Home buying - no no

So round about the start of last year me and my then fiancé had seriously considered buying a house, we’d done a few rounds and having found nothing within our budget that was better than the flat we were already living in (which we own) we decided to postpone a couple of years.

I was still on the mailing lists of a few agents though and would intermittently; mostly out of curiosity still look at the incoming mails. This Sunday I received a mail showcasing a lovely home. It was in our budget, in a neighbourhood we had considered and it was on show! We dropped everything and went for a look. And it was lovely. We could see ourselves staying there and the price was totally doable and lower then we might have expected so ... I guess we got a bit carried away.

 

Sunday we spent doing sums, Monday I went to talk to the owners, Tuesday we met the agent who pushed us to put in an offer. At that stage I was already having doubts about whether we were rushing into things and nervous about how pushy the sales lady was that we sign right now! We held off, took the contract home and over a relaxed dinner decided that no, now was not the time to buy.

It was a relief. We decided to stick to the original plan and hold off at least another year. By then we might have our permanent residency sorted and a few other ducks in a row.

So what did I learn? Surprisingly the tips for not buying unnecessary clothing counts for housing too! If you are not seriously looking for a house then don’t window shop, don’t read the sales notices or emails you get. Take a few days to consider acquisitions before laying down the money. This is a big investment and deserves quite a bit of research (when it dawned on me that I have clocked more time looking which exact shade of navy would suit me best rather than the house I realised that I had my priorities messed-up).

Just the day after we turned down the house I heard from a friend that his friend who lived down the road from the house we looked at got broken into on the same Sunday we went to view. Apparently the area is experiencing a bit of a crime wave so that might explain the low price. So maybe it was just not meant to be.

As a result of all this I took the time yesterday to remove myself from all mailing lists (not just the property ones). Instead we can refocus on the flat and maybe finally get around to fixing a couple of things. Can’t believe how impulsive we almost were though!

Musical interlude - Lorde

Middle of my exams..Gah!

But there is time for a small musical interlude :)

I love the Lorde song – Royals. It’s pretty catchy and I liked to try and sing along. It’s not so easy to hear all the lyrics properly though so I googgled them and guess what? Lorde is saying what any basic minimalist would: Its ok not to be able to afford all the luxuries so blatantly punted in the media. We don’t need the fancy cars, the diamond rings and the champagne. She can be a queen without all of that and that’s a pretty strong message from a singer so young!

I’m very impressed. Every now and then it’s great that there’s someone out there who can put things into perspective like this. She’s a lone voice to combat all the media hype that more is always better. That we should all aspire to such levels and can consider ourselves akin to failures when we can’t afford to live these kinds of lifestyles. Oh and that love affair? That would be materialism.

Here are those lyrics:

[Verse 1] I’ve never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I’m not proud of my address
In a torn-up town, no postcode envy

But every song’s like gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin’ in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room
We don’t care, we’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair

And we’ll never be royals (royals)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler (ruler)
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule
Let me live that fantasy.

[Verse 2] My friends and I—we’ve cracked the code.
We count our dollars on the train to the party.
And everyone who knows us knows
that we’re fine with this,
We didn’t come from money

But every song’s like gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin’ in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room
We don’t care, we’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair

And we’ll never be royals (royals)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler)
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule
Let me live that fantasy

Ooh ooh oh
We’re bigger than we ever dreamed
And I’m in love with being queen.
Ooh ooh oh
Life is great without a care
We aren’t caught up in your love affair

And we’ll never be royals (royals)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler (ruler)
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule
Let me live that fantasy.