Diary of a house buyer - and seller  Part VI, September 2012

4 September: Just returned from an afternoon walk at Oldway Mansion (http://www.torquay.com/attractions/ oldway-mansion-paignton) to see a BT van in the drive, someone come to check our line – with no advance notice!  There seems to be a problem with the line so therefore they’ll be unable to connect us on 6 September.

6 September: Another operative from BT came, said the line had been mended, so now we could be connected up.  But that we weren’t to use the phone/internet for several hours.

7 September: At last we have phone/internet!   Now we need to tell everybody and seek some sort of compensation from Talktalk for the extra costs involved.

13 September: Just returned from Derby where we saw two bungalows which could be suitable.  We were looking as the house we were originally to move into has had an offer, but not too much as no point in looking to be disappointed.  

We were lucky to be able sell on the house survey which we’d paid for, for just over half price, which recoups some of the money expended on the house - and lucky for the new purchasers.   Perhaps in the long run it'll be better as we'd really rather have a bungalow than a house - easier maintenance.

The good news is that our new bed  (it was to be new house/new bed!) has arrived and it's magic.  It has controllers on both sides of the bed and the mattresses can be raised and lowered, either separately - or together.  I just hope I don't get sandwiched in the middle!


15 September: No more viewers, despite the house having a big spread in the local paper last week.  Sounds like we are definitely back to square one - but at least we now have a (comparatively) tidy, minimalist house.  I'm keen to do more unpacking and sorting, once the weather deteriorates.  

In the meantime, it's a lovely Indian summer, so the solar panels are doing us proud.  The end of this month will be exactly a year since they were fitted so we'll be able to see how much benefit they've been.  We have had a reduction in electricity bills (although haven't noticed much as the cost of fuel has increased astronomically) but by the looks of things we may be on target for as much as £1,600 in feedback tariff - not a bad return on the original investment of £13,770 made last year.  It's a pity that potential buyers don't realise that this amount of money is guaranteed (tax free) for the next 24 years.

20 September:  Today we had some viewers, a young couple who are very busy, so can only look at prospective properties at weekends.  They're looking at about ten houses every weekend until they find somewhere suitable.  This must be quite boggling (did that last house have a sunny garden - or was that the one with the pokey loft?).  However, the upshot was that they wanted a more 'useable' garden, somewhere safe where the children could play and didn't feel that our garden fitted that category.  I agree totally as it's so important to have a child-friendly garden.

28 September:  Today it's exactly one year since the solar panels were fitted and we have made £1,604.25 profit - plus the reduction in electricity costs over that period.  This scheme was certainly worthwhile.

29 September: Still awaiting the compensation from Talktalk for loss of service for nearly six weeks which, it was promised would arrive by yesterday.

Diary of a house seller and buyer - Part V August 2012 (note I've started putting the year, in case we run on into 2013!)

4 August: Apparently there may be another person who’s interested in another property near here, a very similar one but with a bigger garden, and that one’s already under offer.  So perhaps a chance here.  If so, will be likely to have heard from our Agent by the 7^th or 8^th .  Fingers crossed.

7^th August: Haven’t heard from anyone, except from the Agent of the house we wanted to buy, to confirm that we would not in a position to go ahead.  Apparently the vendor is to rent out the property again for six months, whilst keeping it on the market, so fingers crossed.

8^th August: As we haven’t heard, we’ve decided to put away all the boxes and tidy up in case the Agent brings anyone round to view.  We think it would be a good idea to rent out the rooms on our ground floor, on a short let, until we’ve sold properly.  What a lot of work!

9 August:  The garden’s a jungle, probably because of the weeks of torrential rain we’ve had, so no chance to get out there and weed.  And also the lovely sunny weather we have now has encouraged the plants – and the weeds – even more as they have lovely damp feet..  It’s amazing how much convolvulus there is, although probably no more than usual, it’s just that I haven’t been on top of the job.

10 August:  Our agent visited today, naturally laid most of the blame at our solicitor’s door, which may or may not be correct. But we’ve resolved to pester everyone more next time – both agents and solicitors – and also to move out as soon as we’ve sold.  The people who could have been interested in this house have chosen the other one which they viewed, well at least that takes on more off the market and gives us more chance to sell.

The agent suggested that we limit any packed boxes to one, or at the most two, rooms, leaving the kitchens and bathrooms as free as possible.  The thinking behind this is that kitchens and bathrooms have fixtures which will be staying so it gives buyers more idea of what those rooms will look like.

