Fresh start with new EA

Mosaicwarts. It's such a lovely house. Must buy more lottery tickets tonight. May I just say that clearing a bit of the garden and creating a patio area might add to its appeal. Nothing fancy or expensive. I have to say, I have sometimes chosen a house because of the garden. Have a good weekend.

Thanks loopyloo, the garden is a constant worry to me because I start one end and by the time I get to the other it's all overgrown again! I might buy a few sunloungers and a table today, just off to Aldi for their delicious Cornish ice cream with salted caramel. Too hot to walk my sheltie so I'm going to have a huge portion with the 'Billy Liar' film I found in the charity shop. And probably a snooze - I used to hate it when my Mum dropped off on the sofa, I do it now!

Have a lovely day!

Oh wow your house is beautiful and well worth asking price - it’s stunning! I love Northumberland and holiday there at least once a year. Best of luck selling it.

Hello Franbern, stamp duty will be £5K, I noted all the other things you mentioned and I've earmarked £15k in total.

My friend has just bought an 1860 house for £360K and is awaiting her builder's estimates .. from what she's told me I think she'll be looking at a very large bill. She sold to a cash buyer for £450K, and doesn't plan to work so I hope she's gone some left over to see her through to her pension at 66. I'll be happy in a shoebox and won't be making any changes, I just want warm and dry with a garden for my dog's night time tiddle.

My savings are looking extremely small and I'm pulling my horns in now! In the early days I wasted money through the madness of grief, but have travelled quite a bit with my daughter. When Steve died I suddenly felt old, and also felt I could die at any minute too

Unfortunately as it was such early days some of it is a bit of a blur. I went to Canada to see my daughter at Uni there, volunteered with elephants in Thailand, New York for my daughter's 21st, Venice for my birthday, and volunteered with monkeys in South Africa. I feel so lucky my daughter enjoys my company, although as I said somewhere else, she has asked me not to share my sadness with her as it makes her feel helpless

Anyway ... having worked out moving costs for the sale gave me the strength to be assertive with the builder when I asked how much to do the gutter and he said £250! I asked him what he charged per day, and how long he thought it would take, he was taken aback at the 'new' me! Ended up being £50 and the scary news the tiles have slipped.

Off to get my ice cream, hope there's some left!

Enjoy your day.

grief madness is very real and it does happen, it is as though frugality and money caution go out the window, `what is the point?` You walk around in a daze for quite some time and should not be making important decisions, I think it takes at least a year for it to subside.

I gave away a good percentage of savings to the 3 AC, I don`t regret it because they were all sensible with the money but I will not be doing that again. I mean I spent £5000 on a 10 day saga cruise, I would never have done that in my right mind. I bought a couple of expensive impulse items and on it goes, until I did the sums after that year, realising that I would have to rely on savings for the rest of my life, to top up my pension. That was a very real lightbulb moment

Then in year 2 of widowhood, after spending much time and money on house maintenance, I realised that all the wood in the garden, including a lot of important and big retaining wooden walls, showed early signs of deterioration, the first stages of rotting wood. I fixed what I could and spent loads on preservative but the signs got worse and I started to have sleepless nights and it took only some more months more for me to realise that I wanted out and the easiest way going forward, was to get a new build with all the guarantees, with a normal roof and no wooden retaining anywhere

I started off with a realistic 450k, then I said I wanted to go down to 425 because any offers had been subject to selling their own homes and of course the nosies came because the house was very different. Nothing much happened and all this gloom in the country, I was mentally prepared for 375 and tbh I would almost have given it away, the wood outside was 3m tall in parts, retaining with a field behind and I didn`t stop worrying

In the end fate took a hand, that one proceedable buyer turned up, offered me 395k and I was insulted at first but next day rang the EA back and said I would take it, nice EA said they would try and get a bit more. They got another 5k and that covered their fees

I got myself a beautiful cosy modern built house, cosy like a cottage for 375k and I thing it was a very good price, none of the 3 here offered any lower than the asking price. I know my builds to some extent and the quality of build and builder shone. I secured it the day I looked, wanted it when I saw just the outside

