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Scary house stuff
Jan. 8th, 2014 09:15 amI know, I completely fell over on Ginvent, sorry. I drank quite a few without taking notes, although I still have the last three left, so they may get reviews eventually.
Right now though, I have another thing to write about. We're coming up to the end of our current year's tenancy in this house, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
strongtrousers is thinking of getting a place by himself (just because living by oneself is a good thing to do at some point, not because he hates us [or so he says!?!]), and a five bedroom house between three of us is probably a bit excessive (and a bit expensive). So unless we can find a suitable housemate (and we'd be quite picky with people we already knew, and very very picky with people we didn't), we'll be moving soon.
And we're looking quite seriously at the buying-instead-of-renting option, which is, as the entry title indicates, a bit scary. Also a bit exciting. We're still looking into the options as to whether we could finance buying the sort of place we'd want to live in, but it's looking distinctly possible, and we should find out more in the next week or so after talks with mortgage advisers and the various banks of mum and dad have happened.
So, any advice for first time buyers? General or specific to London is good.
Our main requirements are:
Other things we would like if possible
Any thoughts you have about how achievable our requirements are (our budget is likely to be in the region of £400k, maybe a bit more), where we should be looking, whether or not taking advantage of the help-to-buy scheme would be a good idea, or indeed morally tolerable, anything else we ought to be thinking about would be of interest.
Right now though, I have another thing to write about. We're coming up to the end of our current year's tenancy in this house, and
strongtrousers is thinking of getting a place by himself (just because living by oneself is a good thing to do at some point, not because he hates us [or so he says!?!]), and a five bedroom house between three of us is probably a bit excessive (and a bit expensive). So unless we can find a suitable housemate (and we'd be quite picky with people we already knew, and very very picky with people we didn't), we'll be moving soon. And we're looking quite seriously at the buying-instead-of-renting option, which is, as the entry title indicates, a bit scary. Also a bit exciting. We're still looking into the options as to whether we could finance buying the sort of place we'd want to live in, but it's looking distinctly possible, and we should find out more in the next week or so after talks with mortgage advisers and the various banks of mum and dad have happened.
So, any advice for first time buyers? General or specific to London is good.
Our main requirements are:
- Good for commuting for Robert and Ramesh, which is ideally the Central or Northern Lines, although Piccadilly would be plausible (I'm likely to be contracting for the forseeable, so my commute will vary, and I'll just have to live with it if it sucks
- At least three double bedrooms
- A decent sized kitchen - we like entertaining, and have all the kitchen gadgets, so this is non-negotiable
- Either two reception rooms, or one which is big enough to have both a dining room and a drawing room space
- A bathroom with a good shower, and a separate loo
- Enough space for quite a lot of wine and books
Other things we would like if possible
- A fourth bedroom to use as a spare room/study
- A second bathroom/shower room
- A cellar
- proximity to All Saints, East Finchley
Any thoughts you have about how achievable our requirements are (our budget is likely to be in the region of £400k, maybe a bit more), where we should be looking, whether or not taking advantage of the help-to-buy scheme would be a good idea, or indeed morally tolerable, anything else we ought to be thinking about would be of interest.
