Sunday, 15 August 2010

The Offer - Accepted

We didn't leave it long.  We waited until 6pm that Saturday to inform the estate agent we wanted to put an offer in.  There was some back and forth with agreeing a price but we got there.  The offer was accepted.

First the survey.

Now I hadn't realised that there was a choice. When we bought our flat, we had a basic survey that didn't even tell us that our boiler was about to burst the afternoon we planned to move in. So this was a good learning curve.  We didn't want to get caught out on a house that had been standing for over 100 years.

There's options - the Basic Evaluation survey ensures the property is worth the price, the Homebuyers Report shows up any minor defect in the property and points out any areas of concern and then there's the Building Survey - this is the one we chose. I found http://www.home.co.uk/services/survey_quotes.htm really helpful in explaining which survey we should choose.  This survey uncovers every area of concern and highlights even the tiniest of faults that need to be brought to our attention.

Survey booked. Conducted.  Report arrived.

It's a far cry from lip gloss and moisturisers. Flank wall, lateral restraints, timber joists, rendering.  Suddenly I was drowning in a new vocabulary that I didn't want to be defeated by. I got to grips with many of these terms and in reality, all you need is a good surveyor who is prepared to talk you through his 20+ pages of the survey.

“Areas of concern?“ I asked. What concerns? This is going to be our home.

It soon became clear that there was a problem.  A defect in the flank wall meant that this project was going to take a little longer than we thought!!

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