I could hear the car door open, felt his warm touch on my hand and heard his gentle voice inviting me to walk out. I was blindfolded. He held my hand. The gravel underneath my feet changed to smooth flooring and we stopped. He let go and I heard a door opening. The blindfold dropped.

What lay in front of me was an elegantly furnished, open-plan living and dining space. He whispered into my ear: “Happy anniversary my love. I might have gone a little bit overboard with my gift. I bought us a house.”

Maybe I watch too much telly. But you’ve got to admit that was quite well told. But back to real life where, unless you’re going out with landed gentry or royalty, you have to work hard and spend months, if not years, searching for a property. Once you’ve found it, say hello to notary fees, taxes, a bank loan and deposit, and all other expenses you need to budget for. Then comes the search for workmen, the chasing after them and endless visits to check that the works are being done correctly. Deadlines are stretched beyond elasticity point.

As dramatic and discouraging as this may sound, it’s all well worth it. Your first property means independence, responsibility, and a space designed to your tastes and moods. So, without further ado, let’s go through some things I learnt when buying your my house.

Budget

This might sound obvious, and yet there are so many items that even my annoyingly organised partner missed out on some things. First, you need to prepare a spreadsheet – we created a shared copy on Google Drive so we could access it anytime, anywhere.

Decide on your total budget (including unexpected expenses – trust me, you will run into these) and log them in your spreadsheet. The place itself, taxes, notary fees, architect fees – all go in.

If you’re buying a brand new semi-finished place like we did, you also need to include all the works, furniture and finishings. Once again, put a buffer in your budget to avoid nasty surprises.

Let the home hunt begin

We tried several agencies – some were good while others were a complete waste of time. In the meantime we’d always buy the paper and scan the classifieds for any new property. We’d call some owners and view the places but nothing seemed to tick all the boxes. At one point we got so tired of estate agents that we decided to spend our precious weekends driving around, hunting for ‘For Sale’ signs. In the end, we contacted an agent recommended by a friend, and he was the key to our new home.

My advice is to stop wasting your time with estate agents who don’t show you what you’re asking for. We always advised agents what we wanted. Initially we’d close an eye on those estate agents who would show us what we had clearly marked as a big ‘no’ – eventually, we learned that if someone won’t bother to go through your list, then that person is not worth your time.

Pay up

You should always go to the banks in advance to get an idea of the amount of money they can lend you – but now it’s time for negotiations. When it comes to getting a home loan you need to bounce back and forth from one bank to the other so that they can give you their best offer in terms of interest rate. Other than that, look for a good notary and make sure that before you sign anything, they list down every single item the owner of the place you’re buying has to finish before you buy the place.

Get your creative juices flowing

This is my favourite part of the deal. I’ve flipped through interior design books for ideas, bought magazines, searched online, spent hours on Pinterest. We ordered most of our furniture locally (after months of visiting furniture stores), however we’ve also ordered some items from other EU countries. The thing is, we both love good quality furniture but we’re also on a budget, and we noticed the quality furniture here can cost quite a bomb. When it comes to buying kitchen and bedroom furniture, we couldn’t risk getting something without having seen it physically – but for items such as office desks, we got a really good deal online. I’m also a mega Etsy fan, so once the place is all done up (we’re currently still getting the works done), I’m going to order quite a few handmade items for the place.

And… the headaches

Not everything is within your control. You will find workmen who you would have booked months in advance and yet will still drag their feet. In all fairness, my partner and I were quite lucky in comparison to some of our friends. A friend of mine, for example, paid a plasterer in advance and the guy left him hanging for several months. My tip here is never forget the saying ‘you get what you pay for’. Our workmen charged more than my friend’s, but they gave us a better service. Also, never pay anyone before the work is finished and sign an agreement which clearly states the works to be carried out, any deposit involved and a deadline, including penalty fees for delays.

This is as far as my partner and I got with our first place. It’s tiring and stressful, but I’m really looking forward to the end result. I can’t wait for the house-warming parties.