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On 09/04/2013 06:28 PM, Doctor John wrote:
> Welcome to the property-owning classes. You are now officially an
> enemy of the people :-D
>
> BTW extremely-belated congratulations on getting a 'real' job

Heh, thanks. We'll see how this works out... Unfortunately buying a 
house isn't like buying a loaf of bread. It's pretty complicated, slow, 
and risky. I might not actually end up getting this flat. But here's to 
hoping...

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>> Holy hell, I just bought a house. o_O
>
> Well done. :)

You can congratulate me *after* I actually get the keys. ;-)

>> (And now I'm suddenly feeling awfully twitchy about whether my job is as
>> secure as I think it is!)
>
> Welcome to adult life. :)

o_O

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On 09/04/13 18:41, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> Heh, thanks. We'll see how this works out... Unfortunately buying
> a house isn't like buying a loaf of bread. It's pretty complicated,
> slow, and risky. I might not actually end up getting this flat. But
> here's to hoping...
> 

The fact that you have even considered getting your own piece of terra
firma is evidence to me that you have advanced way beyond the person
that Stephen, Steve (the late) and I met some years ago. I salute you
(I am not being sarcastic)

John

- -- 
The level of my sarcasm depends upon the level of your stupidity
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Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Holy hell, I just bought a house. o_O
>
>
>
> ...well, OK, technically it's a flat. But the principle is the same.
> Hopefully in a few months I'll have a place of my own to live in.

guess all the organ humming finally got to your parents, huh? :)

> (And now I'm suddenly feeling awfully twitchy about whether my job is as
> secure as I think it is!)

only death is a sure bet in life

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On 09/04/2013 07:02 PM, Doctor John wrote:
> The fact that you have even considered getting your own piece of terra
> firma is evidence to me that you have advanced way beyond the person
> that Stephen, Steve (the late) and I met some years ago. I salute you
> (I am not being sarcastic)

Why thank you. :-)

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On Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:50:36 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>>> Holy hell, I just bought a house. o_O
>>
>> Well done. :)
> 
> You can congratulate me *after* I actually get the keys. ;-)

It's a step in the right direction - especially since I recall you saying 
a few years ago that you couldn't understand how anyone could afford to 
own a place of their own. :)

>>> (And now I'm suddenly feeling awfully twitchy about whether my job is
>>> as secure as I think it is!)
>>
>> Welcome to adult life. :)
> 
> o_O

There's no certainty in life.  When I bought my first home, I had moved 
1200 miles from where I grew up for a job with a company I'd never heard 
of (other than being referred by a friend and doing an interview when I 
was in town for a conference).  I stayed with that friend for about 6 
months before getting my own place.

I stayed with the job for 18 months.  Nearly lost the house because I 
didn't have the savings to pay the mortgage while I looked for work for 3 
months - and did a contract that didn't pay when they said they would 
(got paid 3 weeks after starting the new job, and the new job's first 
paycheck took 30 days to be paid - they were on a monthly pay schedule, 
and I started on the first of the month and payday was the last day of 
the month).

Having to deal with that uncertainty - by balancing income and 
expenditures, savings, and getting the bills paid - that's "adult life".  
My wife and I constantly are saying "I don't want to be an adult!", but 
we do it.

I'm nearly 2 years out of being laid off (next month, actually) - still 
in the house, still balancing income and expenses, and planning another 
move (this year) farther west.  I'm what's known in the US as a "1099 
employee" - essentially self-employed, but someone else handles my 
billing and organizing my contracts, and all my income is pre-tax, so I 
have to make quarterly estimates and pre-pay my taxes.  (The name comes 
from the form - a "1099" government form - that my income is reported to 
the government by my employer).

What I'm trying to say is that feeling twitchy about the job being secure 
is a good thing - that being twitchy about it is a normal part of adult 
life.  In life there are no guarantees, so keep doing a good job at work, 
and everything may well continue to work out well.  But I learned the 
hard way that even doing a good job at work isn't absolute prevention 
against being laid off (in my case, my contribution and ROI wasn't even 
considered - how much I cost was the only consideration, according to the 
decision maker who laid me off).

So keep feeling twitchy and be assured that that's normal and healthy.  
Move into the flat and have fun. :)

Jim

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On 09/04/2013 7:02 PM, Doctor John wrote:
> The fact that you have even considered getting your own piece of terra
> firma is evidence to me that you have advanced way beyond the person
> that Stephen, Steve (the late) and I met some years ago. I salute you
> (I am not being sarcastic)

Seconded.
I hope all goes well, it is not a bad time to buy.
We demand pictures of the house warming party. :-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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>> You can congratulate me *after* I actually get the keys. ;-)
>
> It's a step in the right direction - especially since I recall you saying
> a few years ago that you couldn't understand how anyone could afford to
> own a place of their own. :)

Heh, well... *technically* I'm only buying 30% of a flat. o_O Still one 
hell of a lot of money though - more money than I'll ever own.

It's kinda far from work. But that also means it's kinda far from my 
mother. ;-)

> There's no certainty in life.

Only Death.

> So keep feeling twitchy and be assured that that's normal and healthy.
> Move into the flat and have fun. :)

Well, here's to hoping. (As I say, I'll celebrate when I actually have 
the keys in my hand for real and I know nobody's going to call off the 
deal...)

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On Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:25:12 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>>> You can congratulate me *after* I actually get the keys. ;-)
>>
>> It's a step in the right direction - especially since I recall you
>> saying a few years ago that you couldn't understand how anyone could
>> afford to own a place of their own. :)
> 
> Heh, well... *technically* I'm only buying 30% of a flat. o_O Still one
> hell of a lot of money though - more money than I'll ever own.

I've learned never to say "never" about such things.  :)

> It's kinda far from work. But that also means it's kinda far from my
> mother. ;-)

Which is a good thing (trust me; I love my mum, but some distance has 
been good for the relationship, too).

>> There's no certainty in life.
> 
> Only Death.

Well, and taxes. ;)

>> So keep feeling twitchy and be assured that that's normal and healthy.
>> Move into the flat and have fun. :)
> 
> Well, here's to hoping. (As I say, I'll celebrate when I actually have
> the keys in my hand for real and I know nobody's going to call off the
> deal...)

That's the right attitude. :)

Jim

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> Holy hell, I just bought a house. o_O

Congratulations - good move! Did you move closer to work? :-D

> (And now I'm suddenly feeling awfully twitchy about whether my job is as
> secure as I think it is!)

What's the worst that's going to happen? Even if somehow the company 
goes bankrupt and can't afford to pay you from tomorrow onwards most 
banks are pretty good with giving you a few months leeway to find a new 
job without evicting you. Or to be super-safe just make sure you have 
enough money to pay a few months mortgage without a job.

My sister's boyfriend is just like that, for the last 10 years he's been 
worried about his job and they've never bought anywhere. They must have 


 > Heh, thanks. We'll see how this works out... Unfortunately buying a
 > house isn't like buying a loaf of bread. It's pretty complicated, slow,
 > and risky.

If you think this is complicated and slow, wait until you have somewhere 
to sell at the same time, *that* is slow :-) Seriously though the whole 
system is arcane and solely exists to keep solicitors and estate agents 
highly paid. I recommend finding a solicitor that's happy to do 
everything by email (many still want to send stupid letters for even 
very simple things).

 > I might not actually end up getting this flat. But here's to
 > hoping...

What stage are you at then? Make sure you keep asking your solicitor 
that you've done and signed all you need to as early as possible, and 
then ask what they're waiting for to move forward.

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