Out on the street!

House buying is probably the most stressful thing you can every do in your life.
Gerry and myself decided that it would be a better investment to buy a house than to rent
and pay some one else's morgage.

Not only that but the interest rates have gone up 5 times already in the last year here in the UK.
Thus if we don't get onto the property ladder now, we might never be able to climb the first rung.

We started the process in the middle of July and knew that it will be cut-throat to get a house
before the 23rd of August, the date we need to be out at the place we are currently renting.

Things were going smoothly and we couldn't have hoped for better, that was until today.

Our solicitor has received all the results from the searches being carried out and all that remained was
that she is waiting for the morgage instructions to come from Halifax. I phoned her this morning to see how
things are going, she urged me to phone our broker at Countrywide and find out what is up.

After speaking to our morgage broker, it turns out that the offer was send to the wrong solicitors and not only that
but the offer is only valid from Halifax if we use their recommended company, Hammonds Direct.
During the whole process we kept saying that we would like to use our own solicitor, our morgage broker was aware
of this at all times. Not once were we informed or our broker that the offer is only valid if we use the recommened
solicitors.

As it stands now, it seems our only option is to use Hammonds Direct and thus paying twice for solicitor fees.

Not only that, but since there is about a week left, it is more than likely that we will be sleeping in the streets
next thursday.