Tuesday 30 September 2014
Tuesday 23 September 2014
The Dancing Bears did their first trade!
Well, two actually.
Great news; long may it continue. David referred to the Bear Garden as his real work, today, and the HAB has been relegated to just his 'old job'. He seems really happy, and as long the Ringmaster can 'walk the walk', all will be great. [We know he can 'talk the talk'!]
Good vibes.
Great news; long may it continue. David referred to the Bear Garden as his real work, today, and the HAB has been relegated to just his 'old job'. He seems really happy, and as long the Ringmaster can 'walk the walk', all will be great. [We know he can 'talk the talk'!]
Good vibes.
Monday 15 September 2014
I really like my new camera...
...BUT, I'm not convinced the low light shots are all that great, and boy is it memory hungry!
Still, it zooms really well, and the fast shutter mode is very entertaining; I watched in 'stop motion' the spider by the front door building a web - great fun.
Still, it zooms really well, and the fast shutter mode is very entertaining; I watched in 'stop motion' the spider by the front door building a web - great fun.
Friday 12 September 2014
HH24 - 12.09.14 - One last rant!
If I tried to insure a car, and told them it would cost me £15,000 to replace a 20-year-old Fiesta, the insurance company would likely tell me I'm 'having a laugh' and (maybe) provide a quote for £500, and that would be Third Party cover only.
If I wanted to know the replacement value before calling the insurers I could look up in Glass's Guide how much the hypothetical Fiesta would be worth...
If I wanted to know the replacement value before calling the insurers I could look up in Glass's Guide how much the hypothetical Fiesta would be worth...
HH23 - finale! - 03.09.14 - Re-posting: Happy Birthday, Dad!
Well, it would be if you were still with us...
A bitter-sweet day (in some ways): I (still) miss my adored father, but we did splash out and buy ourselves the biggest present ever! I'm sure he would be fantastically happy for us - I've finally become a second-time buyer after 20 years in the first-time home, and it's a house, too. There's going to be more sadness, too, as he can't come and do the building work for me, but I think he would be pleased I've returned to the countryside and already feel "settled".
A bitter-sweet day (in some ways): I (still) miss my adored father, but we did splash out and buy ourselves the biggest present ever! I'm sure he would be fantastically happy for us - I've finally become a second-time buyer after 20 years in the first-time home, and it's a house, too. There's going to be more sadness, too, as he can't come and do the building work for me, but I think he would be pleased I've returned to the countryside and already feel "settled".
HH22 - 02.09.14 - Ready to complete...
Helle has received the mortgage money from Barclays and is happy with the (finally forthcoming) insurance, so we are all "good to go"...
So why haven't we 'done the deed' today?
So why haven't we 'done the deed' today?
HH21 - 29.08.14 - Helle has exchanged this afternoon...
In the space of writing a post saying "I hope we will exchange contracts this afternoon", Helle had done that very thing.
And from her car at the side of a road; most impressive!
And from her car at the side of a road; most impressive!
HH20 - 29.08.14 - Still waiting on the corrected offer...
Apparently, it has been issued [although as no-one has yet seen it, and the "Follow Your Application" link we have been given doesn't let you look at any documents (why?)] - Ashley noticed the error on the 15th, and today is the 29th; it's all just adding to the stretched-out/stressed-out feeling of life at the moment...
HH19 - 21.08.14 - Health issues - Spoiler Alert: contains pictures of dental treatment!
I'm (pretty) sure most/all my health problems have been caused (directly or indirectly) by trying to feel less stressed/stuck by the whole (nearly two-and-a-half-year) house-hunting process... And the stress of house-hunting [practically every weekend, with only a little 'time off for good behaviour'!] for as long as we did has to have had a knock-on effect on my health [stress has an inflammatory effect, so I'm hoping all will be well now]?
We've been mostly in England, so no stays in France for me and gardening/country walking for exercise - there are nine schools around us that all use the same bus stop, so I've felt desperately curtailed when I can walk from home; the pavements are dangerous, and I've been shoved into the path of cars more than a few times (as have much smaller schoolkids, which makes me mad).
