Help calm me, house buying and selling stress. Part 3

I'm pleased to say all went well with hubby's operation and he is now in the intensive care unit for the first stage of his recovery. I've not seen him yet but will do so tomorrow by which time I expect he will be well awake and telling everyone what the should be doing and how!

So sorry SueH49, I forgot we are twelve hours behind you. I hope all goes well

Thank you Shandy, I took him into hospital this afternoon. He rang this evening and said the anaesthetist had been to see him and told him he would be taken to surgery at 6.30 am tomorrow and they expected the procedure to take 6 hours.

It will be an anxious wait.

SueH49, thinking of your husband day, best wishes for a very successful outcome. x

Grannaretto, sounds to me as if 'the fates' are working for you. So much better for your Daughter and family (sorry, I really detest all these 'darling' thingies), to be in the flat by themselves. I do love all my children, very much but would hate to live with them, or them with me for more than two or three days. When I go to the South coast to visit my twins and their families I prefer to stay in a hotel overnight, even though one of them does have a spare room in their house. But then would probably have their two daughters waking me up much too early - paying for an overnight stay in a hotel helps to preserve good relationships all round.
Shandy - think your EA needs reminding that they are agents to YOU, and should be working very hard to get the sale of your house completed asap. Do make sure you set a reserve price for the Auction, and - in the meanwhile - enjoy your move into a smaller, cosy place next Friday.
Whiff, I actually prefer politicians who have had previous employment, to those that are so-called 'professional' politicians......at least the former know something about the real world out there. Do not think that anyone elected as an MP should keep up with their previous enmployment in any way though, being an MP should be a very full-time job
This morning going off the the Eat Vegan festival being held in WsM. Last year the youngest of my g.children who lives here went to this and pronounced at the end 'This vegan food is okay, I liked it.....but am now ready for proper food!!!' Out of the mouth of babes........etc.
Both the outdoor areas and indoor place for such festivals is just five minutes trundling distance for me.
Yesterday was such a lovely sunny day, me and my scooter had a ride along the promenade. My......was it windy there!!! Bitter wind. Two of the flats that I had considered purchasing were down there, lovely views across the sea, but now I realise how cold they must be with this sort of wind. Once I had turned off the promenade and back towards my own flat, was totally protected from that wind. So relieved I made the correct decision as to which flat I bought.

Of course you are right. She is just incredibly tense with the worry right now.
Something will turn up as Mr Macawber would say.

Grammaretto hope everything will be ok with your daughter. At least they will be able to stay in your flat. Close by but not on top of each other.

I certainly is Grammaretto. I expect your DD is pretty stressed already. If its a separate flat it should be OK to rub along together? I hope so anyway.

Shandy what is it with these B****y EAs. Grrr. How dare they be short with you.
Can you advertise on gumtree just to see what happens?
They are not doing their job.

We have had an emotional and interesting 24 hours.
First that house was snatched away = a good thing though as DD says someone is getting a bargain.

Then our tenants announced they are leaving at the end of the month as they have bought a flat. = good thing.

So then I thought instead of letting it again quickly it could be a nice temporary home for DDs family until they get sorted. = good thing.

Lo and behold DD comes round today and we have a blazing row about something quite innocuous,. She storms out and leaves us in tears. = not good but a reminder of why we shouldn't live together?

I think the virtual world is so much more comforting than the real one.

Shandy57 that buyer and your estate agent are the worst. Really want to call them something rude. But can't really do that in print. The estate agent is working for you and should be doing their job. They should be pushing the so called buyer for answers. Don't think he is going to get the money he wants even if he did it will still take weeks or months before completion. You need to sell at least at auction it will sell and with a time limit. Like people have said here you can set a reserve price. Think an auction company would advertise it widely as it's in their interest to get the best price. As yours is a unique property it will get a lot of interest. Have you spoke to your solicitor about the situation. Found mine brilliant. When my buyers solicitor was being a nightmare over exchange and completion it was only my solicitor threatening her with I don't know what that it all got done. Whatever it was it worked.

Hello All,

Whiff, thank you for your wishes re our situation. DH goes into hospital tomorrow for surgery on Monday. The recovery, we have been told, will be at least 2 days in the intensive care unit and at least a week in hospital. Hopefully once home he will recover without any set backs but it will still be at least 6 weeks before he is back to somewhere near normal all being well. That will be about the week before we settle here. Thankfully I am pretty much back to normal after the hip replacement albeit some days are hard.
We should start to see more properties come onto the market over the next few weeks and will keep an eye out for our ideal one. Meanwhile we will find a rental property and that will give us breathing space to find something and also the opportunity to do any work that may need doing without living among the chaos of workmen.

Shandy, I think I would be telling your supposed buyer to bu$%^r off. He has had plenty of opportunity to bring this sale to a conclusion. We did much the same with our buyer. It cost us over $100,000 and at auction the same person bought it which rubbed salt into the wound BUT having bought at auction it was an unconditional sale. It was worth the loss to have that. We still got a price we were happy with. Had we not we would not have sold at that time. In hindsight that may not have been a bad thing. The problem I have with auctions is the pressure put on both the vendor and the bidder. The bidder is pushed to up their bids and the vendor to accept a bid less than they want. It is after all the auctioneers job to get the best price for the vendor. You need too be very strong to resist that pressure. We got within $10k of our absolute minimum and the agent pushed us to accept that ---"it's only 10k" he said. Our son who was here on the day just simply said "it does not begin with a 4 go and try harder". DH would have said OK. Auction bidders generally bid with emotion but developers don't.

