Our New Home

So where to start?! I've been away from blogging for so long that I don't really know where to begin with telling you all about our house purchase and our experiences as becoming first-time buyers. It's been the biggest, most exciting and emotionally draining whirlwind and one which I hope not to have to go through again for a long while! So it would probably be sensible to start from way back in April of this year, when we moved out of our beautiful flat in Greenwich and in with Rob's Mum, in East London.

I had mixed emotions about moving out of our flat. It was the first place since living with my parents, that had felt like a real home to me and Rob & I had created so many happy memories there. We had fallen in love with Greenwich, a place which will forever be close to my heart. It was an ideal place to live, albeit an expensive one, and for me it was always going to be difficult leaving. But, {and I like to think that this was a wonderful bit of fate} a few weeks before our impending move-out date we found the most perfect house. We had been searching for just over a year{!} and the areas of our search kept changing; initially in central London, then out into beautiful Kent and then back towards London. I scoured the Rightmove app every single day for what felt like months, for properties within our budget in various different areas. We looked at houses, flats, more houses....  And when a modern, semi-detached two-bed house with a garden & car parking space appeared on Rightmove I literally jumped with excitement and organised a viewing. Luckily we were the first people to view the house and made an offer that same day. 

"Congratulations, you have just bought yourself a house" were the estate agent's words the following day when our offer was accepted but I was reluctant to get my hopes up too much incase something went wrong. {After the dramas of a previous flat purchase falling through due to a sleazy, deceitful estate agent misleading us with the the term of the lease, and losing more than £1000 as a result, I'm not sure I will ever have faith in estate agents again!} But thankfully, all went smoothly and moving in with Rob's Mum didn't feel like such a backwards step after all. It was a practical, temporary solution and we are so grateful that she was able to put us up for a couple of months. We are very lucky to have her!

After a long 10 weeks of filling out paperwork, sending documents to estate agents, stressing about money and chasing solicitors {what exactly do they do?!}, completion day finally arrived - 29th June 2015. There are no words to describe that feeling of elation when you pick up the keys to your very first home. A huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders but I also remember feeling waves of excitement, nerves and apprehension. This big pile of bricks and mortar is ours and suddenly along with the keys we were handed over a whole lot of responsibility, for keeping the house in good condition and paying the mortgage... scary!

 

Looking forward to blogging lots more about how we've slowly been transforming our house into a home!

Lydia xxx