We've been mostly in England, so no stays in France for me and gardening/country walking for exercise - there are nine schools around us that all use the same bus stop, so I've felt desperately curtailed when I can walk from home; the pavements are dangerous, and I've been shoved into the path of cars more than a few times (as have much smaller schoolkids, which makes me mad).
HH18 - 15.08.14 - Just received our mortgage offer!
Not quite as high as we'd hoped, but do-able - belt tightening, and we may have to delay some minor works [like getting the roof fixed?], so I'm just back to the finger-crossing as I'm terrified of counting those chickens just yet...
But I think I can hear cheeping...?
But I think I can hear cheeping...?
HH17 - 14.08.14 - Broadband "speed"
HH16 - 08.08.14 - Hoops, hoops, hoops and more hoops!
Can't remember where I'd got to on the house-hunting front story.
Santander/Abbey finally turned us down for the mortgage, and the appeal (about a week ago). Rob [fantastic mortgage advisor] had already given up on them and started the process off applying with Barclays/Woolwich - we'd already got the survey booked with them before the appeal was denied by Santander, so very glad he's taken that approach.
Santander/Abbey finally turned us down for the mortgage, and the appeal (about a week ago). Rob [fantastic mortgage advisor] had already given up on them and started the process off applying with Barclays/Woolwich - we'd already got the survey booked with them before the appeal was denied by Santander, so very glad he's taken that approach.
HH15 - 04.07.14 - Hah!
As I was posting about the wren, I saw my previous post, and as I say: "Hah!"
That was then, this is now.
We got gazumped on the place in Pluckley [fabulous house, but a semi- facing the "wrong" way, and footpath right down the side of the garden, bisecting the land, but RIGHT by the station, so perfect for David, and I could have made the house and garden wonderful!].
That was then, this is now.
We got gazumped on the place in Pluckley [fabulous house, but a semi- facing the "wrong" way, and footpath right down the side of the garden, bisecting the land, but RIGHT by the station, so perfect for David, and I could have made the house and garden wonderful!].
HH14 - 03.04.114 - Offer accepted!
I'm absolutely shattered [which is why I didn't post yesterday] - I'm still doing the rehab from the shoulder injuries, so all exercise that isn't walking can leave me pretty wiped out, and the myo-fascial release treatments really shake up my system and leave me feeling weak - but what's actually left me feeling filletted is finally having an asking price offer on a house accepted!
HH13 - 07.11.13 - Search agent
We've been looking for a house (so far unfruitfully) for long enough that we've "given in"...
Last Friday we met with Claire and Paul and have signed up with them, finally sending all the bumf to them yesterday. This morning I received an email from Claire saying they are starting the search for us today.
Please keep your fingers crossed for us that they will be successful on our behalf!
Last Friday we met with Claire and Paul and have signed up with them, finally sending all the bumf to them yesterday. This morning I received an email from Claire saying they are starting the search for us today.
Please keep your fingers crossed for us that they will be successful on our behalf!
Reboot - random not-posted post from 29.08.13
I watched Joe Cross's documentary "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" the other day, and was absolutely inspired by his 60 juice "fast" [I believe a fast to be abstaining from all food, and taking in only water, whereas what he did was a 'juice diet' (and, no, not all diets are for weight loss!), but if that's my only quibble, I'm good!].
It's time I did a detox again - I'm mentally ready, and not doing much exercise (other than walking) because Sally the (absolutely lovely) hand therapist giving me physio for my wrist has said not to do weight-bearing exercises [so no yoga, pilates, Body Balance], and don't go starting weights at home or in the gym, and she agrees about not going swimming until the infection in the scar has cleared up...
It's time I did a detox again - I'm mentally ready, and not doing much exercise (other than walking) because Sally the (absolutely lovely) hand therapist giving me physio for my wrist has said not to do weight-bearing exercises [so no yoga, pilates, Body Balance], and don't go starting weights at home or in the gym, and she agrees about not going swimming until the infection in the scar has cleared up...
HH12 - 12.06.13 - Bad news...
Rob called David late this morning, and broke the news that we'd been "substantially" outbid on the Old Old People's Home.
HH11 - 07.06.13 - I think I'm going to explode!
I just had an email from David - he's spoken with Rob the estate agent, and now it's just a waiting game until the trust decide...
The trust decide?!?
