We're looking at that barn again.

Two posts earlier we talked about a property that we put offers on, which were rejected.  The owners have now set a closing date (Scottish legal system), which means that if we do want the house we need to submit our best offer.  Sealed bids, so we won't know what other people have offered. Therefore, you bid the maximum you're prepared to pay... or to put it another way, the maximum price at which you'd be happy to lose it to another bidder because you wouldn't go any higher anyway.  Such a crappy system for the buyer, but great for the seller.  Even in today's terrible property market, where few people are buying, it's very hard not to overbid because properties like this are rare.  Anyway, we've revisited the place and decided that we want it!

So we now need to do several things:

1. Get a survey.
   We can't get a mortgage offer without a survey. But the crap thing is we have to fork out for a survey when we haven't even had an offer accepted, and might not win the sealed bidding process. So the £500-900 could just be wasted.
   We also need to be sure that the place is structurally sound, since it's an old partially-converted barn,
   We could make our offer 'subject to survey' but that would make us a less appealing buyer to the seller.
   
2. Perhaps get building estimates. But perhaps not. We want the place even if the work needed exceeds our current budget. We'll just take longer to do it.
   
3. Find a mortgage.  Which financial institution? What kind of mortgage?  What is going to happen with interest rates? What can we afford? Aaargh!  It's all Questions and no Answers!!
   
4. Get hold of (and read) various legal documents from the seller's estate agent. Urgh.

Good job I've resigned from my job at the local cafe.  It was taking up too much of my time, and I was training other people more than I was learning stuff so it was no longer beneficial to work there. Good experience for a while though.

Also, whilst up in Aberfeldy we spotted an existing cafe for sale.  This is potentially good news, as finding an appropriate unit in the right location, at the right price, with the right planning approval, etc etc etc is tough, particularly in a small village.  We need to investigate.