The story so far

I started this blog on Saturday thinking that I should chronicle our search for a house to buy, as a form of stress relief. But today is a momentous day - our offer for a house was accepted!!! Yeah!!! Aarrgh!!

The story so far - we've been looking for a house to buy in the past month - in fact it's not even been a month! We were thinking we should buy since property prices are still down, interest rates are still relatively low, plus we're tired of burning money in rent. So I've been scanning the property websites and met up with a couple of mortgage brokers (and learnt lots in the process) and did some viewings. We thought we would be taking our time - after all, the bulk of what would make our deposit is still in Malaysia!

We had originally limited ourselves to new builds. We are so used to living in new houses and also felt we didn't have the budget, know-how or courage to deal with the DIY for an old property. Plus we were concerned about the heating aspect - I love the old Victorians (done up properly they are gorgeous) but they are a murder to heat, which would mean more money in energy bills and the prospect of draughty winters wasn't appealing.

Then this house came along. The viewing was scheduled as an afterthought, really. We had actually viewed a new build house (3 years old) on Thursday and was seriously considering it as it seemed to have everything right - 3 plus 1 rooms, 2 bathrooms, detached, new property, minimal work, etc. Only thing was the area - though it was fairly close to the uni, it was in an area which I wasn't too familiar with.

So, still mulling the possibility of making an offer for No 90 (the new build), we showed up on Saturday morning to look at No 88 (yeah cool number, hey!) not expecting much. But we fell in love with it, even though it was:

1) an old house (built in the 1950s)
2) needed a lot of work (animal print motif carpets - I kid you not!, old wallpaper, cramped kitchen, only 1 bathroom which is ancient)

But it was:
1) pretty
2) has a lovely south-facing back garden, a plus for British homeowners as it means maximum sun
3) the back overlooks allotments and not other homes
4) is on a lovely tree-lined road
5) 15 mins walk to the Nicky's office at the uni
6) 11 mins walk to the Catholic Junior school should we decide to move Ian there
7) close to shops, and buses to the city
8) has charm and character
9) has nice big rooms
10) we could definitely afford it
11) is on a very low council tax band (kind of like MPPJ/quit rent/assessment payment) because it's an ex-council house, which means more savings
12) have I said pretty and charming?
Check it out: http://www.watsons-ea.co.uk/properties/buying/property/80526825/?min_price=150000&max_price=175000&min_bedrooms=3&area=norwich&extra_search=&town_search=&x=77&y=19

Anyway, the catch was, we weren't the only ones who love it. There were already 3 offers on the table, or so we were told. And they were doing a private bid, which meant we all had to submit a written bid that was to be opened on Monday 12 noon.

So we debated and agonised over it. How much should we bid for? The asking price was GBP159,950. Emma our mortgage broker recommended we not go too high, between GBP160K and GBP163K as we were in a very good position with no chain (ie no property to sell in order to buy this one), had a decent deposit, and already had a mortgage agreement in principle. Irene suggested GBP162K (nice 'ong' number), BC Ho suggested GBP168K (even more 'ong').

We agonised over whether we would be able to cope with the amount and cost of refurbishment needed to make it live-able by our standards - at least 2 new bathrooms, decent size kitchen, new flooring. Doing renovations here in the UK is very different from Msia - most people DIY cos it's too expensive to get in a contractor to do everything, like in Msia. So we turned to the Hos, who had plenty of experience and advice having gone through all this with their new home in Cambridge. They assured us that it's not as scary or as expensive or difficult as we think.

We finally put in a bid for GPB162K. And got accepted!

Now we have to get the necessary finances together (and pray the pound doesn't strengthen in the next week or so!), hope that we don't find anything nasty in the homebuyer's survey, and pray that nothing scuppers the deal - in the UK the sale is not a done deal until the contracts (ie S &P) are exchanged and in the meantime either party can change their minds about the sale.

But yeah, after a 3 year virtually debt-free 'holiday' we will be homeowners again with a mortgage. It's both exciting and terrifying.