And I had to put down a deposit of 5 per cent, to match the builders first-time-buyer incentive of a 5 per cent deposit paid, known as a gifted deposit. My legal fees, but not the cost of the search or the stamp duty, would also be paid.
But the best bit of all was that I negotiated to pay my deposit by instalments, whereby my portion of the 5 per cent would be paid monthly in the run-up to completion.
The only thing that worried me was the conditional 28-day window. Once I’d reserved the flat, my solicitors and adviser would have 28 days to help me exchange. This seemed a bit odd considering the flats are not likely to be ready until next May, but apparently that’s the way these things are done.
I opted to spend a week, admittedly one awash with red wine and good food in the South of France, to debate the pros and cons.
One of the big cons was that if I signed up for the flat I had ten months to save nearly £10,000 and there was only one way of doing that moving back to my mums.
The pro, and a big one, is that if I could bear some hardship like not buying any clothes, cutting back on entertainment and learning to love Oxfam I would have my very own two-bed bit of luxury.
My mind was made up.
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