So there I am aged 42 finding the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything...well perhaps it wasn't that deep....I was just hoping to put down some roots.
Finding out whether I could even get a mortgage was a scary prospect. I mean, I was a broke single mum and the government clearly detested women like me, whether I was in gainful employment or not! Ever the optimist, I hoarded together bits of paper proving who I was and that I was as skint as I said I was, and left it all in the capable hands of my warm hearted mortgage broker (no seriously, this guy was a legend).
Here's where the funny chicken and egg thing happens with house buying, you have to put in an offer on a place, before you know if you can even get a mortgage...imagine the tension THAT causes!
So anyway back to perusing for houses....I actually only looked at three in the flesh (or should I say bricks). One was adorable but small, and way out of my price range. Another was in the corner of a rundown cul de sac...shudder...The other was the most ramshackle, broken, overgrown, unloved, beautiful place I could imagine and it was just within what I could afford if I bartered. I'd actually seen it up for auction the previous October, thought wow that's perfect, but the timing was all wrong. I'd taken a day off work in the May and was round at my parent's drinking tea with all three of us idly looking on estate agents websites. Incredibly, we all seemed to be reading out details about the same house to each other. The same house from October... it hadn’t made the auction asking price so was back on the market with an estate agent! Mum decided we should go and look at it straight away so called the estate agent, who agreed to meet us at 'said house' within the hour!
The deal was I took my parents with me to look at places as they will think with their heads, whilst I would most definitely be relied upon to buy with my heart!
We arrived, the place was huge, and a veritable Aladdin's cave of other peoples broken, discarded crap. Car doors, old tyres, a massive pile of smashed chairs, defunct, faded plastic kids toys....I looked through the window and saw the biggest Forest stone fireplace, with a Forest stone window seat. So many beautiful original features I could lovingly restore, AND a very broken two storey shed behind some overgrown trees and stinging nettles....I fell in love then and there! Mum & I gave each other a knowing look and I whispered some expletives to her excitedly.
Driving back to my parents (a mere three miles away), I casually asked, would it be ridiculous to put an offer in right now? There were some more people viewing on the weekend, and I felt sure if they saw what I saw they would snap it up! My parents were as excited as I was, I asked Mum if she would make the call to put the offer in for fear I would vomit with exhilaration down the phone! The estate agent laughed and said 'that was quick!'
By the end of that day my offer was accepted (£30,000 less than the original asking price). So mortgage permitting the damp musty house, seriously leaning to one side two storey shed, fractured double garage, and battered workshop all containing huge amounts of human detritus could quite possibly be our new home! I could barely contain myself!!!
Finding out whether I could even get a mortgage was a scary prospect. I mean, I was a broke single mum and the government clearly detested women like me, whether I was in gainful employment or not! Ever the optimist, I hoarded together bits of paper proving who I was and that I was as skint as I said I was, and left it all in the capable hands of my warm hearted mortgage broker (no seriously, this guy was a legend).
Here's where the funny chicken and egg thing happens with house buying, you have to put in an offer on a place, before you know if you can even get a mortgage...imagine the tension THAT causes!
So anyway back to perusing for houses....I actually only looked at three in the flesh (or should I say bricks). One was adorable but small, and way out of my price range. Another was in the corner of a rundown cul de sac...shudder...The other was the most ramshackle, broken, overgrown, unloved, beautiful place I could imagine and it was just within what I could afford if I bartered. I'd actually seen it up for auction the previous October, thought wow that's perfect, but the timing was all wrong. I'd taken a day off work in the May and was round at my parent's drinking tea with all three of us idly looking on estate agents websites. Incredibly, we all seemed to be reading out details about the same house to each other. The same house from October... it hadn’t made the auction asking price so was back on the market with an estate agent! Mum decided we should go and look at it straight away so called the estate agent, who agreed to meet us at 'said house' within the hour!
The deal was I took my parents with me to look at places as they will think with their heads, whilst I would most definitely be relied upon to buy with my heart!
We arrived, the place was huge, and a veritable Aladdin's cave of other peoples broken, discarded crap. Car doors, old tyres, a massive pile of smashed chairs, defunct, faded plastic kids toys....I looked through the window and saw the biggest Forest stone fireplace, with a Forest stone window seat. So many beautiful original features I could lovingly restore, AND a very broken two storey shed behind some overgrown trees and stinging nettles....I fell in love then and there! Mum & I gave each other a knowing look and I whispered some expletives to her excitedly.
Driving back to my parents (a mere three miles away), I casually asked, would it be ridiculous to put an offer in right now? There were some more people viewing on the weekend, and I felt sure if they saw what I saw they would snap it up! My parents were as excited as I was, I asked Mum if she would make the call to put the offer in for fear I would vomit with exhilaration down the phone! The estate agent laughed and said 'that was quick!'
By the end of that day my offer was accepted (£30,000 less than the original asking price). So mortgage permitting the damp musty house, seriously leaning to one side two storey shed, fractured double garage, and battered workshop all containing huge amounts of human detritus could quite possibly be our new home! I could barely contain myself!!!
I LOVE stories like this! A house you saw months ago, fell in love with but wrote off only to have it still be there when the time is right. It may be a wreck now but it sounds like you have a vision for it. I wish you the best in your future with your hopefully new home!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Julia. We love it here, it will be a slow road, but one that will be really worth it!
DeleteThanks for reading xxx