I’m buying a flat. Yikes.
Apparently, the three most stressful things that can happen in a person’s life are: death in the family, divorce and buying property.
Thankfully, I have not experienced the first two, but I am buying a flat.
I really do realise how lucky I am. I’m 25 years old and I’m buying property in London – something I genuinely never thought I’d be able to do. And even now it’s not like it’s easy.
This is going to be a bit of an update post but I would like to make more content about buying a flat. I have learned a lot during this process and it is far from over!
I really don’t want this to be a braggy show-offy blog post. This is just a diary entry brain dump for me. Please let me know if you’d like more home-related content either on the blog or in videos. If you want more updates/advice on buying or moving then let me know and I will make it happen. I may, MAY even do a homeware haul or a flat tour.
For now I just want to chat. I’ve mentioned it in passing a couple times online without properly speaking about it but it is all I have been thinking about. They are not wrong. Buying property is stressful af. I feel like at any moment something out of my control is going to go wrong and all my dreams will be crushed. Because I’m buying a new-build that’s not ready until March 2018, there is a lot of time for something to go wrong in!
But as well as being terrified constantly, I am so excited! The plan is for Dan to move in with me and we’ve already got a shared Pinterest board for interior and furniture inspiration. Not that I’m going to have any money at the end of this to buy furniture… I can’t wait to have my own space that I can bang nails into the walls. It means I will finally be able to hang up my Hufflepuff Common Room poster! I can’t wait to host dinner parties and board game nights with friends! Oh shit, is this adulting?
But the one thing I’m ridiculously excited for is getting geckos. Early on in mine and Dan’s relationship we had the classic “what animals do you like/what pets would you want?” conversation. I’m not a cat/dog person but I do think having a gecko would be cool! Turns out he’d just had a conversation with his dad about getting a gecko. So obviously we immediately named our hypothetical geckos.
A couple weekends ago we even went to a reptile centre to find out more about becoming lizard-parents. We definitely get carried away with things sometimes. It’s still 5 months until we move in and that’s if everything goes to plan!
The kitchen currently looks like this…
So where am I at in the process?
- I have found a place that I like and put in an offer
- Help To Buy application has been approved
- Mortgage has been approved subject to the valuation which is happening next week
- Potentially exchanging contracts at the end of this month (that means literally signing on the dotted line)
- Named the geckos
- Found my local Parkrun
- Created Pinterest board
So as you can see things are moving along. I hope you enjoyed this life-update blog. Please let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for home/moving content. Fingers crossed writing this won’t completely jinx the whole thing. Wish me luck!
Oh gosh Congratulations!! 🎉😁🍾 What an incredible achievement! Can’t wait for all the house related content.
I would love to hear more about your process of flat buying, and all the stuff that goes along with it (including the fun decorating bits afterwards), but it also gives me a huge case of jealousy seeing people my age doing something which I feel I won’t be able to (or at least not in the near future). Renting in London has been so awful for me, and for so many others, I never wanted to buy until I live here, and I think my main reason for wanting to buy is to get away from the control of my life that I have to give away by paying someone else’s mortgage (no holes, no pets, no paint . . .).
Geckos 😻😻😻
Good luck to you!
Definitely, want flat related content :3
Hauls, repairing process, some odd favourites related to it!
And about process: as foreigner I didn’t understand what the hell is going on with papers)))
Wow, congrats!! 😊
I would definitely be interested in flat related content!
Congratulations!!! When everything’s complete and you’ve moved in I’d love to see a flat tour, I always find them really interesting. Plus it would kind of cover a homeware hauls if you’re not really keen on filming one.
Oh God, I just thought moving into a rented property with the thousands of background checks they do on you is bad!
If it’s not too much information, how did you go about getting a mortgage as a freelancer? Is that fairly easy to get as long as you can show that you’ve had enough coming in in the past?
Definitely love more info/adivce on buying/rent property, especially in London! What was the strategy to save up for this flat? 🙂
Congrats, Hannah!