The trust decide?!?
HH10 - 07.06.13 - Sealed bids
David has emailed our best offer to Rob - so now all we can do is keep our fingers crossed!
I spoke with Emma [another estate agent] yesterday, and she's not surprised we are bidding on a complicated sale or a property that needs massive amounts of work doing on it. Perhaps she knows us [me] better than we know ourselves? She said she can't imagine us moving into a house that needs no work, even if the grounds are a complete "project"...
I spoke with Emma [another estate agent] yesterday, and she's not surprised we are bidding on a complicated sale or a property that needs massive amounts of work doing on it. Perhaps she knows us [me] better than we know ourselves? She said she can't imagine us moving into a house that needs no work, even if the grounds are a complete "project"...
HH9 - 06.06.13 - Rats!
David had a call from Rob yesterday - another bidder has appeared 'out of the woodwork' and put in another offer on the Old Old People's Home - sounds over twenty thousand pounds more than our offer.
We upped our offer to the top of the range listed, but he said it's likely to go to best and final offers.
We upped our offer to the top of the range listed, but he said it's likely to go to best and final offers.
HH8 - 01.06.13 - "Don't Panic!"
OK, so there was no need to panic - Jyotin has got an Agreement In Principle [which should satisfy the trust, apparently] - he can't print off a copy as either their system or the lender's system is having some sort of meltdown, but hopefully by Monday that will be resolved and David can forward a scanned copy to Rob.
Rob said he was sending all the details off yesterday, with a recommendation to the vendor to accept, so it's now a case of being patient.
What did tick me off was John Charcol's failure to tell us that we needed to start jumping through hoops for them all over again!
Rob said he was sending all the details off yesterday, with a recommendation to the vendor to accept, so it's now a case of being patient.
What did tick me off was John Charcol's failure to tell us that we needed to start jumping through hoops for them all over again!
HH7 - 30.05.13 - Hoop jumping!
The hoop jumping has started: we don't have a firm mortgage offer because until there's a definite probability that we will buy a place we don't want to start the mortgage application process. There's normally a non-refundable fee of about £2,000, so if the offer made on a property is not accepted, we'd have a mortgage with no house and be out of pocket by lots of cash.
We've bid on one place at auction, and the Old Old People's Home will be the third other offer we've made on a property. If we'd got a firm mortgage offer in place each time, we'd be the best part of £8,000 down with no guarantee that we'd go to completion [our other two offers didn't].
We've bid on one place at auction, and the Old Old People's Home will be the third other offer we've made on a property. If we'd got a firm mortgage offer in place each time, we'd be the best part of £8,000 down with no guarantee that we'd go to completion [our other two offers didn't].
HH6 - 28.05.13 - The Old Old People's Home
I was thinking of calling Helle - just to warn her that there may [hopefully!] be a call from the vendor's solicitor of the Old Old People's Home, and to put her in the picture about the house/purchase process - and I have been listing all the things that I wanted to say to her; a list of "pros" & "cons", so here it is...
HH5 - 27.05.13 - Desperately trying NOT to get excited
We drove past the Old Old People's Home yesterday [we'd seen it in dreadful conditions on Friday, and then seen two other places in full, blazing, light-shining-in-all-of-the-important-windows conditions on Saturday, and I just wanted to reassure myself it wasn't going to be in permanent gloom like Scanacre Lodge]; sun full on the front of the house, so the reception room off the kitchen would have sun almost all day long - mind at rest [on that score at least]!
We went on to Sittingbourne [Mossy's had incredibly-priced acers, and I wanted to buy another couple - £4 for an acer? I don't think I've paid that little for 20 years], and were walking past the estate agents and Rob was sitting at his desk. We knew he was working over the Bank Holiday weekend, but he might have been out on viewings. I nagged a little to pop in, just to check he'd received our email containing mortgage offer/savings statements and didn't need anything further.
We went on to Sittingbourne [Mossy's had incredibly-priced acers, and I wanted to buy another couple - £4 for an acer? I don't think I've paid that little for 20 years], and were walking past the estate agents and Rob was sitting at his desk. We knew he was working over the Bank Holiday weekend, but he might have been out on viewings. I nagged a little to pop in, just to check he'd received our email containing mortgage offer/savings statements and didn't need anything further.
