The Mock Turtle

That's something, Starry. Hopefully things will be sorted soon. The prospect of job cuts loomed up for us yesterday. The official line is all is fine, fingers in ears, hum loudly, but it's a fib worthy of a government minister.

I don't know what to do really. Slowly carry on until we hear otherwise. Think of Plan B.

We're second viewing not the agent's choice next week - and told them we're not interested in the one they were trying to steer us towards. It is a lovely house, but no match for the off-putting combo of the agent's keenness (he lives in the same village and was obviously pally with the owners) and a tetchy response when I asked about an 'arrangement' with the neighbour over access.

How did your second viewing go Beena?

Here the valuation we’ve been waiting for has been done and our sellers should get their mortgage offer next week. Their sellers are sorting their rental place out and when they have and the mortgage offer has been formally received we can then start to talk dates

Ooh, everything crossed!

Ooh, that sounds promising, Chicky!

Sounds promising.

That does sound promising, Chicky. Fingers crossed!

Our second viewing came and went. We had wait for over a week (presumably to see if their preferred buyer went under offer - they didn't). Other things came on the market in the meantime, viewed two, one rejected (lovely, v. noisy road), one offer.

Still waiting to hear back. 4 days later. The offer was a couple of percent under asking, we're chain-free, large deposit, mortgage/solicitors in place, flexible on timescales. Not my dream home by any stretch, but the location is convenient and we could do something with it.

I'm really tired of the games EA play. Every house we have viewed, without fail, has had "an offer close to asking". Some are still on the market 9 months later. We were the first people to view this week - and at the first positive noise, the EA piped up that someone had offered without viewing.

Good luck Chicky and hope you get something sorted soon Beena.
We went for an external viewing of a house we saw this morning. It's off a main road and we wanted to see how far down the road it was for Rufus's benefit. We both think it's far enough down to be safe for him. However it's meant to be empty and chain free but there was a car and motorbike on the driveway but we're wondering if they belong to a neighbour and they're just there to make it looked lived in.
Anyway it's available and we have a viewing tomorrow afternoon. It's been recently decorated, also new carpets. The only thing we'd want to do at some point is replace the bathroom as it's one of those seashell style ones and redecorate the weird blue fireplace!
Slightly further to work but we could still walk or bike there.

Beena wrote: ↑Sat Jun 06, 2020 7:36 am
I'm really tired of the games EA play. Every house we have viewed, without fail, has had "an offer close to asking". Some are still on the market 9 months later. We were the first people to view this week - and at the first positive noise, the EA piped up that someone had offered without viewing.

That's infuriating! I had a similar problem when buying my last house. Every house I was interested in suddenly had "multiple offers at or close to asking". Amazing!

Had the viewing. Not chain free (although that wouldn't be an issue) just a shame that it wasn't. Mould in the bathroom, dodgy looking wiring and the garden was a bit too small. Suspect it may go over the asking price as well and it's definitely not worth that.

That’s disappointing speedy.

Cautious yay, as we may have movement. Our solicitor said they are just waiting to confirm a date for our seller’s move, and then we can confirm our date. Our buyer is getting antsy; we had an email from the estate agent asking if there was movement as they want an end to it. Understandable. We are the same.

Yesterday we had a call from the estate agent we are buying from (same co, different office) to see what the issue was as the seller seems to think (wrongly) we were disputing a door being closed up. News to us. Spoke to our solicitor who confirmed the bottleneck is all at their end and said he would contact their solicitor to try and move things along. But he is hopeful we could sign this week or next.

Yep our niece described as too expensive for a mouldy fire-risk!
Fingers crossed it all gets sorted Starry.
There's not much about for what we're looking for. Plenty of big houses and plenty of small - not much in-between. We've seen another possibility though. Location is pretty much ideal for us. Just needs re-decorating and a new bathroom. Kitchen could probably be improved by a bit of diy refurb by painting the cupboards and replacing the flooring. Mr Speedy has contacted the estate agents for a viewing. We went for an external viewing last night.

Oh fluff. Sellers have just removed it from the market.

How frustrating Speedy. It's all very odd at the minute. I think people are marketing their homes with a specific property in mind and if that goes under offer before they do, then they withdraw.

We've had our offer accepted. It's hard to get to excited when panicking that everything is about to crash around your ears. Buying now feels like stupidity, but we have to live somewhere and the rental market is even worse.

The house is good though, huge 3/4 acre garden and views across fields to the estuary. Pub, shop, post office, regular bus all within walking distance. I don't love it, but with the help of a sledgehammer, I might.

Sounds good Beena. Just a shame about needing a sledgehammer!
The number of houses we've ruled out because of really tiny gardens which you can't do anything about. So big garden sounds lovely.

Oh, I'd take a sledgehammer to everything given half a chance.

A big garden is what's selling it. It's the prospect of a goat.

A goat! Do you know if the sellers are in a chain, Beena? I really hope the purchase goes smoothly for you.

A goat. I love goats basically because they're crazy!