Edgehill Street

Saving
We've been saving for ages. Saving included paying off student debts (not the loan, other debts I accrued) and actually building a deposit. About 2 years ago, the plan was to live cheaply in the inlaw's house while they were in Cambodia and then buy a house when they got back and house prices were lower.

Well, we didn't save quite as much as I hoped as council tax shot up and utility bills were massive compared to anywhere I'd lived. This left us about £100 a month worse off than when we lived in the flat. You might argue that it was 'nice' that we lived in a big house but we rarely used 1/2 of the rooms and four toilets really isn't necessary for two people. I'd much rather have stayed in the flat and saved money.

One way we've saved a bunch of money is having a food order delivered. If you are ordering online, it's much easier to plan for the week and get only what you need. What's more is that there is little or no impulse buying. New meals we've not cooked before can be planned and added in. Its saved roughly £100 a month!

Felix isn't a big money drain just yet, although we did have to shell out for some expensive stuff. Thanks to hand-me-downs from my sis and the parents buying some biggish stuff, he's been quite cheap.

Even with all that saving, we still needed to ask my parents for 5% of the deposit, taking us to the magic 15%; a 10% deposit will mean you're stiffed on deposit.

We couldn't wait much longer, not only do the inlaws want their house back to themselves but inflation meant that the value of our savings was noticeably shrinking.

The Hunt
We've been quietly watching the market for a couple of years. This is different to looking for a house. Watching it gives you an idea of what you get for your cash without being upset that you've missed an opportunity. We knew 200k would be the ballpark and were expecting a 2 bed either in Reading or Lower Earley.

Looking meant that it was easier to build a list of things we needed, things we wanted and thing we would like. We cut out the areas of Reading that are war zones (Whitley, New Town, Coley Park, etc). That list became super important as Kate would surf/phone estate agents and tell them exactly what we wanted. When they tried to offer something that wasn't right, it went in the bin - no arguments, just out.

Slightly out of our league
We realised that if we could raise 10k more on the mortgage then that would allow us a 3 bed in Reading - which would tick all the boxes. The Kate saw Edgehill Street and went to see it one Saturday with her Dad.

She loved it.

I was impressed with the photos, so went along the very next Saturday and thought it was lovely too. We saw one more house that Saturday and put an offer in. They wanted 215k and we only had 210k at the very most. We hoped there were no other offers. There was a little back and forth and the sellers slept on 210k.

Sunday morning, while Felix was asleep and Kate was trowelling on expensive face pack, I answered her phone to a very jolly estate agent who told us they had accepted 210k. Yay! I trotted upstairs to tell Kate and although she was overjoyed, she couldn't smile 'cos of the face pack and couldn't shout and sing because Felix was asleep in the next room. Haw haw.

The overriding benefit was that we were first time buyers and could move at any time. That convenience was enough to make them agree, as they were keen to get going.

Next steps
The IFA has been unleashed and got an Application In Principle, he's now arranging the full mortgage. We're going to do a full structural survey because the house is old. Nothing is certain yet but we're pretty sure it'll go through from this point as there is no onward chain.

You can see 10 Edgehill Street on Google.
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.446973,-0.968036&spn=0,0.004823&...

It's the grey pebbledashed one in the middle. We might change that.

All very exciting.