HH4 - 26.05.13 - Fingers crossed!
We've had a brilliant 24 hours in our house-hunting: we've actually seen three houses, all of which would be lovely to live in [with work, obviously], and put in an offer on one of them!
I want to add masses more exclamation marks, but know that would be silly.
All three need work, the house-with-no-name is just decorative, the house named after a TV station needs dragging from the 1970's into somewhere approaching this millennium, and the former care home requires most work of all.
I want to add masses more exclamation marks, but know that would be silly.
All three need work, the house-with-no-name is just decorative, the house named after a TV station needs dragging from the 1970's into somewhere approaching this millennium, and the former care home requires most work of all.
HH3 - 26.05.13 - House-hunting update 1
After over five weeks with no hot water [thanks, Helen, hope it
happens to you sometime and whoever is in charge of fixing it shows the
same sense of "urgency"] in the depths of winter, I can't wait till our
house-hunting pays off!
OK, I've owned my own place before, and been without hot water before (and heating in the winter), but the difference is I haven't waited over a month before calling a heating engineer. I've also raised a complaint with HomeServe because they promise within 24 hour response and were expecting me to wait three days and then pay for the emergency call-out that my cover provided for. I didn't get the 24 hour response, but my boiler was fixed within 36 hours at no additional charge.
OK, I've owned my own place before, and been without hot water before (and heating in the winter), but the difference is I haven't waited over a month before calling a heating engineer. I've also raised a complaint with HomeServe because they promise within 24 hour response and were expecting me to wait three days and then pay for the emergency call-out that my cover provided for. I didn't get the 24 hour response, but my boiler was fixed within 36 hours at no additional charge.
HH2 - 14.12.12 - Lowander
We had a bit of a setback in our house-hunting just over a month ago; we'd seen this house in June, and had really loved the possibilities it presented [it looked as if it hadn't been touched since it was built in the early 1980's, apart from someone giving the kitchen units & tiles a coat of paint enough years ago that it was rubbed off in lots of places - we could have replaced the kitchen and all the sanitary ware without guilt at ditching a perfectly good, but ugly, kitchen/bathroom]. Although it was built in the '80's, it had 'attractive' styling elements dating to earlier decades: open-tread stairs & plank banisters, and curly brick pillars, anyone?
HH1 - 12.12.12 - House-hunting stories
We’ve been house-hunting,
but I haven’t wanted to post about it…
For several reasons:
firstly, I’m superstitious, and don’t want to jinx the process, and secondly,
we’re finding it quite tiring and time-consuming. I haven’t had the energy to rattle on about
places we’ve seen, nor the time to post when we’ve managed to view properties
on both days of the weekend!
I seem to spend my life cleaning up mess - from 15.03.10
Here's an old draft I'd saved:
Hah, how NOT prophetic is that? I must have written it when we were in Putney, clearing up after the windows were fitted.
I'm going through all the draft posts relating to house-hunting: I'm going to post some/most of them, and will preface them with "HH#" and the date before the original title.
I did say the last time to brace yourself, so here goes!
"One day, I will live somewhere that doesn't need the attentions of building workers, and then I will only have my own (and obviously my dear hubby's) mess to clear up.
"That will feel so weird!"
Hah, how NOT prophetic is that? I must have written it when we were in Putney, clearing up after the windows were fitted.
I'm going through all the draft posts relating to house-hunting: I'm going to post some/most of them, and will preface them with "HH#" and the date before the original title.
I did say the last time to brace yourself, so here goes!
Thursday 11 September 2014
All change!
David had been waiting for the mortgage to be finalised, and the house-purchase to complete, before bowing to pressure from his once-and-future boss to leave the "Huge American Bank" [HAB] and join his old colleagues (who were made redundant from HAB) in their start-up venture with the "Eastern-Backed Dancing Bears" [EBDB]...
Well, amongst much slightly-terrified nervousness, he has handed in his notice and will be joining the team only slightly late. It's a move away from the Square Mile and into [for him] unknown territory. [The "Bear Garden" in 'Bandit Country'?] He has discovered that there aren't actually dragons on that part of the map, but it's all new and scary nonetheless! I believe he may even have bought a tube pass?