You know the rest of the story, 4 years and 4 months have passed since I became a widow and I think the time factor was right, I was ready to move and fate agreed with me

Btw, it was a single woodpecker who alerted me to the early signs of rot, I saw him banging on a corner, so I climbed the steps and investigated behind that corner. The soil was immdiately against this wood, no barrier and then I saw more and more rot behind, all the way along, metres and metres, everywhere. So it was a bird who told me. The signs are everywhere, of what we should do, we just need to be aware of signs, not be closed. I never saw that woodpecker again, once I started to take action

I do believe that souls are energy, that energy slips out of a body but is still around because it is not confined in a space. I can only imagine how a loved one would try to communicate when it comes to an important decision. Birds, small fluffy feathers, that feeling on the back of the neck which happens soon after a passing. Haven`t we all seen that one bird that sits and looks at us, trying to communicate

Oh craftyone, I don't think you'd told us about the worry of the wood before. I would love to see your old house one day, when a decent period has passed.

I'm glad you had a beautiful woodpecker alerting you to the deterioration. I had a much less attractive wood wasp showing me my rotten windowsills! The sudden and obvious deterioration of my house is terrifying me. All of the putty has gone from the platform windows at the back, it's all just fallen off over the past few weeks. I must stop being so fearful as the advert does state renovation now, people must expect it. I am just seeing all the faults now. The estate agent viewing ladies loved the house.

Unfortunately I look at my deteriorating bedroom ceiling every night, I'm going to have to move out of there I think, now I know two tiles have gone the rest could just slip off. I'm going to phone the roofer tomorrow as I now have two serious problems with water ingress I remember watching a programme about a castle in the highlands where ceilings were coming in and the Chief was so upset about it as he couldn't afford the repairs. I think he died before he managed to restore it. I so wish the EA hadn't pushed the buyer to the point of withdrawing - but he hadn't been honest, perhaps he would have withdrawn later on in the process.

My son is coming today so we'll be going for fish and chips in the small cafe at the harbour in Amble. Lots of lovely eider ducks there swimming around, cormorants, shags and my very favourite, the lapwings. My 'dizzy spells' have subsided so I think it was exhaustion and the cold/cough virus. I saw my doctor in Lidl last night - such a lovely man, he must be about 45, but he's very 'boyish'. I haven't seen him for over a year, he's always on holiday when I try to make an appointment, I think he's got his work/life balance right! He asked me if I'd had any luck selling the house - everyone seems to know!

Did attack a box of photos last night by the way - too sad, will just have to take them all and sort when I've moved.

Sunny and windy here today, off to the beach with my dog in a minute. Old couple who own a garden at the beach entrance were 'treating' a wasps nest last night, I do feel sorry for them, such artistry in making their home but it's on the front of their chalet type shed. Both in their eighties and scared of being stung.

Have a good day!

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

I'm bracing myself for a bumpy ride with this selling lark. Just had a call cancelling Friday's viewing - the viewer drove past and didn't like the location At least I didn't buy flowers yesterday, wanted to wait until Thursday to get the best value. The Sweet Williams lasted weeks, and were worth the effort of much leaf stripping!

I've phoned the roofer again this morning and hope he can come to give me a quote. I checked my diary and I originally phoned him on 6 June. Work people here make promises but always need chasing up.

I have had a happy phone call from my daughter in London, the play is going really well and she's enjoying it all. Full on rehearsals and three days painting the stage set, first performance at Tristan Bates theatre tomorrow night. She's also really pleased for her lovely Uni friend who went on to train as a chef at Prue Leith's cookery school - she's just got a job working with a previous Bake Off finalist.

My son visited yesterday, he's a lot happier too, the new taxi firms have 'hospital runs' where he collects drugs from one, and delivers to another. He earnt the most he's earnt since he started doing it in his first week.

So the only person to 'make happy' now is me! I just don't know what to do with myself.

Have a good day!