Excited! Part 2....

....We've bought a house! Well, not exactly a house, but a brand spanking (not quite ready yet) bungalow! 3 bedrooms, detached with garage. Colour me happy!

It's quite scary to think we'll be mortgage payers until we are 70, but that's what you get when you decide to buy a house at our age! We've been renting the cottage we currently live in for quite a few years, and were given the heads up about a "Homebuy" scheme run by a north Wales Housing Association. We had to fill out all the paperwork - of which there was a lot! - and following a successful application were eligible for the scheme. So in a nutshell it was up to us to go out and find a suitable property up to £122,400. Of this, we have to find 50% of the cost, and the Housing Association gives you an interest free loan for the other 50%.

To be honest we did struggle to find a suitable property. DH has mobility problems so can't climb stairs. So a house with stairs was out of the question, and we had struggled to find a suitable bungalow. Anyone in the UK will tell you that 122,400 does not buy you a bungalow (of any decent standard anyway - and definitely not one that doesn't need a shed load of work doing to it.) We had until the 30th of November to find a suitable property, but we were struggling to find anything suitable! Back track 2 weeks ago. At work I get a phone call from one of the Estate Agents I'd contacted re properties. She asked if we had found anything. I said no. She said that a developer had 2 bungalows for sale and that he would consider selling us one for 122,400. Well you could have picked me up off the floor!! We went to have a look, and it is gorgeous, and as I said earlier, it's 3 bedrooms and brand new, and should be ready to occupy it by mid January. At the moment it is undergoing it's "2nd fix" and the plasterboarding has just been done.

So, to date, we have secured a mortgage for our 50% (61,200) and the Housing Association is processing the necessary paperwork. If I'm honest, it's been a rollercoaster of a past 2 weeks! We still can't quite believe we have a bungalow for such a small amount of money! The scheme is a good one, in that we don't have to pay back the 50% from the housing association until, 1. We die, or 2. We sell the house. With number 1 - that will be however inherits the house and we won't be around to care - LOL.

So I keep pinching myself, and wondering if I'm going to wake up from a dream. I'll post a picture of the bungalow next week so you can all have a nosy! But all being well, we should be moving in the New Year. One of the highlights for me is that I can have the smallest bedroom as my very own Study! I could even consider myself a "proper" author then, rather than type my stuff as I do now on my laptop sitting in the front room.

Keep your fingers crossed for us - in that it all works out OK. I've a horrible feeling something bad's going to happen - like the developer decides to pull out. But that's -ve thoughts so I keep telling myself to be +ve. +ve, +ve, +ve. Take care. Caroline xx