How to renovate for first time buyers.

Having never owned a home and never renovated a property, entering the world of mortgages and building work for the very first time is a pretty scary prospect.

Buying a house in the middle of the countryside, with no mains gas for heating and a house with electrics that look like they were installed when the house was built is all pretty daunting but with a lot of research and a lot of bartering costs down things are now starting to come together.

First on the list to attend to was getting the house secure and feeling safe so the locks are changed making it feel like the house is actually ours and none of the previous rental tenants would have the possibility of letting themselves in with a spare key.

Before we can really access where and how and what heating to install we decided the best plan of action was to gut the property to see what we are left with and then make a plan from there. Once the smashing had begun our little Cornish home started to get a little bit bigger, with unpractical kitchens removed to exposed blocked off larders and double fireplaces built just for show we certainly have gained a lot more room in the house. Now to sit back and take in the space and do some research on what's the most practical heating to get in the house and how to make it as warm as possible for a cheap as possible.

Wrapped up in duvets drinking hot tea, now for the research on lpg heating, oil heating, eco friendly wood pellet heating and insulation. I never ever thought my friday nights would consist of so much research and so little pub action.

Here's to being a first time house owner during a recession and building on a budget.

We found our little Cornish Home

well after a very long six months of waiting yesterday we finally were able to collect the keys to our new house. 

It seamed a very long time ago back in April when we put the offer on on this property but one thing lead to another and the house was taken back of the market. However to our surprise a few weeks later the house was back on the books at the estate agents office...

We put our offer in again and this was accepted. But like an early pregnancy we were reluctant to tell anyone in case it fell through again. 

Well yesterday was the day to collect the keys and the house is officially ours, Now we officially have our first time buyer virginity removed! With the whole family, parents, nieces the lot we ventured to the house and started to work out where to begin with the lengthy renovation. Having never renovated a house before i was feeling pretty overwhelmed with the boys talking about ripping bits up here and taking walls down there and the order to create this chaos.

Now just to move all our boxes from our rented home to our very own home and to let the building work begin, Now i've never done any building or even home decorating so this could be very interesting and very testing on our relationship in our new home. 

 Having only been in the house 5 minutes James had already 'accidentally' pulled a cupboard door off!

Very proud new owners.

The search for a house continues

With constant e-mail alerts telling us about prospective suitable properties and lots of trawling the internet for somewhere to call home we are finally going to look at a house this week. It ticks a lot of the boxes that both myself and James require so will see how this one turns out and will keep you all updated on the progress of buying our very first house.

Welcome to A Little Cornish Home

Hello and welcome to our blog a little Cornish Home. We are Amanda and James and we have been together nearly 5 years and during that time have lived in a multitude of Cornish property. From House shares in Falmouth and Truro whilst Amanda was at college to flats over looking watergate bay. We have now found ourselves spending the last few years in a beautiful cottage on a farm, it's a wonderful house, large, quiet, spacious, beautiful, modern, warm and safe. It's perfect but it is just not ours.

This is our journey from renting to mortgaging and renovating. James works for a local housing association and spends his time organising other peoples houses to be refurbished and repaired and i'm a self confessed 'locationlocationlocation' addict wishing one day kirsty and phil could help us to take the plunge into buying a house.

Well over 5 years of renting later and £1000's given to various landlords it is time to leave the security blanket of rented homes and step onto the steep scary property ladder.

This is our story of first time buyers, first time renovators and living the Cornish dream.

All we have to do now is find a house and buy it...... Where do we start???