First-time buyer jitters ahead of exchange — reassurance please!

[BuyingWoes]

We're in the process of buying our first property, and assuming things go according to plan, should be exchanging early next week. I'm terrified! The whole process has felt incredibly adversarial, with the solicitors at each others' throats all along (theirs was rude and obstructive, ours was obsessively thorough — which I would've thought was a good thing, but it seems to have really irritated the seller), creating a sense of bad feeling, and making me wonder if we'd be better off just staying in rented accommodation. We've saved enough that we're buying with cash, but the thought of putting all our money into this one physical thing scares me. What if it loses loads of value? What's the worst thing that could happen? At least with renting everything is very predictable (albeit with a lot less space than we'll have once we've bought). I think rationally I know that renting is not the best option long term given that we can afford to buy, but I just feel so uneasy. I think I've got it in my head that because we're spending so much, it needs to be everything we want, and I keep cycling round the things we compromised on. We haven't seen anything else in the area that we'd be prepared to offer on, and we have some quite restrictive non-negotiables, so it's not like there are many options to choose from.

I think I'm just looking for some reassurance, and for people to tell me why I needn't worry so much. Maybe some stories from those who were in a similar position, and it all turned out well in the end. I don't think I'm seriously considering pulling out or anything, but I know I'm going to feel sick at least until completion, and probably for a while afterwards. I just want to feel good about it, and to hear that it's not such a big risk after all (if you believe that to be true). Thanks in advance!

[inmylifeIlovedthemall]

I think you are worrying unnecessarily.

I am pretty sure you have posted about this purchase before and it is evident from what you are saying here that you are very nervous.

It is a big investment, but what you are investing in will be yours. No more wasted money on rent. No more risk of having to move at someone else's whim and a home that you can do what you like with.

Yes it might go down in value, if the market drops, but aside from the investment value you have the properties intrinsic value as a home. You only realise a loss if you have to sell when the market is depressed.

I bought my first house more years ago than I care to remember, have lived through property crashes, two periods of negative equity and 13% + interest rates. My property now (several houses later) is worth 50-60 times what that first house cost me and I am mightily relieved that I took the plunge when I did.

Please stop worrying and start getting excited about your new home.

[BuyingWoes]

Thanks @inmylifeIlovedthemall, this is the kind of thing I need to hear. Yes, I'm very nervous. I am indecisive at the best of times, and this hasn't exactly been smooth-sailing, so I'm a bit of a wreck. Our sellers basically refused to keep answering enquiries from our solicitor, I think because their solicitor told them he was going overboard (the questions were mostly from him rather than us — he is just very thorough, and we didn't know any better), but I can't help wondering if we'll have missed some problems by letting it go. I'm not sure what big problems there could realistically be, but I don't cope well with uncertainty.

[soonshimmie]

With your solicitor being so thorough they are unlikely to let something go unanswered that was major are they? It will be small things which, let's face it, irrelevant.

My solicitor was like this and it was annoying as I didn't care about most of the things she was querying by the end.

It's always going to be scary but if you're paying with cash then your life is about to become rent/mortgage free. That is going to be so liberating.

A house that has 'everything you want' is a pie in the sky, there's always going to be something but once that a house is yours you will feel safe and you can do what you want with it to make it just how you want it.
If the location is right you can't go wrong either.

Good luck!

[Turmerictolly]

If you don't want to use all of your cash, why not get a small mortgage so you have a good chunk of savings still? That will give you some peace of mind and you can overpay the mortgage.

[UpTheJunktion]

@Turmerictolly

If you don't want to use all of your cash, why not get a small mortgage so you have a good chunk of savings still? That will give you some peace of mind and you can overpay the mortgage.

Because they are due to exchange next week! Throwing something like that into the mix would cause a huge delay, more bureaucracy and potentially the vendors would miss the SDLT holiday deadline for their onward purchase…

OP, well done, you have done brilliantly to put yourselves in such a strong position as to buy a house mortgage free. You can now save the money you spent on rent, alongside the amount you have been saving for the house to build up new savings, towards house maintenance, your future, your next bigger house or whatever.

Investment in a house is owning bricks and mortar. There may be times when the value dips but the rises again. It’s worth it because you save the money you paid out in rent, and if the value of your house dips, so does the value of any other house you might buy with the proceeds. What you have now is the value of a house and home. Invaluable!

Insurance covers the other worries!

(You are preparing to buy buildings insurance in place by the time you complete, aren’t you?)

Congratulations, OP, and good luck.

[GhoulWithADragonTattoo]

The process of buying is annoying and scary but you’ll be so happy once your in!

[NoSquirrels]

It’s a really common feeling, OP.

Buyer’s remorse! I practically wept the day we moved into our very first property, it seemed so different to how I’d built it up in my head.

And then the worst thing happened - it was a doer-upper in a big block and 2 months after we moved in, the huge, very expensive 100yr+ roof failed and required every leaseholder (share of freehold) to pay a massive increase in charges over 3 years to pay for it. And we had scaffolding and builders everywhere for ages... Our solicitor should have queried the reserves held in the accounts against this but to be honest we’d probably have bought anyway. And so we had to spend any money we’d earmarked to save on roof repairs invisible to us whilst the flat was still awful - shit kitchen, terrible decor etc. We crippled ourselves with a loan for the bathroom it was so bad. And then then the markets crashed and property prices went down...

But you know what? We were happy there despite it! And we held onto it and when we eventually sold 10+ years later we made a fortune (relatively speaking).

Houses are a long game. They’re part investment (all that cash!) and part heart, that’s why it’s so nerve-inducing. You’re spending shit loads on something that needs to fill you with ease and comfort on a daily basis. So most people feel nervous and a lot of people experience a bit of a “oh shit what have we done” time when they move. But it passes, I promise.

The worst that could happen is you move in and find there’s an unexpected issue that costs money and now you have to pay, not your landlord. But you’ll be fine! Most things aren’t so urgent they can’t wait a bit, and if you were a cash buyer you either have a really good ability to save or you can raise a loan on the property to pay for its maintenance.