His sad-to-lose him boss is being brilliant, not made worse by EBDB becoming clients of HAB, so we're hopeful that getting all our major life changes over in the space of a week will seem like a brilliant idea a year from now...
Now, though, it all feels a little on the 'much' side?
Well, amongst much slightly-terrified nervousness, he has handed in his notice and will be joining the team only slightly late. It's a move away from the Square Mile and into [for him] unknown territory. [The "Bear Garden" in 'Bandit Country'?] He has discovered that there aren't actually dragons on that part of the map, but it's all new and scary nonetheless! I believe he may even have bought a tube pass?
His sad-to-lose him boss is being brilliant, not made worse by EBDB becoming clients of HAB, so we're hopeful that getting all our major life changes over in the space of a week will seem like a brilliant idea a year from now...
Now, though, it all feels a little on the 'much' side?
Tuesday 9 September 2014
Brace yourselves...
I'm going to get around to posting some/all of the house-hunting posts that I saved to draft during the process... There will be a lot, and some may be long.
Probably tomorrow, or later this week, and I'm just worried I will break the email feed!
Probably tomorrow, or later this week, and I'm just worried I will break the email feed!
Wednesday 3 September 2014
Happy Birthday, Dad!
Well, it would be if you were still with us...
A bitter-sweet day (in some ways): I (still) miss my adored father, but we did splash out and buy ourselves the biggest present ever! I'm sure he would be fantastically happy for us - I've finally become a second-time buyer after 20 years in the first-time home, and it's a house, too. There's going to be more sadness, too, as he can't come and do the building work for me, but I think he would be pleased I've returned to the countryside and already feel "settled".
At last:
We've had what has seemed a stressful two and a half years, but we've finally bought a house.
Three years ago we moved out of London to Maidstone so that we were better located for our search for a house in the country (in Kent: nice countryside, pretty good access to London; great for the Channel Tunnel), and in a better "position" to move quickly when we found the house we wanted [no flat to sell, financing ready]. We'd already sold my flat, and found tenants for David's [keeping a toe-hold in London (and hopefully it will eventually be an investment!) in case we ever want to move back].
We started house-hunting in earnest in April 2012 [having earlier re-mortgaged the rental property to help with the financing], and have looked at I don't know how many properties. Back then the market was still in the doldrums, but no-one had told the sellers that their properties hadn't continued to rise in price in a falling market, so an awful lot of places seemed to be "remaindered" - apart from the price, of course!
The longest time we'd seen a house on the market was since 2008 [and this wasn't in 2012 when we started looking (we managed to up our budget in 2013), but mid 2013] - so over five years. We know that all properties will sell, and if they don't there is only one thing that is guaranteed to be wrong, and that is the price. We've seen an awful lot of dross [people bought a fixer-upper, couldn't afford to fix it up, let their family wreck it (because it was going to be fixed up) and then had to sell because of divorce] - if you haven't touched a place with 1980's wallpaper, and prices are going down, we know it would be nice if you could sell it for the price of two houses, but you are wasting everyone's time trying to do that!
Apart from Christmas and holidays [although we have house-hunted-by-proxy a couple of times from France; thanks, internet!], we have had fewer than a handful of weekends house-hunting-free; it's been an exhausting process.
In early November 2013 we engaged a house-search agent, who has been fantastic and shown us places we wouldn't have found [as well as loads that we'd ruled out already], and never lost patience when a place was perfect 'on paper' but rubbish in reality and was supportive and understanding when we were on the verge of despairing. Claire, you've been wonderful!
As has Helle, our fantastic solicitor, and Rob the wonder-working mortgage broker - thank you all, guys!
I'm fairly sure my various health issues have been caused/exacerbated by the stress/stuck-in-limbo feelings [I've probably overdone it at the gym in trying to work off some of the frustration/to feel I'm 'getting somewhere'], and I'm really hopeful my sleep will improve and the trigeminal neuralgia will vanish without a trace...
Oh, and I think the whole process (and my health problems) had been made somewhat more stressful by the repeated threats of redundancy David has been under for the last 18 months? At times we've discussed calling off the whole search, especially after his entire team [department?] was terminated, leaving him the only person remaining - ostensibly to wind up the business left behind, and then who knows? 'Keeping the faith' has been tricky at times.
