I meant to do this a while back, I wanted to keep my lovely readers updated with the goings on with my new flat. But everything just got a little too much and I just didn't get round to it. So here's some late introductions, a quick re-cap and a where we are at now.

Who's who (let me just say that a few months ago I would have probably started this post off with a general all round I hate Estate Agents, especially those from Foxtons rant...but as this is a truthful recolection I won't be stating the above, they are actually very good & nice)

Roberta - Girlfriend, worrier and bathroom decision maker.

Laura - Mother, bigger worrier and deposit assistant.

Neil - Foxtonite, showed us around flats until late in the day on many occasions and general nice guy.

Bruno - Our broker, sourced the mortgage, organised the solicitor and generally alliviated our concerns with his laid back "don't worry, enjoy your weekend" attitude.

Marcus - Our guy between the vendor and us. Constantly keeping us updated and on our toes ready for action. We definately wouldn't have done this without constant concerns and kicks up the backside from Marcus (also Foxtons)

Heena - The Solicitor, the unlucky receipient of mine, Bruno's and Marcus' phone calls for the last two weeks of getting the flat. 

Mr Lal - The Vendor, I don't know much more about him apart from that he is a small businessman.

The Others - Yes, just like in Lost, this wouldn't have been the same without The Others - pesky fuckers.

We went into buying a flat without knowing too much about getting on the proverbial property ladder. We definatly liked the flat, forget the fact that the floors were a bit wonky and there was damp. There was a lot of space, a lot of potential, a garden and a dream N6 postcode to boot.

So, standing on Archway Road for the second time with Neil, "So" he says in his slightly Londonised Irish tone "Would you like to make an offer?" I look at Roberta, a little perplexed because, well, truthfully I didn't know it worked like that. We stood for a moment and gave it the "ok, how about this..." Neil looked about as perplexed as we did, telling us he'd try, but it was unlikely, as it was £60k below the asking price. My response was and I'd read this many times over the few months building upto this stage was "it is a buyers market."

A few hours later and after some "imagine if he accepted our ridiculously low offer" chat, we were contacted by Neil. "Sorry" he said..."it's just too low, do you want to try a bit higher?"

"yes, go on then..try this" Still £30k below the asking price, "it is after all a buyers market." 

"No.." was the rather unsurprising response. We needed to go 10 grand more to seal this one, I'd pay the extra 10 grand to have a flat in Highgate as opposed to Edmonton was my response and we went with it. "Congratulations" roared Neil..."the Offer has been accepted"

Whilst all this had been taking place we had met Michael who was about as useful as a piece of steak at a vegetarian dinner party and moved on to Bruno, who would eventually become our broker. We had a mortgage in principal and all the other stuff that came with it. We politely turned down the life insurance and critical illness cover. It's times like that when I'm always reminded of Meet the Parents when Ben Stiller tells his wife that "that's how they make their money" about the car rental insurance before having the windscreen cracked...tut tut.

Great - Mortgage Offer provisionally done, which I can tell you is better than some others had faired...but it still doesn't count.

House Offer - Accepted, excellent news.

Now what?

Well, now there is all the other bits that go with buying a house surveys, searches, insurance and all the things that really, are not that fun and cost thousands of pounds for not actually that much to be done. Good news is that the solicitors found out that our flat was in a Parish Church area so we have to pay for the upkeep of the church...or just a one off insurance of £150...unsure of when the church roof might fall down we went for the latter. Next there was the survey. Oh the survey. £600 for a man (who we will come to in part 2) to wander about and go "hmmm, I see, yes, ok...well I think that you should do this...and this and yes..." He actually found a little bit of damp - nothing critical, not enough to make us want to throw away our wonky floored flat...but enough to make Nationwide say "WE'RE WITHOLDING £5,000 UNTIL YOU FIX THE DAMP" great, more cash. The damp cost less than half of that but hey ho - they're the guys with the cash. There were a few more ridiculous fees but that's what happens and we had to take it on the chin...at least we've got a garden!

All we needed now was to get the mortgage offer, sign the lease, sign the contract and handover the deposit.

Simples as Alexsander Orlov would say.

No, not so bloody simples........as you will find out in part 2.