Have you got a cuppa? Or a biscuit? Cause you might share our stress after reading this...
So beginning of July'19 we put our house on the market and it sold within 4 weeks. We viewed a couple of houses AFTER we sold because we stupidly kept offering on houses before hand, which we'd miss out on and I'd be heartbroken for the week. We viewed some houses that were average, all fixer uppers and we viewed some new builds because we thought after the state of most of the homes on the market, with a baby, a new build would be the easier option. We ended up viewing an older house which was over our budget, after our estate agent advised us to, because there was all of a sudden NOTHING in our area and so she was confident we'd knock them down a few thousand.
Now we are in August. We made an offer, declined, made a second offer and it was accepted - YAY! The house was stunning, such a family home with a ginormous garden. Paperwork began, we filled in SO MUCH PAPERWORK for both selling and buying for our solicitors...
Phone call from their agent two weeks later... (heart literally stopped each time I saw their solicitors name pop up on my phone) "Hi Mrs Willis, there's no easy way to say this, but we are a bit unsure if proceeding is now possible, the vendor has had some bad news whilst viewing homes in Cornwall and for health reasons we need to put this on hold" Now this is a tricky one, because when it comes to health, you can't be cross about it "Ok sure, we will wait it out and hopefully it works in our favour, please keep us updated"
The agent advised us he'd know more within the following 3 weeks and can we hold on, can our buyers hold on. Two and a bit weeks later "Hi Mrs Willis, the vendor has decided they won't put this on hold any longer, health is more important right now and they are sorry"
Oh... This all was quite horrendous timing because I had just returned to work after maternity leave, my hormones were a wreck and this was emotionally draining.
We didn't tell our buyers at this point, because we didn't want them to pull out, we wanted some time to find somewhere new.
September "Hi Mrs Willis, I appreciate this is really unusual but they've decided they are going to move after all, they will be able to visit the hospital down in Cornwall, they'd like to meet you both can you go over tonight at 5pm"
GREAT, we are all good to go again! We went round, fell in love with the house all over again, God it was beauts! We had a lengthy chat, Carter was stumbling around the garden, I just really felt like this was it, no more messing.
I SHIT YOU NOT, 7pm... 7PM and I had a call from them, after being promised this was the last time, their minds were made up "Hi Rey, have left Todd a voicemail but was hoping to speak to you in person... I've been pressured into doing this and we are now sure we are not moving, we would miss our family here too much"
I didn't even cry because I just wasn't actually shocked. My mind was made up now, even if they gave us the house for a tenner, I didn't want it. Please don't ever dangle a house infront of anyone and give multiple excuses each time as to why you've changed your mind, peoples lives depend on this sort of thing...
So weirdly that week, our agent called "Hi Rey, this is going to sound odd but I've just had a thought... There was a house for sale a few months ago, that didn't sell, it's actually on the same road as the one you've lost, it's 10k cheaper but it needs work. How would you feel if I called them up and asked them if they're still interested in selling, if so I'll book a viewing?" YES PLEASE. What are the odds of a renovation property, especially in our small town, being the same as the one we originally had our hearts and souls set on, potentially coming up for sale?
They were interested, we viewed it, we were very dubious because it wasn't exactly the same as the other house, the walls were different inside and it was more work. But we put an offer in, it was accepted and they found a house within a week that they were accepted on also. Let's get the ball rolling...
OCTOBER, yes bloody October. We'd just driven down to Devon, my lovely big bro booked us a caravan break for my birthday week. We were walking across the beach and our agent called "Hi Mrs Willis, we have some bad news... Your buyer doesn't have the funds, they gave details of the funds in a different currency which doesn't equate to enough in GBP. (I know exactly what you're thinking, how TF did they make it this far only just figuring this out?!?!) Also your evaluation came back and your house has been devalued by 11 thousand. So we will need to either get it revalued with a second opinion, ask the buyers to meet you half way (because if they didn't there wouldn't have been much point in moving, a good chunk of equity would've vanished, keep in mind our home was a shared ownership, in which we owned 60%) or, you'll essentially loose your buyers"
Well fucking great, what a fantastic start to day 1 of Devon.
GUESS WHO CALLED... "Hello Todd, my agent has given me your number, I'm just calling personally to say how sorry I am and that after discussions with the family we have decided that we will definitely be moving, we would like to offer the house to you before it goes back on the market"
Now these two phone calls on our first day of our much needed break, totally messed it all up. Both of us were so emotionally exhausted by this point that we just argued, we couldn't stop arguing. We were very much on opposite ends when it came to what we should do next. Todd was buzzing, he loved this house more than I did, he wanted to move forward with them. I didn't, I couldn't be bothered with the stress and saying yes to them, and potentially screwing up our chances with the second house that felt more genuine, I wanted to protect us... this has been ongoing since July and I was emotionally whacked from getting used to our new normal of returning to work after maternity and missing my boy! So we ended up just going home.
End of Oct - our buyers had to pull out. They couldn't afford it any which way. This happened after we decided to go with house number 2, and thank God we did because house number 1, yep you guessed it "We are going to wait until next April to move now" and even their estate agent said they wouldn't welcome their house back to their market after all of the above.
Our house went back on the market, after of course me throwing my toys out of the pram saying that I didn't want to sell anymore, two weeks later it sold again. We had another valuation done, no losses this time
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.
Then Christmas came about which delayed everything. There wasn't paperwork for some of the legal requirements for our new place because of a shared driveway, so we all spent three weeks pissing about trying to get a new document for that.
January 22nd, we finally walked into our new home.
And if we thought the journey getting here was a long one, well the one ahead of us in our renovation home is even longer... Can't wait to take you guys along for the ride!
Rey x
