King of the Castle

As I trundled my way to work on this beautiful sunny Sunday just past, I took in the familiar sights and sounds of the delightful city me and my husband are lucky to call home. Many things about that walk were the same, my legs were stiff, muscles in my arm sore and I felt the usual foggy headedness that plagues me every morning in the hour and half before my medication kicks in. But there was one thing that had significantly changed, the air was fresher, the sky bluer and as if someone had thrown the gates opened wide and beckoned us in like old friends, the whole city became a world of opportunity, that which finally opened Saturday when we were told we're eligible for a mortgage.

Now today we feel that York has welcomed us wholeheartedly to the world of property ownership, a city people travel thousands of miles to see. It is a milestone that was at one point so very far away, now at arms length.
Both aged thirty two, myself and the lovely Supermark are some of the last of our friends to be venturing into the world of home ownership and considerably older than what our parents were when buying their first home. The financial crisis has made buying your first home almost impossible if you weren't in the fortunate position of having parental assistance with your downpayment. The lack of affordable mortgages and sky high rents have hindered the chances of saving significant amounts for the most hardworking and financially savvy of us. The answer to the problem? Patience and the sacrificing of little luxuries or a bed at mum and dads rent free for a year. Being a newly married couple in our late 20's I needn't say which was the obvious choice!
With all the above mentioned difficulties in saving for our first home we had the added complications of my health. Once upon a time earning a very good and above average wage myself, we had to learn to readjust and reassess our complete lifestyle. Nothing trashes your career and finances better than Lupus flare with accompanying kidney failure. So six months of not working plus a year of working part time or not at all made a huge sink hole in our savings, it took just over another six months of me finally working full time again and a fabulous ISA for us to start filling it in and have some solid ground in order to save.
So that took us to about fourteen months ago and on Saturday we trundled into town in our smart - casual best, were taken up a winding staircase into the lofty heights of our bank and sat in front of an intelligent man in a smart shirt, and in a situation so familiar to us in hospital rooms over the years, we hoped that the intelligent man in the smart shirt would analyse the facts and figures in front of him and give us the good news we hoped for.
The hour sat in that glass walled office was far more nerve wracking than any consultant appointment at the hospital. An unqualified medic in the field of lupus, I can understand my test results and know my symptoms, but the lengthy explanation of finances, mortgages, percentages and legal jargon left me totally reliant on this friendly stranger.Of course, it was a happy ending to the meeting, a rare treat for us and we skipped our way to the nearest pub to celebrate.
So now the really hard bit begins and the terrifying descent into surveys, solicitors and astonishingly high amounts of money takes over our lives.
It's scary, especially knowing that at any point I could become ill again and this massive financial burden could fall entirely on my husband. But you can't put your life on hold for a bunch of 'what if's' so we forge ahead, and in the meantime think of a interesting way to explain to the bank why it's only Mark who can get life insurance.