You hear that, Mr Andersen?

White picket fences

My offer on a house has been accepted.

Jinkies.

***

I'm meant to just be starting to look. I'd arranged to see Alan on Sunday to get the paperwork ball rolling (which makes me think of a paper-mache boulder, a la Indiana Jones). We were also going to look at an open home - the ugly 70s house, as a matter of fact. As I expected, it wasn't really suitable for me; it had a lot of work that needed to be done, both outside and in, and the piles looked a bit... um... exciting. So far, so good. Then Dad encourages me to go and have a look at a place in Coutts St, which is having an Open Home.

So, I go along with Mum to have a look... and it's nice. Like, really quite nice. It has plenty of power points in each room, the bathroom and kitchen look in good condition, the water pressure is good, it's got polished floors, the 3 bedrooms are all decently sized, it has a big single garage as well as a carpad big enough for a couple of cars... and there are lots and lots of people looking. My general attitude is slightly depressed - it's a really good location (handy to the bus to work, handy to supermarkets et al.), and they're wanting buyer enquiries at basically the limit of where I'm looking, so it seems very likely that I won't be able to bid enough.

But I talk it over with Mum, and I chat to the agent (who turns out to have gone skiing with my father's family when she was a teenager - small world!), and later that evening I ring her and say that I'd like to make an offer. She arranges to come and meet me this morning; I talk to Alan, and he comes in slightly earlier. The offer is discussed, we add a clause saying that the bank has to be happy with the valuation too, and then we send it off to be considered with the other offer at 2pm.

I get a ring at about 3pm to say that the owner is considering both offers, and talking it over with friends; the agent will get back to me at about 5pm.

And then - I get a call at 5pm, saying that my offer has been accepted, pending a couple of small changes. (They wanted to move the settlement date from the 4th to the 15th - a bit of a pain, since I'll have to rent storage for a bit, but liveable-with.) The agent said that the two offers were very close, with very similar clauses (so the other guy must be a first-time buyer as well), but they went with mine because I offered a bit more, and they didn't want to spend the time going through another round of bidding. They're going overseas soon, so I can understand why they want everything done lickety-split - but it means I'll be confirmed one way or the other by Friday 5pm.

***

There's still a bunch of stuff to go - the builder's report, for example. And I still haven't contacted my parents lawyers to check whether they're willing to act as my conveyancers. And I'm in the middle of "did I do the right thing" throes now.

(For example, there's a fish and chip shop right next door - what about the smell? And Rongotai college is just over the road, so there's potentially bored kids hanging around right outside, which can be a recipe for trouble. And a friend of a friend who lived nearby apparently had their house robbed twice - while there is a security system, I've asked the building inspector to make any suggestions that he thinks is wise about making the property more secure.)

But at least finding tenants for the other two rooms should be no problem - I'd prefer to flat with friends, but one of the advantages of working at Weta is that they're always desperate to find accomodation for arriving artists. :)

So - within the week, I should be able to stop blogging about house mortgages and househunting, and get down the much more interesting topics of home furnishings and flatmate-hunting.

(Still freeeeeaking out a bit, by the way.)

Posted by svend at January 17, 2005 8:03 PM