Back to the drawing board....

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Somewhere amongst the twist and turns of my attempts to buy my first flat over the past 3-4 months, I should have realised that the complications that ensued at every stage was an indicator that this wasn't meant to be.

I understood that buying property in the UK market was complicated, so I just accepted each hold-up as it eventuated. The snail pace with which things progressed particularly flummoxed my family in Sydney who are obviously used to the Australian market, but I just thought it was typical.

Eventually, late last week I pulled the plug on the purchase. After an inordinate wait, I finally received the survey report which raised concerns about the construction method and therefore the insulating properties of the flat (although the flat was part of a complex in a converted Victorian building, the flat itself was a new extension - and it was its particular method of construction that proved to be of concern). If my surveyor had concerns, then no doubt the same issue would arise in the future if I ever tried to sell the property, so the most sensible thing seemed to be to walk away at this stage.

It is a testament to how drawn out this process was that I had lost a lot of the excitement I had when I first had my offer accepted - so this decision was made fairly objectively and without too much remorse (apart from the money I've lost on survey and mortgage fees etc....and the fact that I will now be back to spending my weekends in the merry-go-round of property viewings.

But, it is not all doom and gloom. As part of my thinking of what step to take next, I've decided to change my search and instead look a little further out if London...somewhere I can afford to buy a little two-bed cottage with a garden and start putting all those hours of watching property-oriented tv shows and my hours on Pinterest to use.

To be continued...

 

Ps. Am loving Boston - I think my sensibilities must be more aligned with East coast!