Closing the sale

Last time we spoke we had just signed my contracts for the house. As of today we still haven't got the keys but we're so close to getting that call!!

At the minute we're finalising everything with the developers, the solicitors and the bank. It's a bit manic dealing with everyone separately and my phone is constantly hopping with updates! I will be so glad to have everything finalised and the keys in my hands! So let me fill you in on the (hopefully) final stages of buying a house!

The Developers

As both myself and Dean live pretty close to our new house we can easily (and constantly!) check on it to see the progress of the build. Last week, after what seemed like forever, we got the call to say that our house was ready for inspection (side note: we knew this, we had even managed to sneak into the house a few days before!).

Once we got the official word on the house being ready for inspection we organised someone to visit the house and do a snag list. This is basically someone who comes out and checks everything in the house is as it should be. You can do this yourself or hire someone (we paid €275). We hired a friend of a friend and he was brilliant, so thorough. There was about 40 points on the 'snag list' but nothing too major. The list included the banisters to be re-sanded and repainted, doors to be re-hinged and light switches to be straightened. Our builders have two weeks to fix these things, the house gets a final clean and it's good to go.

The Solicitor:

Our solicitor is the person who we deal with the least, which is a good thing. Since signing the contracts he just made sure we got the counter signed contracts back, which we needed for the Help To Buy scheme. And he kept in touch with any updates on the build. There'll be a few more things he needs to do when we drawn down the mortgage, which won't be done until the house is fully ready.

The Bank:

This is where things get a bit stressful. Now we are looking for an awful lot of money from the bank so they're not just going to hand it over. There's a lot of documents and forms to be sent, such as home insurance and life policy details as well as information on the property from the solicitor.

The bank were also looking for a statement to show a 'balance of funds' of €50k.....HA!!! Queue heart attack. They've already seen loads of statements, we've already spent a good bit on furniture, also.....we don't have FIFTY THOUSAND EURO! 

We have already paid the deposit so we definitely don't have that kind of money left over. Turns out this 'balance of funds' includes the Help To Buy refund which we do not receive directly. So thankfully we don't have to magic up a load of money. Basically the bank just wants to see that we have the money to pay our part of the deposit/or have paid it, that we have the money to pay a lump sum (we have chosen to pay separately) and we have a small bit left for necessary expenses.

We have to get a few more small things sorted between the broker and the solicitor, they will get things ready to go with the bank and once the house is completely ready we will get the keys!

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