We've finally exchanged... now what?

ST1991

Hi all!

It's been a long process, but we are FINALLY due to complete on Friday (we have already exchanged). Our offer was accepted back in January so this has been extremely stressful.

Once we complete... then what happens?
What do you do first?
The house needs a lot of work, but we are already living there (long story, renting it from the seller until it went through).

I am beginning to feel overwhelmed with stress, moreso than i have so far...

The plaster is shot, the floors are bare (concrete...), the walls are damp, the kitchen is tiny and grotty, the house still stinks of cats...

I feel like i should be ready to celebrate... Is there such a thing as 'buyers blues'? I love the house and don't regret buying it... but what do you do first...
We haven't been able to do anything whilst renting, but come Friday when it is ours, i don't know what to do...

I am asking if anyone has felt in a similar way, or what you feel is the first thing to action when you own your first home.

Ithaca

The very first thing you do on Friday evening is open a bottle of fizz, order a bunch of pizzas and spend an evening relaxing and saying "thank goodness that's over with". Give yourself space to let all the stress of the house-buying process itself dissipate - chances are your brain is wrapping up the pressure of the buying process itself with the longer term worries about turning the house into your home.

Then make a big long list of all the things you think need sorting - room by room - and give them a score.

Use a MoSCoW system if you like:
- Must Have: which things absolutely have to be sorted before the house is safe and warm (broken heating, condemned boiler, no running water, dangerous wiring, roof leaks etc)
- Should Have: need to be sorted as a priority but you have some breathing room of either days, weeks or months (carpets on bare floors, re-plaster obvious grotty areas, basic re-painting etc)
- Could Have: things you'd like to do but you can easily live without them for now (re-painting in a nice colour, new kitchen, re-decorating tired areas, digging over the garden)
- Won't Have: things which actually are fine as they are and you won't bother worrying about

Hopefully you should end up with a small list of absolutely "get them done tomorrow" priorities, a larger list of stuff than can be sorted in the next few weeks and months, then another list of things which you'll get sorted when time / money allows. Then put your energy and money into the Must Haves and accept the other stuff will happen in due course. As part of the process you may find that things you thought were in the Must Have pile gradually move across into the less important piles.

whizzybee

What a great list thanks Ithaca! I have completed today (just had release of keys confirmed) and already booked in some contractors for some quotes. Luckily we have breathing space as my partner has his own house but we do want to get moved asap.

All I have done so far is set up council tax. Plan is to get keys tomorrow (far too busy at work atm), get the meters read and sort the essential bills out. But yeah, fumbling slightly after that! Enjoy your new house!

ST1991

Ithaca, thankyou. That is such a good list.

I feel like i'm going to explode, so your idea for a Friday evening in sounds like the best plan.
I'm going to run through what needs to be done straight away, and what can wait.
Most of it can wait as nothing is 'wrong' with the house - it just needs alot of TLC, and is currently not enjoyable to live in.

Hoploz

You are in an unusual position in that you're already there! You don't need to go through all the removal day stresses. Just open the bottle, put your feet up and think about what to do later!

ST1991

If anyone is interested, we have just completed

A few months ago i thought this would never happen, but 10months later the house is finally ours!
Big thanks to everyone in this forum who have let me retain some sanity during the process.

We'll be celebrating tonight!

Hoploz

Hooray!!!!

cloo

Congratulations and, yes, 'buyer's blues' are thing. I can see especially in your case when you don't have the relative excitement of actually moving somewhere new and know all the problems you're getting into!


We also bought a fixer-upper that we moved into 18 months ago and have only started the building works 3 weeks ago to modernise it. It's been in a liveable state the whole time, though we haven't really been using most of the downstairs since we moved and the decoration is soooo brown and we can't change it until the work's done! But I totally know what you mean about not being enjoyable to live in.


I can tell you that having the works done is really exciting because it feels like *now* we're getting our 'new' house.