What are you all up to

Lovely sunny day here....for a change.    I am off to our son's place in Ayrshire with a full load of wood for his log burner.  More space freed up in our garage.

OH is staying home as DD, who loaded it all up for me, also filled up the front passenger footwell !!

First time the VW has been used since my fall in early  November, had to charge the battery as it was almost dead.

1. New "toy?"has been installed ,just got to convince OH that she cannot spend the rest of the day getting used to it 

Yes we are having removers do the packing,  we'll that's the intention, was surprised at how 'little' the charge is. They'll be quicker than me as they're practised, and I'd be putting in and taking out again to get it right.......  Sadly they don't offer unpacking boxes service, but will put furniture in rooms as required, no idea where bits, apart from the obvious, will go as have only seen the house twice. Still despite getting older were are upsizing, garden included 😱 so plenty of space. Can only buy from choice on the market!

This is actually our 3rd choice of house but very happy with it, 2nd house was sold before we could out in an offer! My brother referred to that as palatial this one is 4 square metres bigger 🤣. The first house, become known as 'the servants quarters' as is was 'only' 3 bedrooms, but had huge wrap around garden that needed immediate attention to make it dog proof. Despite offer accepted in June she still hadn't found anywhere in a 40 mile radius by October! It was re-sold, at an increased price within days of going back on the market, but not convinced it'll be sorted yet - divorce case we've since learnt. I just made sure we stayed on the lists to be notified of properties coming on the market as we were looking in such a limited area. It was the estate agent who tipped us off about this house as think he'd got the measure of owner of servants quarters!

Been on tenterhooks all day waiting for a phone call re suggested completion (dates), can stand down now overnight.

Had a nice catch up and lunch with friend, been miserable grey and damp again for a change.

JVB it'll take a while for your OH to be confident on your house's new toy but it will make life easier in the long run! One of the things I was looking for was being able to be able to 'live' downstairs if necessary .

Goodness me,,,,sounds like a nightmare....that would never happen up here!

We offer....if offer is accepted, then you proceed to signing  the missives, then you are tied in.   Missives include a moving date, so you know what is happening.

One should not offer up here if one does not have the money to proceed.

A seller will not refuse an offer if your current home is not under offer, it is up to the buyer to be sure they have the money to proceed.

Our daughter had not sold her house, but her brother, and us, were able to lend her the difference, and she was able to have 2 mortgages for 3 months.    Halifax said nothing when that became 4 months!

Her house now is a forever house, the catchment area for the school was the main thing, but they will never move now, so happy to spend on getting it how they want it.

Fortunately they can afford to do that.

Kj. Unless a Scottish house is on the fixed price system you can find yourself out of pocket in the "offers over" bidding process. It's a bit like an auction where you have to make the legal checks beforehand, which can be expensive if your bid fails. So I think both systems north and south have drawbacks. That's from personal experience of both. 

Bakers2

I can't say I envy you, certainly over the next few weeks!!!!! I may have missed it but are you moving far from where you currently live? Just thinking of friendships groups and things like that.

David

John, good to read a!l your posts and that things have fallen into place for you. Hope the trip to FM goes without hitch and you come back with lots more info about the "new booking scheme"

Fingers crossed that your move come off sooner than later, B2. It certainly has been a worrying time for you. I know what you mean about dirty dog walks, Flyte hasn't been properly clean since we left home over 4 weeks ago. 

Today has  been the warmest for a while, at up to 9C with no frost over night, full sunshine and a steady breeze, so grand for getting the washing dry. Morning visit to Northallerton,  market day so quite busy, then found a dryish walk at Morton on Swale after lunch. Last night here before we start on the slow trek homeward.

Moving about an hour and a half away, and will be about 10 minutes drive to son and family. Our DIL farms so highly unlikely they'll move out of the area. Even when they move into farmhouse in the future it'll be about the same distance, if different direction.

Since OH was poorly, almost 3 years ago, I have had to take on many more tasks, almost everything. It's a day for family to visit or me to drive there, weather has a great deal to play when a visit is planned so DIL may not be able to come or be there if we visit. The pandemic also made us re-evelate the situation as well. Our grandson will be a year in March, where did that time go? So means we can mutually help each other out if necessary. It would only be emergency childcare if needed nothing regular, but closer for a cuppa or pop by visit which isn't possible now or babysitting 😀. 

We moved here almost 37 years ago expecting it to be our forever home. We no longer have ties here that we did, I have a brother, that's our only blood relative left,  who lives half an hour away, so still visit-able either way round, his offspring are between him and our new abode. Yes leaving friends will be a wrench, but not as hard as our daughter moving to NZ! Hopefully we can establish a new group in our new village. We're pretty good at distance friendships, my 2 oldest, as in longest 😉, now live in the Northumberland for15 years and Scotland for 30 years. We keep in touch and its like we haven't been apart when we meet. OH's lives in Oz! Maybe they're telling us something???

Don't know what the ideal method would be. We wasted several hundred pounds on a survey on house number one 😤 and I expect some abortive solicitor's costs even though we didn't have searches etc as seller hadn't found anywhere, I expect we'll be billed for that when we complete.

What I find hardest is its still in limbo and can fall apart until the very last minute before exchange of contracts. We are hearing some truly awful tales/urban myths of shenanigans just as contracts are to be exchanged. I'm trying to ignore them......

B2. Yes, close your ears to them!  Our most frantic move was with a buyer who wanted our house "now" not in a few weeks or months time. We managed it although we still look back in amazement that we did.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your new surroundings and villages are usually friendly places.