Anyway, that's all behind us now.
We finally managed to find a house that is the full 'package' [no, the house is not currently particularly nice, but it can be made a lot better, and the quiet location/wide plot/woodland/wildflower meadow (well, it will be a meadow when we've cleared the saplings that have been allowed to grow unfettered for 5-10 years) are just what we were looking for] in a horribly rising market!
I think the Mortgage Market Review has slowed things down immensely [except, of course, vendors' expectations!], but that didn't kick in until we had had a tender accepted on "Brookside". So, too late to help us, but in time to completely bugger up our Agreed in Principle mortgage/financing calculations!
We've certainly seen a lot of properties return to the market that had been "sold" [indeed the semi in Pluckley where we were gazumped was offered to us again, after the buyers were turned down for two loans; ("Brookside" is a better package, although that house was the dream house, although the footpath there was putting us off - clearly a large number of people think the land attached to the house is a dog latrine/exercise ground), it's still on the market].
We've spoken with three mortgage brokers, who all agreed the financing we wanted stacked up, and was "do-able" as far as the mortgage companies were concerned - but that didn't deter Halifax from turning us down without a reason less than a week after agreeing to finance the purchase, and Santander from turning us down after over two months of shilly-shallying! Thankfully someone at Woolwich wants to lend money - otherwise the only people able to buy would be developers/lottery winners?
I'm so glad that the hunt is over - now we just need to do some work to make the place live-able!
The roof leaks, the back door's been bashed in, as has one of the windows, mushrooms are growing from the floorboards in the bedroom, the kitchen has a sink & a solid-fuel boiler (!) but not much else [who needs a floor?!], but it's going to be great with a lot of elbow grease & some professional help...
The real work starts here, and the whole house-hunting saga will be quickly forgotten, I know, so we are so pleased!
A big, huge, thank you to everyone who has helped us in the process of finding and buying, and to our friends for all their support and continued finger-crossing through the various asking-price-offer-refusals and gazumpings, but the biggest thanks of all to David for never getting impatient/cross with me and issuing an ultimatum when it seemed as though I was searching for a unicorn!
We are currently exhausted, but very happy, and the prospect of having an "our" home [as opposed to my living in "David's" flat or him living in "my" flat] after only 15 years is really giving me a massive injection of enthusiasm, as is the prospect of all those trees (only the saplings that should never have got past a seedling; the oaks and hornbeams are safe) to chop down...
HURRAH!
A bitter-sweet day (in some ways): I (still) miss my adored father, but we did splash out and buy ourselves the biggest present ever! I'm sure he would be fantastically happy for us - I've finally become a second-time buyer after 20 years in the first-time home, and it's a house, too. There's going to be more sadness, too, as he can't come and do the building work for me, but I think he would be pleased I've returned to the countryside and already feel "settled".
At last:
We've had what has seemed a stressful two and a half years, but we've finally bought a house.
Three years ago we moved out of London to Maidstone so that we were better located for our search for a house in the country (in Kent: nice countryside, pretty good access to London; great for the Channel Tunnel), and in a better "position" to move quickly when we found the house we wanted [no flat to sell, financing ready]. We'd already sold my flat, and found tenants for David's [keeping a toe-hold in London (and hopefully it will eventually be an investment!) in case we ever want to move back].
We started house-hunting in earnest in April 2012 [having earlier re-mortgaged the rental property to help with the financing], and have looked at I don't know how many properties. Back then the market was still in the doldrums, but no-one had told the sellers that their properties hadn't continued to rise in price in a falling market, so an awful lot of places seemed to be "remaindered" - apart from the price, of course!
The longest time we'd seen a house on the market was since 2008 [and this wasn't in 2012 when we started looking (we managed to up our budget in 2013), but mid 2013] - so over five years. We know that all properties will sell, and if they don't there is only one thing that is guaranteed to be wrong, and that is the price. We've seen an awful lot of dross [people bought a fixer-upper, couldn't afford to fix it up, let their family wreck it (because it was going to be fixed up) and then had to sell because of divorce] - if you haven't touched a place with 1980's wallpaper, and prices are going down, we know it would be nice if you could sell it for the price of two houses, but you are wasting everyone's time trying to do that!
