I’m running a little behind on the news here… I have lots to share with you, and little time to type it out. I have many snaps on my phone already, but am struggling to type up words to go with them. In short, we had a baby.
Tag: move
On edge
Still no news on the exchange date for our own house, but remember that house I was telling you about last week? We got it!
Bit of a strange situation – we offered slightly under asking price to begin with, and then revised it to full asking when we were told the vendors wanted full asking… and it still wasn’t confirmed that we’d got it. They had another viewing. We definitely weren’t going over asking price, and we made it clear to the estate agent that we wouldn’t be entering into sealed bids again (we lost out on one that way a few weeks earlier), and even made arrangements to carry on viewing other houses. Whatever tipped the balance, they decided to accept our offer, and we’re now on with the financial side.
Rejection
We put an offer in on a house a few months ago, it was near where we wanted to be (but not quite). We just found out that it’s been sold to someone in a better position. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about it… I’m thinking it’s gone because it wasn’t meant to be and something better for us will come up. Continue reading
Ready to move in
We had another viewing this week (about time too, it’s been weeks), and this wall really jarred as soon as I showed the visitors through the door – it’s right opposite the doorway in our bedroom. Continue reading
New year, new… home?
We’re way off buying a new house, but we’re stepping up the search now. As Scarlett is nearly two, her school options are coming closer and closer, and we’ve started thinking now might be a good time to have a look to see what’s available on Ye Olde Rightmove.
We started looking in two directions: towards my work and towards my hometown. These are diametrically opposed. We went as far as to view a house near my work this weekend. It was a beautiful Victorian house, gorgeous stained-glass windows with light pouring in, big kitchen, porches, nooks and crannies, and period features everywhere. Needed loads of work to make it live-able, so slightly out of our price range because of that. We could have worked with it. But it didn’t feel right. We’d have been moving to an area we didn’t know, to be closer to a job that I don’t know how long I’ll have. And no closer to familial support, which is what we’re lacking. Continue reading
House valuation
Barry’s bedtime reading at the moment is looking at houses online. We’re not planning on moving any time soon (if any of my colleagues are reading this, don’t jump to conclusions!), but it’s nice to look. He went as far (too far, in my opinion!) as sending an email asking for more information on one particular house, which is quite near to where my mum lives.
The estate agent called and left a voicemail the next morning to say that they’d arranged for an agent from our local office to come and value our house on Saturday at 9.45am. Very proactive. A bit too pushy. But Barry thought, hey, why not? We were interested in seeing whether the work on the kitchen (in which we sacrificed a downstairs bathroom and hallway for twice the kitchen) would have affected the value.
Lottery
Do you ever think of the things you would change (house-wise) if you won the lottery? I do!
Win over a certain amount, and obviously you could move (which we would – why would you live in a semi-detached house?), but if you won a less life-changing amount, you could still make some dramatic changes. I like the thought of not having to wait to decorate rooms. We could have our bedroom painted at the same time as decking is being put into the garden. Built in wardrobes? Not a problem. Dressing table? I’ll take two.
Having said all that, as long as we’re in this house, the kitchen will always be the kitchen Barry put in with his own bare hands. We’ve agonised over flooring, and waited until payday to buy the next lot of paint. I’m not trying to say I would’t appreciate the money (I definitely would), but there’s pride to be had in working for it too.
Weekend
Phew, we have had a busy weekend of running around! I would say it’s nice to get back to work, but I would really rather be at home, plus Barry’s away in London working all this week. Sad face.
On Saturday, I received a call from my brother, who wanted to talk about work for an hour. Grabbing breakfast in between, we then drove to Next in Bradford to pick up the new living room curtains (very exciting, they look great!), and then on to Wakefield to pick up a coffee machine Barry had proudly won on eBay. It turned out to be an espresso machine and the pot was meant for four cups of espresso, not coffee. Cute, but not what we’re looking for. That will need to be relisted.
We then got home to start listing the old kitchen units, oven and hob on eBay, zapped some leftovers in the microwave for lunch, and got a call from my best friend Charlie, almost on the verge of tears. To set the scene, she, her boyfriend, and baby, were moving on Saturday, and would not accept any offers of help (the baby may have but he can’t talk yet). Anyway, they were moving back to their old house, which they’d been renting out, and it appears the tenants changed the locks. We drove to Otley to pick up the keys from the agency and took them over so they could actually get into the house. Not before a friendly locksmith had charged them £60 callout! We were supposed to go back later for a celebratory curry, but that, unsurprisingly, didn’t happen.
Got back home, I finished listing the stuff on eBay (there’s a big gap between the finishing times!) while Barry got cracking with the kitchen. As he’s away this week, he didn’t want to leave me with a completely non-functioning kitchen, so he was trying to get all the wall units up.
We were supposed to be having takeaway at Charlie’s, and I sadly can’t deal with the unfulfilled promise of curry, so we had takeaway for tea anyway. Couldn’t have cooked, the kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it.
There was less running around on Sunday. Barry got cracking putting up doors on all units, putting the drawers together, the handles on the top units, and the cooker hood. It’s made a huge difference – it almost looks finished now! He only had until 4pm yesterday as he had to set off for London, and there’ll be no progress until next weekend now. I’ll get some photos up tomorrow.