House, where art thou?

In 2010, we moved into a 2 bedroom flat in the centre of Nottingham.  The flat was on the small side and you had to climb 4 flights of stairs to get to it, but the location of the flat was great.  We were within minutes of all the shops/pubs and restaurants of Nottingham. We also had some great views from our window over the Park Estate.

However in 2011 we decided it was time to move on.  The city centre is very loud in the evenings and as we lived on the edge of one of the many student areas we were often woken up at 3am by people buzzing our flat (imagine the buzzer from the game Operation at full volume) or by a 18 year old staggering up the main road screaming “WHY WON’T YOU LOVE ME” or “I JUST WANT YOU TO TOUCH IT, OR AT LEAST WATCH ME WHILST I TOUCH MYSELF”.

At the time the UK was in a recession (in fact it still is as I write this) and the house market was being reported to being in decline.  The banks were not lending which meant people couldn’t afford to buy and therefore houses were simply not selling.  This was then having a knock on effect to the rental market which saw an increase in the amount of people needing to rent and therefore landlords started putting up rent.  Having managed to save up a bit of money we decided that we’d buy a house together, after all we’d been in the 2 bed flat for a year and because both of us are self employed (we need to be able to work from home) the extra space was incredibly appealing.

House Hunting

We started house hunting in Jan 2011 and quickly discovered that one of the main hurdles is that people were simply asking far too high a price for their houses (understandable given that all the houses dropped in value and people had a lot of negative equity – but not really realistic).  Banks and mortgage companies were undervaluing houses, which seemed to cause major problems, especially where someone had agreed a purchase price which was higher than the bank thought the house was actually worth.  We saw many houses throughout 2011 go off and then come back onto the market having fallen through at one of the many hurdles in the buying process.

After a few months of looking we decided that we were looking for either something that was finished, that we could just move into and pay something towards the top end of our budget, or for a house which needed a complete renovation, get a bit of a bargain and leave enough money spare to carry out the works.  Stephanie has a talent for design and is a qualified Interior Architect and I have a talent for sitting down and watching people work (my pointing skills are legendary – “You!  Put that…. there.”) so the renovation was fast becoming a preference, especially considering that we could buy something relatively cheap and turn it into exactly what we require.

During that year we actually put in offers for 3 houses, the first 2 offers ended up in a bit of a bidding war (thought we were in a housing slump?), but we lost out due to having to keep our eye on the budget for the renovation works for both properties (in fact looking back i’m glad we didn’t end up with property number 2 which was a Victorian mid terrace which was both expensive and in need of some major works).  The 3rd house was a Victorian semi-detached in Mapperley and needed some serious love.  We put in an offer on the house and after a bit of negotiating we had our offer accepted and we finally got the keys shortly before Christmas 2011 almost a year after we started looking.

For anyone going through the buying process and are having to deal with laywers and estate agents, here a few tips that we either did, or wish we did!

  • When the mortgage company demand a survey, go for the cheapest.  The other ones are a bit of a waste of money and if they find anything actually wrong with the house they will just suggest another survey.  If you think the house might actually have a few issues, then commission your own survey separately to the mortgage company survey.  Always remember that when they carry out a survey for the mortgage company it’s primary goal is to make sure the house is worth what the mortgage company is lending you.
  • The estate agents are not your friends.  They are not real people so don’t be afraid to hurt their feelings.  If you are buying a house then the sellers estate agents just want their commission and won’t actually try and help you in anyway, in fact at times they will just push you to push the solicitors through the process.  If you want them to do something, demand it.  If they refuse or give you any kind of delaying tactic then just get your solicitor to demand it directly.  Do not let them waste your time, they do not want to work for their commission.
  • If you have any doubts about the property – walk away.
  • Visit the area at night, if someone tries to sell you sex then you’re onto a winner.  Move in immediately.

The House

The house was a little run down and had years of DIY abuse laid upon its poor foundations.  The wiring and plumbling was suspect and it was clear from the start that we would probably have to gut the whole place and possibly even go back to brick.  If only we knew how right we were!

The hallway still has a couple of original features with the coving and an archway, along with 3 layers of carpet and woodchip wallpaper!

The front room and dining room had been knocked into one room with a 70’s style suspended ceiling and many layers of carpet.  We also had pine panelling covering all the walls. We actually tried to look behind this before buying it as we suspected it was covering damp but the estate agents kept giving us the run around.

The kitchen itself was a little on the tired side and the floor was completely knackered.  Yet again we found a suspended ceiling.

At the rear of the house (and accessible through the kitchen) was a good sized extension built in the 70s, and judging by the decoration it hadn’t been redecorated since!  Again we found pine panelling, but this time on the ceiling!  That’s 3 suspended ceilings – all on the kill list.

Walking outside from the kitchen we found ourselves in a wooden wonderland.  Some people may call it a conservatory, some people may even call it a lean-to and some surveyors may call it a temporary and illegal structure.  “Ah you say Tomato I say Tomato, Tomato – Tomato, Lean To – Fire Hazard lets destroy the hell out of it”.

Upstairs there were 3 good size bedrooms, a bathroom and a separate toilet.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

Bathroom

Toilet

The house also had a pretty decent size loft, which seemed to be pretty much the same size as the biggest bedroom.  We were always looking for a house with extra space and a loft conversion was always on the forefront of our minds.

So, thats the house and how we got it!  We started work on it in January 2012, but i’ll go into more detail on that in my next post!

Thanks for reading!

0 thoughts on “House, where art thou?

  1. House will look cool when you’ve finished it, look forward to seeing the pics when it is done. Also are those ur pink slippers infront of the fire? slippers on your feet so u can feel the heat??? awesome song xxx

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