When we first found out about our little baby, we immediately looked around our lovely but small, flat and thought 'Where are we going to put it?'. Sure the kid itself will be small but what about the stuff? They come with a lot of stuff? For starters we live on the first floor and there is no lift. That seems problematic. And then there's no spare bedroom..and no space in our room for a cot..
It was around that time that I stated panic googling how to buy a house and mortgage calculators. Unfortunately for us we decided to live in Brighton, which is one of the most expensive cities outside of London. But fortunately we already owned our flat so wouldn't have to worry too much about finding that massive deposit. We were on countdown mode, T-Minus 6 months until this baby was coming so we decided to get a real shift on.
The mortgage
The first port of call was Nationwide to understand how much we could actually borrow to set our search. In the week leading up to the appointment I made sure we had three months pay slips, a bank statement and also looked at our credit reports. I had already set up a clear score account which is really useful for making sure there are no inaccurate reporting like missed payments as this can have a really negative on your overall score and ability to secure a mortgage.
We also did a bit of research into the area we were looking and the average price so we knew what we were looking for as well as the maximum we could borrow. The mortgage adviser was incredibly helpful and was able to give us all the options and importantly the likely monthly payment so we knew how much we would be impacted each month. I would say to shop around for mortgages or go to a financial adviser to make sure you are able to get the best rate of borrowing. As we already had one with Nationwide it made sense just to port it over and we were confident we were getting a pretty good deal.
The Sale
We started to research how to sell our flat and looked at both traditional estate agents and then the emerging trend of internet only agents at a fixed rate. Essentially it all comes down to how marketable your property is. Our flat was in a really nice area, two minutes from the beach with a river view balcony. There was a distinct lack of one bed flats in the area which made it very re-sellable. We met with a local estate agent who wanted 1 % of the final sale price. Now the benefit with going with these guys was that they would push for the biggest sale money wise as that would increase their commission. They wouldn't be paid until the sale had been completed which was another advantage. If you are unsure whether you want to move then it is definitely worthwhile to go with an estate agent. However as we were so set on moving we decided to use Purple Bricks. They are a fixed rate of £600 which payable no matter if you sell or not. However they are so much cheaper, we saved £1500 by going with these guys and that meant we could put it towards stamp duty costs. I would say really do your research with the agents you go with, they all use online websites these days so really I didn't feel there was much more a traditional estate agent could offer us.
Pictures were taken, the flat went live on Zoopla on the Friday and we had a list of viewings for the Saturday. The first viewing put in an offer at full ask and we accepted later that day. Now I am aware that this is pretty rare but it was such a weight off our minds that we had sold the flat as we knew being in a short chain would be appealing to sellers. But I would advise you to be on at your estate agents for regular updates. Purple bricks was great as they had an online platform where viewers could give you feedback on the property.
The Purchase
This was definitely the most stressful part of the whole experience. Finding a house that met our budget, didn't need much work doing and was in the area we wanted seemed near impossible. We didn't have the luxury of taking our time and finding the right house for us. We had a strict timeline that we needed to stick to. I looked at every house online on Zoopla. The issue was that we had a wide radius of areas we were interested in. Basically all down the coast from Brighton to Worthing. As you move further from Brighton your money goes further but the areas were unknown to us so it would be a gamble, plus it was further from both our work. Our only requirements were; three bedrooms, garden and basically livable. I decided that 18th February 2017 was the day we were going to find our home. I set up 10 appointments for the day using a trusty excel spreadsheet, grouped those closest together and we set of at 9am. Some properties had some of the elements we were looking but not one met all the requirements. Until the last one. It was just within the Brighton border, three beds and an amazing back garden. As if fate was aligned it had just come back on the market as it had been sold but the buyers couldn't secure their mortgage.
I just got a really good feeling about the house. It was 1930's which I loved but we had only been seeing new builds so I knew it would need a survey to outline issues. There was no ongoing chain so it could be a quick sale and the price was within our budget. I remember saying to Luke in the hallway 'This is where I want to bring our baby home to', already getting way too emotionally attached. As we walked out I said to Luke, lets just put in a full ask and get this signed up. And so we did. Within one week we sold and bought our new home. Although it was a rushed process I am such a believer in trusting your gut instinct. If you can see yourself living in the property then make an offer!
I'm going to split this into two parts because otherwise it will be the beginnings of a novel. I'll write up the next part and post it on the blog this week. Thanks for reading!
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