11 August:  I’ve unpacked most of my craft stuff and set up a craft room, it’s great!  David’s unpacked his tools up in his shed, so he’s happy too.  I’ve also been sorting through boxes as they’ve been unpacked and got rid of more stuff, so that’ll save time when we do eventually sell again.

16 August: Our phone should have been reconnected today, having had no phone/internet for over two weeks – and guess what? Nothing happened!  So rang up talktalk and apparently we have to start all over again and apply for a new number.  To access this information has taken nearly two hours of telephone calls, explaining the same thing over and over again.  …. Will be new telephone will be installed in three weeks’ time.  This has severely curtailed my internet use!

17 August: House was in local paper again today and produced one interested party.  They are to view on Monday – help! – the place needs cleaning and tidying.  How do we manage to make the place such a mess?

20 August: Well, what a hard two and a half days’ work! -  but the place has been transformed.  We won’t need to clean again for ages.  The viewers came, loved the house and found it very suitable for their needs.

21 August:  A low offer has been received which we rejected, this was increased slightly but it’s still too low, so now it’s back with the agent, seeing if he can encourage the proposed purchaser to make more money available.    

In the interim, we found a house many weeks ago which looked very suitable but was far too expensive.  It’s now come down in price – still too much – but we could make an offer.  Just to see if it’s in the frame, I’m going up to Derby to view it and then perhaps make an offer and see how much will be accepted.

22 August: Offer withdrawn as prospective buyer’s buyer has pulled out, as he’s not happy with the state of their garage wall.

So back to square one again…

I popped in to see the agent today, to explain about the benefits of the solar panels.  He thinks we should lower our asking price – even if we’re not prepared to accept much less, which is certainly worth thinking about. 

24 August: We have the chance of some good tenants for downstairs.  She works full time and he would only be here at the weekend.  This sounds good.  The downside is that we’ve got rid of so much stuff, so we’re now going through our (already packed) boxes to see what we have which could be used to equip the downstairs accommodation.  So we’ve been busy unpacking, sorting and … stuff.  Hard work.  All the empty boxes are to be flat packed and stored in the attic spaces, although we’ve decided not to put any other things in the attics or they’ll just multiply and end up being more work later.

25 August: Our new bed’s coming in two weeks – yippee!  Then we can put our bed downstairs for the new people.

Had another viewer, a distinct possibility but they haven't yet put their house on the market, in which case they could be many months!

The saga of the new telephone continues, with a letter just received giving out bank details, ready to set up the direct debit – but it’s in the wrong name! – if the bank is approached with those details it’ll hold up it’s hand in horror and refuse to honour the request.  This is very strange as we’ve been with Talktalk for over eight years, so you’d think they’d have copied our former details onto the new contract!

Diary of a House Seller and Buyer
Part IV, July

1 July: Just returned from a weekend in Derby. The survey has been received by email, with hard copy to follow by post.  It looks very comprehensive.  Lots of little things need attention.  Some of them urgently. With surveys it's quite a challenge to work out what matters and what can wait - or even be largely ignored.  

Surveys are set out well these days, with sections for each part of the property, so, although it was very long, it was comparatively easy to understand. There was a summary, with recommendations for work to be done.  A section of legal stuff which could be forwarded to the solicitor:  what the surveyor thinks the solicitor should investigate.  Finally there were suggestions about general property upkeep.  So a good aide-memoir for the future.

This morning we re-viewed the property, spending enough time to see everything properly, instead of being rushed around.  Much of the place was better/bigger than we remembered.  Having viewed the survey it was interesting to spot what had been highlighted as important. Also see what we thought of the recommendations.
The owner appeared and we had a useful chat with him about small concerns. He is to sort out some of the problems - and leaving other things for us to do if/when we see fit.

So, we feel much easier now, especially as we can see clearly what needs to be done.  Today we thought about where to put the furniture. Then what needs to be bought, such as fridge/freezer, as the agent's details of what was to be left behind were not too clear.

2nd July: Contacted solicitor to ask him to go ahead with the purchase.

4th July: American Independence Day!  And for us, there's lots happening.  According to the agent, our vendor is sorting out the small outstanding jobs which need doing, such as cleaning out drains, and fixing missing roof tile and securing guttering.

Our solicitor has returned paperwork to our buyer's solicitor and is dealing with the paperwork for us re the purchase.   He seems to think it won't be long before exchange of contracts (I wonder what 'not very long' is in solicitor-speak?).
We are still busy packing up and sorting and getting rid of stuff but it's amazing how much is still to be done.  
It's also frustrating when things break, such as the light in the downstairs kitchen's stopped functioning, so it's had to be replaced (won't be our problem soon ...).

