Preparing for the biggest move of our life

Kakiste

Wow! That's awesome. Congratulations on having your offer accepted! It does sound like fate that the original offer on the other house was rejected. 

What bits of the other house made it feel like home? 

bellevie

Thank you!   I think I've driven DH potty, I've been harping on about fate all week I saw 2 magpies outside which made me smile on our way in. I got a call to confirm our offer was accepted at 13.13, 40 minutes before that the bank had approved the dip we submitted and minutes after the acceptance we got our long awaited wedding video!! It just felt like a row of yes, yes, yes! I keep trying to calm myself down as I know anything could go wrong but gosh I'd be crushed. 

I couldn't put my finger on it really I could just visualise a busy house manic school run, chilled weekends in front of the fire, bbqs in the garden. I felt like it was mine. I'm thinking perhaps the shape & flow of the rooms had something to do with it, it certainly wasnt the decor. That said to be fair you could see it was a much loved home the decor whilst dated was in good condition wallpaper hadn't worn carpets looked clean.

The first house wouldn't have needed much doing decor wise but I just didn't feel at home there,  maybe the shape or flow of rooms, I'm not sure I couldn't picture us in there. 

bellevie

We discovered today DP won't have had his lifetime isa account for 12 months until early November. 
Reading up it looks like there's quite a process for the funds to be release so we are hoping we just about clear that 12 month date. It'll be such a shame to loose out on his top up. We will be able to cover the difference it just will mean we will have less money to get started on the house with. 

Bank valuation is booked for 1st, hoping it doesn't throw up any problems. 

In money sense we are on a mission to keep our available balance as high as we can for all possible scenarios. 
So take aways have been banned.... Until move day.... Fingers tightly crossed

Spreadsheet has been updated with expected figures will just need tweaking when we know more about dates. 

In other news, I've submitted my pre application. The university chosen by my employer are going to hold interviews soon for possible January start....I'm seriously hoping I get onto the course, I know there are 4 places but 6 applied. I'm one of the newer ones in the team though not new to the organisation. It'll be a zoom call with a written assignment to talk through. Im quite nervous but trying to keep the mindset if I don't get on this year I'll know more for next time round. 

Dd is looking forward to secondary school, uniform shop has been done. 6 weeks have actually flown by considering the amount of time at home we've all had. Decided do drop offs and pick ups for now until I feel more comfortable about the trains or am back in the office. I could actually drop her at the station school end so she familiarises herself with that aspect of the walk. Will see how she does. 

bellevie

Its been a busier and more expensive than planned week.
Post office costs for verifying our ID for solicitors.
We travelled to a funeral. Funeral itself was so touching, considering the lock down and lower numbers our relative got the send of she would have appreciated. It was beautiful with so much thought put into it.
Getting back into our car someone noticed a crack in our tyre - no clue how we had missed it and so thankful they spotted it. Limited tyres in the local garage in the middle of no-where £70 added onto our return journey.

Returned home to find the 3rd pair of shoes ordered for DD do not fit. Established she is somewhere between 3.5 -4. 3.5 being tight 4 being loose. Failed to get a clark's appointment so trailed the shops yesterday and eventually settled on a small 4 with innersole. I had really started to panic to it was a relief to finally see DD smile with pride at her new shoes as she paraded around the shop

Email from school just before the funeral travel, PE days will be joggers day to prevent changing in school....dd doesn't wear joggers her old pair are the wrong colour. Online sold out, trawled all possible shops to find one offered slim leg joggers got these thinking perfect she is tiny so these things are usually huge on her. We dashed off on Friday so she didn't try these on until we returned they really are too slim fitting- not far off leggings.....I wouldn't want DD to get pulled up so soon after starting school we again searched for more when buying shoes yesterday. All sold out locally but I finally found a pair back in stock for one of our online shops to come later this week - school have confirmed at least PE wont start until the following week  so fingers crossed they fit.

Finally, DD's bag is packed, uniform prepped and tonight will be an early night ready for her brand new beginning tomorrow

Housewise still early stages of waiting....not expecting to hear back from bank until mid sept - going by their advertised times by broker, but they have already had valuation report so keeping fingers crossed. Solicitor has our initial information pack and the advance payment so hopefully they will be starting the process soon.
I think when the bank confirm the mortgage we will give our landlord advance warning of our intention to leave but not formally start notice until we exchange. To avoid paying rent and mortgage in one month we really need exchange to fall just before our rent due date is with planned completion 1-2 weeks before our keys are due back...we could be pushed to manage both but it would make for quite a difficult christmas so really hoping things work out well date wise..

bellevie

It's been a busy week. So glad I booked it off.
I feel a little run ragged with the house buying in between dropping Dd to and from school. It's mostly the solicitors requests just seem to be never ending... Not helped by the lack of paper bills coming to the house most in my name, and our wage slips and p60s are all online it appears to be causing some issues with ID for solicitors but they weren't an issue for the bank?!
DH had sent off for his driving license to be renewed (pants timing!) and in the meantime we've contacted banks to get paper statements hoping that satisfies the checks. 
By the time we've sent those off I'm hoping we might have had some good news from the bank. 

Re school  Dd has enjoyed her first few days, she seems confident and keen to be a little more independent so we decided I'll continue to drop her in the morning as the train times don't sync with adjusted school times she'd either be late or 45 minutes early.  She will get the train home and I'll be waiting at the other end. Hopefully will just take 15 minutes out of my work day instead of 45 meaning I can have a lunch break! 
Need to update spreadsheet with travel costs. 

No further spends planned, I really hope it stays that way!! 

bellevie

Its been a busy week, shock to the system early morning drop offs once again.
DD has managed to get the train home without an issue all week. Mornings journeys still wont happen because of the timing of trains and the fact children cant go into school to use the canteen or library before it opens. If I get onto the course starting in January, that will be the one day I will leave too early to drop off so thinking if we have moved by that point DD may need to get the bus if timing works out any better. There isn't a bus around this side but there is a bus route closer to the new address.

Spends have been kept low, just usual grocery spends - to budget and fuel.

Solicitors have said nothing further needed from us, they are now reviewing contract and have applied for searches. They've said this can take a few weeks so we don't expect to hear anything now until they are happy with the contract.

I'm starting to think we will need to put up the deposit before DH reaches his 12 month anniversary for his lifetime ISA. They need 1 months notice to withdraw mine and 4 days to pay DH directly into his account if its needed before his anniversary date.  A little bit gutting to loose that top up, but we can cover the difference lost with September payday.

Broker thinks we should hear about the mortgage early next week according to advertised timescales - I am hoping no questions is a good sign although it occurred to me it could also mean it hasn't even been looked at yet so possible delays.

Car needs a service reminder light has been on for a couple of weeks now, so going to get that booked in though possibly closer to October payday depending on house situation.

DH is working today, overtime to add a little more to our moving pot for spends once we are in the house, he is such a hard worker.

Today I need to pop out and collect the pre-ordered dog food, clear the washing, ironing and get the dogs walked. Tomorrow will be a full house chilled day

bellevie

Our mortgage has been approved
We were having quite a downer day both suddenly feeling negative, deflated just starting to think we might have been over optimistic - timed I think with talk of a possible second lock down talk.....and then we got the news!!! 

The relief is unreal

RosaBernicia

Fantastic Bellevie, that's great news. 

Now you can make more plans! 

Kakiste

Congrats on the mortgage approval! 

bellevie

Thank you, still seems so surreal!
Going to spend the next few weekends clearing through things, see what can be thrown before the move to make packing easier