As someone already mentioned above, it would be amazing, if you did a blog post thoroughly outlining, what goes into such a decision and what the process is like. When it was election time, I loved that you gave a thorough explainer into the importance of voting and registering to vote. At this day and age media focuses too much on one single message – people in this generation will not be able to afford buying property. So it’s a bit of scaremongering.
A friend of mine is currently considering buying property, too, and she outlines all the things she sees as benefits in the long run, even if buying property seems a bit extreme at the moment. The fact that paying rent is money you will never get back and even though mortgages seem terrifying, with careful planning it is a good investment in the long run. And even if shit hits the fan or your plans change in the future, you can put it up for rent (seeing that housing market constantly increases in value) and stuff like that.
But yeah… something along those lines would be cool – what made you decide on this, things that come with buying property as a young person etc.
Keep rockin’!
Congratulations! Yes please for more info on the house buying process. My bf and I are planning on buying a house next year (obvs we don’t live in London). So any anecdotes/advice would be very helpful.
This is amazing if so far removed from my own 25yo experience, and I work as a teacher!
I really hope this flat bring you all that you want and that moving in with Dan is an enriching experience 🙂
That’s awesomeee!🎉 I’d love to hear more about this whole process and home-related content! I hope everything goes wel 🤞🏼🤞🏼
well*🙈
Congrats
I was lucky enough to buy a place a few years ago … although not in London.
If you need to buy furniture don’t forget about charity shops and sites like freecycle. There can be loads of good quality stuff. If you are buying new don’t forget that most sofas are made to order so take ages to be delivered. especially if you like a vintage feel. If you decide to paint and decorate it does help to buy better quality as it lasts and goes on much better.
But mostly just enjoy the glee of walking in for the first time knowing that it’s all yours. The stress is awful but the outcome is worth it.
Yes, would love more content about the whole process, (especially how it worked out as a freelancer if it’s not too personal) as well as homeware haul and such 🙂
That’s so exciting! I’d love to hear more flat updates from you as you continue this process. You’re kinda living my dream right now, I’ve just gotta actually go to the UK first haha! I’m visiting London for the first time next year 🙂
Would be awesome to see more content relating to buying a home/and decorating, me and my partner hope to be able to buy a place in a few years theres so much more stability in it and with a baby on the way (due March 2018) it just seems like the right thing to do. But we are young and still studying (18 and 19) so it’ll take some time. Congrats on the big life step!!
Great news. It seems both exciting and daunting. Maybe Aldo some videos about decision to move in together and (later) how you are adjusting, if is not too personalidade. Also about The bureaucracies of it. Though I live in another country I think the scary papers exist everywhere.
Amazing Hannah! How exciting, I’d love if you did blog posts about the entire process, that would be super cool. Also dying to know names of said geckos 🙂
Yes, more moving and apartment content please! So amazing, congratulations Hannah!
I love this sort of content! I am looking at buying property in the next 2-3 years, and so getting advice about what that can involve from someone as realistic and down-to-earth as you would be so helpful! Plus I have always been a nester, so I love homeware hauls and flat tours.
Is Dan the name of your boyfriend? Good luck on the property buying!
Congratulations!! That’s great, Hannah! 🙂
I really know nothing about flats. In Texas, we rent apartments and buy houses, townhomes, mobile homes, or condominiums. I know they sell apartments in places like New York City, but I don’t know what’s involved in that, either. Once you own your flat, will you still have to pay a monthly fee? Condos have condo fees that have to be paid every month to the property (land) owner, even once you own your condo outright, and some homes have Home Owner Association (HOA) fees that have to be paid monthly on top of the mortgage. Mobile homes can be placed on lots in mobile home parks that are rented each month, or placed on land you own so you don’t have a monthly bill once the mortgage is paid off. I’m very curious if flats have “flat fees” that are for the land they’re on, and, if so, how much they cost. Sorry! I get very interested in real estate minutia. Lol