Well things seem to be acutally progressing. On Friday our Estate Agent managed to talk to our buyer. He said he was still 100% sure that he was buying our property and said he would sort out things this coming week. He was just waiting for his copy of the survey to come through, which we have found out was posted a couple of days before. So assuming this has now been recevied then there is no reason why he cannot pay his deposit and sign his contract.
We had a very good day up in Kings Lynn on Saturday. The primary objective was achieved by securing a rental property. I was quite shocked at its condition and was sure Helen would not want it but she surprised me by saying it was fine. I have never rented before and she said the condition was to be expected. The house is Ok and will serve its purpose of getting an address so we can get Kirsty a school and a place for us to go up to at Weekends and holidays as well as somewhere to move our stuff to when we complete here and now saves us costs of storage fees and removal costs from storage to the rental property.
Whilst up there we arranged to see 4 properties which we had shortlisted. We have looked a lot at properties and most are just in the wrong area. I had my favourite which turned out to be terrible. Firstly the driveway did not have a drop down onto the main road, but more than that it had quite a deep slope up and I would be surprised if the bottom of our cars would not have scrapped onto it. The owners both had big jeeps with big wheels, maybe that is why. Anyhow the first things the owner says is "excuse the messI have just finished repairing a wall with some damp on it. He said he had repaired another one recently but knows that when you fix one problem it moves somewhere else. So straight away I am looking at the walls and the condition was very poor. The front room was very small and Helen noticed that the ceiling, where the chimney had been taken out was uneven. The rest of the down stairs was OK but it was upstairs that really decided it for us. They had converted the loft into a loft room, it was done very well and there was nothing wrong with the room. However the stairs to access it came straight down into the master bedroom, there was not even a door on the master bedroom, just open plan. I would be surprised if anyone brought that with that set up.
We looked at another property which has been on the market for a while and in our price range. It was massive, but unfortunately it was in our price range because of the condition. If it had been well maintained then it would be worth 60k more. It would need that amount spent on it to bring it up to a decent standard. So we ruled that one out.
Another property, which was closer to town was very nice. The garden was really lovely and the house had just been extended, so it had 4 bedrooms. Kitchen was a bit small but the house was in very good condition. It was on a small road though so parking was tight but it did have a driveway. The main problem for me was that it was quite a walk to the nearest bus stop. 10-15 minutes, after which it was another 20 minute bus ride to Craig's new school. That would be unfair for him and to far for Kirsty eventually when she is out and about on her own.
So the last property and one I was not sure about. However on viewing it I really loved it. We went there before viewing it and walked to Craig's school - 6 minutes, we then timed the walk from the house to nearest bus stop - 5 minutes. There is a primary school we had looked at for Kirsty - 2 minutes away. The property is detached, it has 3 double bedrooms, a kitchen diner the same size as ours in now, the main living space is 3 times as big as our front room now. It has two toilets as well as a garage and work shop and a conservatory. The only thing it did not have was a 4th bedroom. This made Helen unsure. For me the only problem was that it was not a traditional house as I expect, you know front door, into halway and rooms of that. This was the front door has been moved to the side of the property and comes into the kitchen as the owner has built the downstairs toilet where the front door was. The overall condition was excellant, he is a builder/handy man by trade and has done all the work to a very high standard.
Later on we decided to go back for another look. I had said to Helen that if we have guests we can always put them up in our room and we can put a sofa bed in the conservatory. After all all the other properties surrounding it are bungalows, so no one looks over it and of course we could put blinds up. We also noticed the suns position, it was ideal for me, it sets over the front of the property so the main living space is cool as it the conservatory. After the second look both Helen and I were very keen on it.
So much so we are going to put an offer in tomorrow.
It is getting exciting now but we just need our buyer to get their act together and exchange contracts this week. The renetal company will be chasing me shortly for a date for us to start renting and I cannot supply this until we have exchanged.
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