Once it stopped raining, I had a wander round the garden, taking cuttings from favourite plants to put in pots and take with us.  If they survive it'll be a nice reminder of our lovely garden here (see photo opposite and above).
  
5 July: I've been busy make a mosaic house number for the new property.  The idea was to use broken up crockery with added bought mosaic pieces.

The mosaic house number gradually being cleaned up.

It's very easy to do:  Take a piece of wood, draw a design on it (no need to be too accurate as these marks won't eventually show).  Cover a small area with pva glue then, with a pair of tweezers, place the mosaic pieces, leaving plenty of space for the grout which will ultimately hold the thing together.  When the glue's dried, grout the whole piece, scraping off the excess.  Then carefully remove any grout which has dried on the mosaic pieces themselves.  This part takes ages but it's very satisfying when the pictures eventually revealed - and voila!

6 July: Received a phone call from seller's agent to say that the damp people had detected no damp in the property - very good!

10 July: It's all been very quiet for the past few days.  We've given away lots of stuff on freecycle but it's amazing the stuff which no-one's been interested in.  Perhaps it's because the weather's improved and people are out doing stuff.  

One lodger is departing at the beginning of next week, so we'll be able to sort out his room and give it a good clean.  The other lodger wants to stay until about the 8th August, I said 'fine, but you may find your furniture disappearing under your nose', which he doesn't seem to mind.

11 July:  I'm looking forward to exchanging contracts as then I'll be able to post info on here about where we're going.   In the interim, I've been making sketches on scrap paper of how we could alter the new kitchen.  
At present it's a good-sized room, but there's no utility room for the cats to call their own.  At present we have the washing machine in the utility room, plus scratching post for the cats, together with places for them to sleep and a cat flap for them to come and go as they please at night.

As the new kitchen is L shaped, it's only a matter of putting up a wall (see dotted line on diagram), leaving two oblongs.  There's already a window, which we could alter into a back door (to install the cat flap).  This would make it straightforward taking the damp clothes from the washing machine to hang out in the garden to dry.  It would also mean if someone in the garden wanted to use the cloakroom, they wouldn't have to walk through the house, bringing in mud and dirt.  

12 July: Am feeling nervous as have 'let go' lots of stuff - either on freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org) or to a friend who helps young people starting out who have no furniture of equipment.  
It feels marvellous that these items will now have a new lease of life and be enjoyed and used, whereas here they were 'surplus to requirements'.  But some of these things I loved, am sad to say goodbye to them and hope people like them as much as I did.
13 July (Friday 13th): Sent off deposit to removers, by return they will drop off a load of boxes (included as part of the deal, tape and paper is extra).  
Also heard from the purchaser's agent that the works outstanding will be completed by Wednesday, so someone can pop in and inspect them.

20 July: Outstanding works to new house have been satisfactorily completed.  So am getting excited about moving in and altering new house to suit.  Have been thinking that, if we're going to put a new roof on the kitchen, it might be worth at the same time extending the back bedroom and adding an ensuite.

24 July: We've been down to Cornwall for the weekend, to sign contracts for buying and selling and at the same time saying goodbye (for the moment) to many friends.  However returned this evening to problems with our buyer ... watch this space.  We were to exchange this week and, hopefully, move in two weeks ...  So now may need to cancel the removers, the new talktalk telephone contract - and the new bed!

24 July: Last weekend we visited our solicitor to sign paperwork for sale and purchase of the properties. However, when we saw him on Saturday the solicitor was bemused as he hadn’t received anything from our purchasers. 

25 July: we've just had a call from our agent to say, mysteriously, he can’t get hold of the purchaser(!)

28 July:  Today, Thursday, finally had a call from the Agent saying that apparently the purchasers had had a row and ‘he’ had gone off last Friday – and no-one had heard from him since, not even ‘her’.  So perhaps this sale may be off, unless they (a) get together again and (b) still want this property ….. rather a long short.

31 July: On top of all this, our telephone provider decided to cut us off!? No advance notice.  What they imagined we were going to do until we moved, I do not know.  We have no phone, no internet.  I’m devastated and don’t know what to do! 

I spent nearly an hour, spread over three phone calls, yesterday trying to sort it out – and the soonest we can be reconnected is two weeks’ time!!  Bad management.

They admit their error and have filed a complaint for me.  If we are selling the house – and possibly buying one too – then a landline and email are vital.