When I last left you, with our offer and the happiness, it lasted a total of 6 days before they pulled out because someone was slightly further along in their sale than we were. Wankers. Unfortunately, that meant we were back to square one, with nothing we liked and everyone else stealing our houses out from under us.
Solace came in the form of the open house for our flat, which attracted big numbers, a few of which pulled out on the day and some whom never turned up, but of the nine that did, we had vibes from at least eight, the ninth guy being so tall I'm not sure he could have coped with our new build, tiny ceilings. It was actually really nice, showing people around yourself and hearing all the enthusiasm, despite the scaffolding. I know it's an amazing flat, but to hear strangers realising that after a few minutes, was just lovely. We knew we were likely to get a few offers from them. And we did.
Then A was on qualification leave, so was out of the country for most of the next month. I did a couple of viewings by myself, but they were mainly wasted trips, though I guess good to alleviate my curiosity. And the subject then turned to "projects". I have made my thoughts on this very clear, from the start. I did not want a "project", as I did not want to spend months with builders in the house and more scaffolding and mess and crap. I wanted a house we could pretty much move into, without much to do. But there was very little making its way to the market - probably Brexit's fault, most things are - and we were now in a mini panic, due to having a buyer for the flat.
Now there are projects and then there are horror shows, and we saw a couple of both. We saw massive homes, that looked liked squatter dens, and a house I am tempted to write a horror novel about. I mean, talk about your discarded dentists chairs...Eek! But this weekend we actually saw a couple of projects, that were nice and big and actual places you could walk in without grimacing, and I thought, maybe I could do this. Maybe I could deal with knocking half the walls down and....Wait, no, I still don't really want to do it. But if we were desperate, I guess we'd have to do it.
One thing you don't want to do, is rush what is probably the biggest purchase you'll ever make in your life. And rushing, I feel like we were. But then, after the Brexit delay, a few properties seem to make their way onto the market and we were starting to get excited again. In the mean time we had also been contacted about the second house we had put an offer on in February, the one with the island in the kitchen. The estate agent said the sale was likely falling through and would we still be interested. And I have to say, my initial response was: no, fuck off, you chose to shaft us last time, why should we jump at the chance to buy your house now?
We saw two properties on Saturday that were three bed, bonny houses and each had their own quirks and interesting bits. One of them I really fell in love with, though A quickly decided that it needed loads of work that would have to be done immediately. I think he thinks we are way more fancy than we are. But still, I preferred the quirky one, with pipes instead of a banister and extra windows to let in light, much more than the prettier, well kept one. I think perhaps, this says a lot about me. We came away, excited, exhausted, and completely confused. How do you make this decision?
Cut to yesterday, and we start to make an offer on the one I like. I know, shock horror. And we negotiate and come out at what we think is reasonable. Today, the seller agrees to our terms and we to his, and woo hoo, we've got a house - subject to survey. Are you waiting for the other shoe to fall because it's coming...
Literally half an hour after A sent the email, we get word that the house we had previously bid on, and lost, is available. I mean, have they hacked our feckin' emails? Half an hour! So now, A is in turmoil, because he wants that one, the fancy one that is four bed - not that we need it. And I now hate everything and can't concentrate on anything and just wish I could disappear for a bit. And I forgot to mention, that the smaller house that I want, is chain free, but the other one is in a chain. So basically, it could all come crashing down around us and then we'll have lost both.
Yay! Woo hoo! Isn't being a grown up, swell.
Rants out.