Apart from Christmas and holidays [although we have house-hunted-by-proxy a couple of times from France; thanks, internet!], we have had fewer than a handful of weekends house-hunting-free; it's been an exhausting process.
In early November 2013 we engaged a house-search agent, who has been fantastic and shown us places we wouldn't have found [as well as loads that we'd ruled out already], and never lost patience when a place was perfect 'on paper' but rubbish in reality and was supportive and understanding when we were on the verge of despairing. Claire, you've been wonderful!
As has Helle, our fantastic solicitor, and Rob the wonder-working mortgage broker - thank you all, guys!
I'm fairly sure my various health issues have been caused/exacerbated by the stress/stuck-in-limbo feelings [I've probably overdone it at the gym in trying to work off some of the frustration/to feel I'm 'getting somewhere'], and I'm really hopeful my sleep will improve and the trigeminal neuralgia will vanish without a trace...
Oh, and I think the whole process (and my health problems) had been made somewhat more stressful by the repeated threats of redundancy David has been under for the last 18 months? At times we've discussed calling off the whole search, especially after his entire team [department?] was terminated, leaving him the only person remaining - ostensibly to wind up the business left behind, and then who knows? 'Keeping the faith' has been tricky at times.
Anyway, that's all behind us now.
We finally managed to find a house that is the full 'package' [no, the house is not currently particularly nice, but it can be made a lot better, and the quiet location/wide plot/woodland/wildflower meadow (well, it will be a meadow when we've cleared the saplings that have been allowed to grow unfettered for 5-10 years) are just what we were looking for] in a horribly rising market!
I think the Mortgage Market Review has slowed things down immensely [except, of course, vendors' expectations!], but that didn't kick in until we had had a tender accepted on "Brookside". So, too late to help us, but in time to completely bugger up our Agreed in Principle mortgage/financing calculations!
We've certainly seen a lot of properties return to the market that had been "sold" [indeed the semi in Pluckley where we were gazumped was offered to us again, after the buyers were turned down for two loans; ("Brookside" is a better package, although that house was the dream house, although the footpath there was putting us off - clearly a large number of people think the land attached to the house is a dog latrine/exercise ground), it's still on the market].
We've spoken with three mortgage brokers, who all agreed the financing we wanted stacked up, and was "do-able" as far as the mortgage companies were concerned - but that didn't deter Halifax from turning us down without a reason less than a week after agreeing to finance the purchase, and Santander from turning us down after over two months of shilly-shallying! Thankfully someone at Woolwich wants to lend money - otherwise the only people able to buy would be developers/lottery winners?
I'm so glad that the hunt is over - now we just need to do some work to make the place live-able!
The roof leaks, the back door's been bashed in, as has one of the windows, mushrooms are growing from the floorboards in the bedroom, the kitchen has a sink & a solid-fuel boiler (!) but not much else [who needs a floor?!], but it's going to be great with a lot of elbow grease & some professional help...
The real work starts here, and the whole house-hunting saga will be quickly forgotten, I know, so we are so pleased!
A big, huge, thank you to everyone who has helped us in the process of finding and buying, and to our friends for all their support and continued finger-crossing through the various asking-price-offer-refusals and gazumpings, but the biggest thanks of all to David for never getting impatient/cross with me and issuing an ultimatum when it seemed as though I was searching for a unicorn!
We are currently exhausted, but very happy, and the prospect of having an "our" home [as opposed to my living in "David's" flat or him living in "my" flat] after only 15 years is really giving me a massive injection of enthusiasm, as is the prospect of all those trees (only the saplings that should never have got past a seedling; the oaks and hornbeams are safe) to chop down...
HURRAH!
How odd
I just got an email with a post from Feb 2011 - I haven't edited it, touched it, or even remembered about it...
???
I even logged in to Blogger to see if I've been hacked.
But no, it's one of mine - I really don't know what's going on with that!
I do hope it's not going to randomly re-post all my efforts down the years...?
???
I even logged in to Blogger to see if I've been hacked.
But no, it's one of mine - I really don't know what's going on with that!
I do hope it's not going to randomly re-post all my efforts down the years...?
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