All entries for Thursday 07 September 2006

Buying a flat!

Follow-up to My pad… from For blog's sake

I feel like all I have been blogging about lately is myspace – apologies for that!! And I have so much more interesting things going on in my life at the moment…

...such as buying my flat!!

I went to view the flat on 17th July and decided pretty much there and then that I wanted it. I went to Barcelona on the 19th July so all I could do before I left for holiday was say “yes, I wan’t it” and then start to sort things when I got back.

Buying a flat is a strange process…

Everyone says that it is one of the most stressful things ever – but this does not apply if you are a first time buyer and you are not desperate to move. To be honest, I don’t really have a clue what is happening… and that isn’t such a bad thing! Everything is in the hands of the solicitors, my mortgage advisor and the mortgage providers – in my case Alliance and Leicester. There isn’t really much for me to do – apart from get excited and start buying furniture!

I went for a mortgage appointment ages ago so that I had an idea of how much mortgage I could afford. I then registered with a couple of Estate Agents (Dixons were particularly rubbish!) and viewed one flat three times! I’m not buying that one though – the one that I am buying is in the same cul-de-sac in Castle Bromwich and is a private sale. It’s a little more expensive but has been completely re-decorated so I can literally just move in. The original flat that I viewed would have needed completely gutting and it’s still up for sale too.

Anyway, we rang around a few solicitors to get quotes. Sarah Dwight Solicitors in Birmingham are acting on our behalf and although they weren’t the cheapest they seemed a much more friendly lot and didn’t mind explaining things – which is useful for me since I don’t have a clue!

So I have received the list of fixtures and fittings and a plan of the property (although the plan was wrong and my flat had the wrong number on it!) and I am now about to send off a cheque for the solicitors to start the searches on the property. The flat had the valuation yesterday so I am just awaiting the valuation report – fingers crossed all is ok.

It’s pretty odd because it feels like nothing much is happening. I had no idea how long it would take for it all to go through, especially since it is a little more complicated as the lease on the property also needs extending. I was told it would probably take a few months which would have been October – I called the solicitors a couple of days ago and they reckon I could be in by the end of the month! I had better go buy a bed!!

Eleanor Lovell : 07 Sep 2006 11:45 |  Tags: Castle Bromwich Flat Home |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem