb I can probably expect about 60K.

No, that's not a massive amount, but I should be able to get something in Bolton...

[ghostbritain.livejournal.com]

That will get a nice house in Bolton, not just the one next to Sam.

[zheers.livejournal.com]

How lazy are you?

[kingandy]

It's not so much laziness in this case as fear of getting something wrong. Like, buying a house and realising that it doesn't have any floorboards, or I haven't paid the giant pixie tax, or something.

[zheers.livejournal.com]

I wouldnt worry, the giant tax pixies will find you no matter where you hide. They even manage to get to your money before you do!

fear is the mind killer.. fear is the little death that brings andy housing oblivion

look on the bright side, at least you wont be able to roleplay ever night now..

[bacony.livejournal.com]

As much as I would love to say "Don't worry Andy, I'll make the decisions, you put in the money" this is slightly bigger than just ordering pizza.

I'd love to help you, and while I think it will be a bit of a squeeze in that house, it won't be so bad as long as we can find inventive storage solutions for the kit. We need to do something and if you think now is a good time to get on the property ladder, I'll help as best as I can.

storage solutions.

[spodula.livejournal.com]

Get a garden shed for the kit!!

Everyone needs a garden shed.

Re: storage solutions.

[bacony.livejournal.com]

Hah! You assume the place has a garden...

Re: storage solutions.

[kingandy]

We can peer over Sam's fence next time we are there. It should at least have a back yard, if it doesn't then that means it has extra interior space...

Re: storage solutions.

[spodula.livejournal.com]

If its like Sams and/or nooks it will have a yard. Perfectly usable for a shed. (May have to get a strong padlock though.

Once you have a shed, you can get power tools. and from there the world.

Very handy for when the Zombie's come a' callin.

(Do Jehova's witnesses and insurance salesmen count as Zombies? either way the phrase "I have a leaf blower in my shed, and i'm not afraid to use them" will probably put them off their stride.

Ho hum.. Lets see.. Ah yes, the point...

The garden is strictly optional. Also if you dont have a garden, you dont have to pack it with all those annoying gardening tools which will detract from its intrinsic value as a place to put random stuff.