Finding yourself a partner and finding yourself a property to buy is weirdly similar. You’re going to have to kiss a few frogs, it’s going to cost you serious money – and you’ll probably have your heartbroken at some point.
Don’t believe me? I’ll show you:
It’s not all about the looks
If you put looks above all else, you’re going to find yourself in a world of trouble. Like, Patrick Bateman from American Psycho kind of trouble! If you’re only considering the face (and bod), you may find yourself running away from a axe.
It’s the same with buying a flat. I’ve personally been burned by this with my own flat. After seeing a load of hideous properties, we saw this one. It looked so beautiful, I knew it was the one for me.
However, when we moved in – we realised that the beautifully painted walls were rotten, everything leaked and the boiler didn’t work, meaning we have to fork out thousands of pounds we didn’t have.
You’ve got to kiss some frogs…
You have to put a lot of time into finding the right partner, as most of us don’t get that love at first site thing. You go on lots of dates, you have lots of relationships that weren’t right and then you find the one – because you know what you like and what you don’t like. It all comes with experience.
It’s the same with house hunting. The best thing you can do – even if you’re not quite there with your mortgage etc. Is to start looking at properties ASAP. You can’t start too soon.
That way, you can see what’s out there, know what you can get for your money and know what is important to you. A second bedroom or a garden? A doer-upper or something smaller which needs no work? You don’t really know till you look.
You need advice from your friends
Ok, you meet someone and you’re smitten. They then need to meet your friends because they are the ones who know you – and can give you their honest feedback on the potential partner. They can see the situation clearly, where as you have love-googles on.
Again, its just the same with properties. You need people on your side who know what their doing, and can look at it objectively – such as The Law House Chiswick property solicitors. You don’t want to (necessarily) use the solicitors your estate agent suggests (they get a chunk of commission so aren’t thinking about what you need), you want to do your research and get recommendations.
We felt a lot of the time that no-one in the flat-buying process was on our side, apart from our lawyer. So choose carefully – you need a friend.
It costs so much money
Dating websites, new outfits, booze, meals, dates… It’s not cheap to be in the dating game and yeah, buying a property is incredibly expensive.
Lets ignore the obscene deposit and price properties are at the moment. You need builders, lawyers, estate agents – which all cost money.
And then there’s DIY and decorating which costs a huge amount on top of that.
But here’s the thing… it’s worth it. Getting a partner and getting a property isn’t necessarily easy, but its worth all the effort. Eventually…
Any similarities I’ve missed out? Let me know in the comments.