Scary house stuff

[wildeabandon]

I 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 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.

Comments

[bluesbell]

I saw the title and expected an entry about a scary house. I probably watch too many horror movies.

[hatter]

I'm mid house buying, a process that has reinforced all that I have learned from my previous experience and from friends.

1) It will take longer than you planned, no matter what padding you already added to schedules.
2) Solicitors will only do anything when you poke them to do anything, if you wait for them to ask/tell you anything, you will only ever get last-minute urgent requests for answers/money/signatures.
3) make direct contact with the other party as soon as possible, so many more questions and options can be easily exchanged than if there are 2 solicitors in the way. Agents seem reluctant to pass contact details to the other party. Also this avoids agents or solicitors inserting their preferences/ideas/schedules into the process.

I see folk on Lj have already mentioned paying the movers to do your packing. I've not done this before as I'd not had a houseworth of stuff, it has always been highly recommended to me, it was stunningly little extra money on the quotes I got this time, and it makes the liability for any breakages even more their problem.

Don't rely on estate agent floorplan dimensions, especially for comparing one property to another. Do measure your current rooms and use them to compare for possible usage.

Keep a handful of ziplok bags handy, for screws/fittings from any furniture that you're disassembling ahead of time.


the hatter

[(Anonymous)]

I don't have any advice I don't think, having not been a first time buyer since about 1994.If I think of any wisdom I shall impart it in person.

I just wanted to say *hugs* for the scary and *Yay* for the excitedness and *pompoms* for the search.

I shall miss the Good Ship Percy Road and all who delightfully sail in her x

[bunnypip]

I don't know why this came up as anon - I was sure I was logged in.

Anyway - it's me (although I dare say that was reasonably evident)

[karen2205]

I'd also consider:

* car parking availability/whether there's a residents' parking scheme and if so cost of permits - I don't know who drives/has use of a car at the moment but that's the sort of thing that might change over the length of time you'd ideally own a house for.

* also - ease of access to a motorway/escape from London by car.

* the central heating system - gas/electric storage heaters/some sort of shared system with other properties etc.

* the cooker - you probably have a preference for induction/gas/electric.

* which London borough the property falls within.

* location of things like nearest grocery shop/pharmacy/GP surgery/big supermarket - do they fall on the "getting to the tube station route" or near enough to it?

* nightbuses? - do they serve the property

* any other factor that affects the attractiveness of the house for future renters - in case there are changes in your circumstances and you want to rent it out rather than sell it.

* whether it's listed/in any sort of conservation area or other area where you need special permission to make changes to it.

Good luck!

[sfred]

I've found these two articles useful for getting independent verification of what needs to happen next, regardless of estate agents trying to force us to use their mortgage broker, etc. (We have a mortgage broker who I'd be happy to recommend.)

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2007/oct/25/property.firsttimebuyers
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/house-buying-guide

[naath]

Oh gosh, houses are scary. Also very large amounts of money seem to go... really not very far :( :( :(

I hope you find something lovely.