My partner and I moved into our first home in August 2023, after officially completing the purchase in March 2023. We’ve officially been home owners for a 3 whole years – something at one point I never thought I’d be able to say. My goal was always to move out and have my own home by the time I was 30 and with literally 3 days to spare (we moved on the 31st August, my birthday is on the 4th September), I did it. I was a first time buyer!
It all happened later than I ideally wanted it to but life certainly doesn’t always go to plan and due to various circumstances, it was only by the time I was 30 that I was able to not only be a first time buyer and afford my own home but also be in a position where I could realistically manage living in my own home and all the things that come with that.
Even though my anxiety took a large chunk of my 20’s from me (which I’m still massively bitter about), I still always dreamed of owning my own home one day. Even if it seemed like a pipe dream at the time, I still always held on to the hope that one day.
And that one day happened for me in 2023 and it’s been a huge learning curve since. Boy oh boy.
There is so much involved with owning your own home and being a first time buyer. I wouldn’t say I went into it naively. I was prepared but I wasn’t at the same time. I knew what would be involved but wasn’t sure how I was going to cope with it.
Some things I’ve realised I actually quite enjoy. Other things I’ve quickly learnt that I absolutely hate.
Which I suspect is the same for most people!
So in this post, I’m going to share some things I’ve learnt about home ownership as a first time buyer, both in terms of the house buying process and everything involved with owning and maintaining a house itself. Eeek, here we go.
Here are 7 things I’ve learnt about home ownership and being a first time buyer since buying my own home:
The novelty wears off quickly
Buying and house, moving, decorating and all the exciting things that come with home ownership is great but the novelty wears off really quickly once you’re in the house and realise “ah shit, I gotta keep this place tidy now”! Of course it’s exciting but there’s always so much to do that unfortunately that can override the excitement!
The house buying process is an absolute pain in the arse
Before you even get in your house, you have to go through the house buying process and my goodness, I didn’t realise what a process that would be. Luckily, the previous owners were really lovely and made things really easy for us and we had a fantastic mortgage advisor as well but I was shocked at how stressful – even with this help – the process was.
I had never had so much paperwork to do in my life. I had the mortgage advisor and the solicitor both asking us for 5 or 6 different forms and documents at the same time, from bank statements to tax returns to utility bills, passports, driving licenses, you name it. I definitely had a few days where my brain felt like it was going to explode from all of this.
There’s always something going wrong
Since owning this house, it has taught us this lesson in abundance! When you own a house, there’s always something going wrong. In January, our toilet backed up into our shower. In February, our washing machine broke. In March, our new washing machine wasn’t fitted correctly and had flooded under the flooring right into my office. So I had to have an entire new floor fitted in my office. Not ideal when you’re trying to save the pennies!
And there’s always something to do
And even without something going wrong, there’s still always something to do. If you want your home to be clean and tidy, you must be in a perpetual state of cleaning 100% of the time. Otherwise it’s a mess. There’s always washing to do, shopping to buy, things to put away, bills to pay, phone calls to make – it’s endless. And not very fun.
Decorating never ends
We had a good 6 months of an empty house before we moved in, so we got a lot of decorating done then which was a huge weight off out shoulders for when we actually moved in. But, even now, years later, there’s still so much left to do and so much we haven’t got around to yet.
I had this vision in my head that by Christmas 2023, our entire house would be decorated, everything would be finished and all the rooms would look lovely. That’s been FAR from reality! That’s one aspect I was very naïve about.
Having your own space will never get old
One positive – because I guess there has to be one doesn’t there – is that having your own space will never get old. My partner and I both lived at my parent’s house for over 5 years and whilst I’m obviously grateful we were able to do that, it was an absolute nightmare at times. Especially as the house was small!
Having a 5 bedroom house all to ourselves has been literal heaven. Not being on top on one another all the time and both my partner and I both able to have our own space (my home office and he has his own room for his stuff as well) has been incredible!
And when my partner is at work at I’m at home, God, I love just being able to mooch around my house by myself, without having to talk to anyone or answer to anyone. I love the quiet – I’m an introvert, so alone time is important to me.
You’re not as clean as you thought you were
Living at home with my parents, I basically had my own room to look after. It was always as clean and tidy as I could manage on a daily basis and it was only a small room, so it didn’t take particularly long to clean anyway. Comparing that with a whole house and it’s very hard to keep on top of the cleaning!
If I could afford a cleaner, I would 100% have one. I love a clean and tidy home but sometimes, it’s just not doable, especially when we both work, I have two jobs and we have a puppy. It’s a bit of a bug bear but it is was it is.
