There’s no doubt that every house buying journey is different but I reckon ours was fairly standard in that it consumed us. 3 months after our offer accepted, we got the keys and all the stress was forgotten. Here’s when all the main stuff happened.
First viewing – 23rd May
Our first viewing was the day after the house came on Rightmove. Weirdly, we were actually a bit disappointed by the viewing because in real life the quality of the finish was very different to the impression we got from the photos. Did a cheeky debrief after though and realised that the work required would likely put a lot of people off whereas we weren’t against doing a place up. The house had a shed load of character and ticked off pretty much everything on our list.
Made offer – 25th May
After a couple of days discussing nothing but the house, we knew it was exactly what we were after. We went into the estate agents and put in a formal offer, nestled into a 10 minute monologue about why we would be great buyers (here are some tips on how to make an offer). Then it was just a matter of waiting for a call, which we were absolutely expecting to be a no as our offer was £20K under the already-reduced asking price.
Offer accepted – 28th May
When the estate agent called to say that our first offer had been accepted I initially didn’t believe her. Who accepts a first offer when it’s that much below what the seller has listed for?! Especially as the Zoopla house value estimate was £40K above our offer… ANYWAY, I tried to play it cool and rang Haz to tell her the good news. She absolutely was not able to play it cool.
Solicitor arranged – 30th May
After a lot of research and quotes, we chose the solicitor that we wanted to represent us. They were fairly expensive but heard a lot of good things about them and didn’t think a solicitor was worth scrimping on.
Potential ‘gazumping’ – 30th May
The estate agent called to say that there’s been a higher offer made, despite the house having come off the market… Naturally, I wet my pants. Turns out the call was just to check that we were committed as seller still wanted to go with us!
Mortgage application appointment – 4th June
As we’d already had a sesh with our mortgage adviser, this was to provide details of the house and put our formal mortgage application in.
Electrics check – 13th June
As we knew the electrics hadn’t been looked at since before the seller moved in (12 years), we decided it’d be wise to get a bloke to check all was in order. We found a man on Checkatrade who did an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) and gave everything the thumbs up.
Boiler service – 18th June
Same logic as EICR. All good.
Homebuyer survey – 18th June
We opted for a Homebuyers survey (the middle one where they do a general check of the condition of the house) which we arranged through our mortgage lender. First major problem – they found a crack on side of house which our mortgage lender said they needed more details on before they’d lend us the money. First thing they requested was a structural survey.
Structural survey – 24th June
Arranged for a local structural surveying firm to investigate the crack. Bad news again as the report suggested that it could be a progressive problem 😦 The main recommendations were to get another bloody survey done (drainage) but more horrifyingly, that we would have to reinforce the crack before the house would be stable. This basically meant we wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage offer until the crack was fixed, potentially derailing the purchase.
Builder quotes for crack – late June
Some people would probably have dropped out at this point but we decided to press on, given we didn’t think a house we like as much would come up again for a long time. So we got 3 builders round to the house to see how much fixing the crack would cost, with a view to asking the seller to pay for it.
Drainage survey – 12th July
Probably on the less glamorous side of surveys. They basically lob a camera down the drain. Fortunately, no leaks found in drain. By this point we’d spent 6 weeks and hundreds of pounds on a house that we were nowhere near owning…
Mortgage offer – 22nd July
A while after confirming with our lender that the drainage survey came back all good and sharing the quotes for the structural work required with them, we finally got confirmation that we would be able to get a mortgage on the house – WAAHOO. On top of this, we managed to negotiate the cost of the structural work off the purchase price so after a lot of stress/cost, it all worked out.
Exchange of contracts – 27th August
After the mortgage offer, there wasn’t a lot to do other than copious amounts of paperwork, mainly from our solicitors. And then, after several delays for missing paperwork further down the chain, we FINALLY exchanged contracts (ie: the no turning back point) which was a bloody awesome feeling as we could finally believe that it was actually going to be our home.
Completion ie: keys day – 29th August
Sitting in a pub and waiting for the call to say the keys to your house are ready to be collected is a very odd feeling. 3 months and one day after our offer was accepted, we were in and eating the obligatory first night Chinese takeaway 🙂
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