A popular line I used to use all through my school years when I was asked to write a "story" invariably I'd get to a certain point and be bored shitless with what I was writing and want to do something else, namely play with Lego bricks and Star Wars action figures!
It amazes me though how at 31 I find the title of this entry back with me again, but this time I'm not trying to get away from something as tedious as a story, but instead, I've woken up to the "real script" of my life.
I carried around this vision, a belief of how my life was going to pan out and I've clung tightly to it for at least 8 years now but the time has come to let it go, I don't know what world I was living in but it wasn't real and I've come to terms with the fact that I'm now 30 something and I'll have to settle for less, I'm very disappointed on one hand, happily ever after has gone from a big picture with amazing colours in it to a faded out black and white 6 x 4 photo, gone dog-eared at the corners, clearly showing it's age, but on the other hand I've got re-newed clarity of vision and I know where I want to go next.
Over the last few days, I've sat down and had a decent look at my finances, which I'm pleased to say are in excellent shape, I'm putting together a plan for the next six months and that plan loosely consists of getting my own place.
Yes I am well aware of the biggest commodity bubble in our history, but with that I'm far from being born yesterday, I've now got a target area in mind that I wish to buy in and I'm ecstatic to see the properties stuck fast in the market and going nowhere fast.
The area I now have in my sights is well know for being a young professional area, thankfully it was one of the last areas to be built (well converted actually) that doesn't require compliance with social housing laws.
"You F*$£in snob" I hear you cry! Yes, I have no qualms about this, I have no desire to live with the dregs of society, and why the hell can't I be fussy? I've bust my nuts for the best part of 8 years to get money aside to live somewhere, where my car won't get broken in to and where there are no kids kicking footballs around in the street and late night calls from 'dealers' to the premises around me.
Within the next 6 months or so, I expect to see at least two, maybe even three base rate increases, not good news for a lot of people, but works just fine with me, base rate increases change the perception of the property market, it becomes clear to the “sheeple” that ALL investments, be they houses or stocks and shares can go up and down, and I have no issues at all about putting in offers well below the asking price - I don't tend to remotely consider paying "RRP" on much these days, haggling is the name of the game and anyone who considers paying the asking price needs their head read.
The beauty of this situation is that I have all the time in the world and a lot of property owners quite simply don't and I'll use whatever method I can to make these people see the days for sitting in your house and then walking away with obscene profits for doing nothing at all are over, my first targets will be the properties with "No Upper Chain" these places are there for the taking, they indicate that in the majority of circumstances someone has moved in with a partner or even bought a second property in advance of selling their old one (Stupid and foolish) or it belongs to the scourge of the first time buyer, the Buy to Let landlord, I've worked out how much I'll be happy to pay each month and with help from a friend I've got a decent idea on maintenance and ground rent costs.
With my cash savings and various investments due to mature in 2008 I'm confident I can fix the payments on the mortgage for two years and once the investments I have mature, I can withdraw them and kill off a decent lump of what I owe.
So that's the plan, I'm stood in front of my easel, the old black and white picture scrunched up by my right foot and I have a paint brush in one hand and my script in the other, I've spoken before about my lack of artistic talent, so clearly what I paint on the canvas isn't going to look as good as the once colorful dream I clung to, but it'll be all my own work and if nothing else, it'll be real.