The thing with auctions is that they only really work if there is competition. We went to one recently the guide price was $870 - 935k and at auction with 5 people bidding it sold for one million and two thousand dollars. Another with a guide price of $870 - 950k and that sold at auction for one million one hundred and seventy six thousand dollars. Without competition however, you run the risk of not reaching the figure you want and having to decide whether to let it go at a price less than ideal and get on with life or hold out for the higher price and have it hanging over your head. Although ours had not been on the market for long the whole process of having the plans drawn up and getting council approval had taken 3 years and we were at a stage we just wanted it over, thus settled for less than we had hoped for. Having said that we did get more than we will spend in our lifetime.

Have had a couple of hot days here, 43C yesterday and 33 today although it has cooled down as the day has gone on and we have had good steady rain all day.

Franbern, so sorry to hear you are in pain, I hope the CT scan goes OK.

So sorry your neighbour has died Whiff, I hope you get someone nice moving in.

Just popping in to say I did ring the EA and they sounded quite irritated I'd phoned. Buyer couldn't be contacted, and they hadn't heard anything. The 'sales progressor' was at a meeting, and she emailed me later. Apparently 'B' - she uses his first name (nearly said christian then, not pc!) in a very familar way - emailed her this morning and said the mortgage company were studying the damp report before giving him their decision to 'loan or not to loan' sometime next week.

I'm left with the impression the mortgage company may not lend him the money because of £3K worth of damp work? I think he's definitely going to try and negotiate that I fund this. What about the £30K replacement roofs? Shall I pay for those too, and what about getting him a new car for our country roads? Honestly, I can't believe this is happening. Somewhere, I've read that a damp/timber report for mortgage purposes must be in the name of the person applying for the mortgage. Did he want it for his mortgage company, really, or was it just for him?

I do wish my husband was here to talk to, I'm so glad I have you to virtually chat with xx

My neighbours daughter just popped round. Her mom died on Monday in hospital. She was 98. I thought she wasn't there as I hadn't heard her .I got a sympathy card last week. I'll pop it round later. When I brought the bungalow always knew I would have a new neighbour eventually.

Sounds like bumpy (to quote The Queen) week for some, but don't worry it will all be fine after tonight?!
Whiff is right about contrast dyes in medical tests Franbern. The ct one has some unpleasant effects like metal taste and a feeling of wetting oneself, worth knowing just in case.
Shandy the auction is looking like the only option to get you a sale, so stay positive. I agree that a unique property sells well under these conditions.
I'm baking hot cross buns today. Well Easter is on the way soon.

I feel like you crafty about pushing anything they don't want in the South, up North. We have all the nuclear weapons/submarines in the Holy Loch. but I bet the button is in the South!
I am happy for you that you are meeting nice new people.

I drove to have a sneaky look at the house DD didn't get and I am so glad they didn't. It may have been cheap and very pretty but right on a main road. Nooo!

I would be frightened of an auction too Shandy but it will be alright, I'm sure. You will have a reserve price and it might be like on TV when a rich mystery buyer in Australia puts a bid in. It is a very special property, remember.
I must tell DD to go to an auction.

Franbern sorry you are having health problems again . Don't know if you have had a CT scan before. Every time I have had one they injected me with a dye. It always gave me an upset tummy. So if you haven't had one before and they inject you with it it might be worth making sure you have some diarrhoea medication in just in case. It's always lovely when family include you in celebrations. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

Craftyone you are so right. We need to keep all the old skills. To much reliability on technology.

Franbern, ups and downs and more with age {flowers] not easy for you. Remember it could be the delayed effects of all that stress, it takes about a year to show itself

whiff, I have been in colleges lately and no-one apart from maybe years 7 and 8, are shown how to use hand tools any more and to make jigs and to sharpen. It is all computers and massive laser cutting machines. They also don`t hand write much, all computers. The electrician came with his mate this week, to change a thermostat, only 3 simple wires but it was snagging so electrician had to do it. I said that I thought it was a faulty micro thermistor and they both looked at me, had no idea what a thermistor was. That is basic, very basic electronics. I was shocked. Ooh they are going to miss our generation when we have all gone, together with our acquired knowledge

2 confirmed in the centre of york, been staying at a hotel. Arghh

Last night joined my WsM for the birthday meal out for their No. 3 child who was 15 years old. They always go out for a meal on each birthday - choice if where, is down to birthday person. Last night was just Beefburger.I Never been to one of these previously. It was so nice that I can join in with these.
Oh dear, succumbed to temptation and had a lovely scrumptious dessert. Lots of meringue and cream - So many calories!!! Obviously healthy, as it also had lots of fresh berries!!!!
When my friend was here last week she noticed how often I was holding the back of my head and asked why. I told her that I was getting these sharp pains there and they were increasing in duration, etc. I told her I was waiting for the winter rush to die down and I would go to my GP after Easter. She pointed out that I should go earlier and actually told my daughter down here. So, I went to GP last Monday and am now to have a CT scan Saturday week.
They are getting worse and now interfering with sleep, Having taken some over the counter paracetomol when I turned off my bedroom light the evening before last, I had to get up three hours later as I was in pain. Needed to wait a further hour before taking some strong prescription co-codamol. I sat and watched a programme on television about the over use of Opoids whilst I waited until I could take my own opoids - which did help me get to sleep!!!.
Just over a week ago, I had my C.Heating boiler checked by British Gas - comes under my Maintenance payment, so all arranged via the Flats Tenants Committee. Needed to have a new CO alarm. The engineer provided this, but would not take payment for it, told me invoice would be sent. I have been getting concerned this had not arrived - Member of cttee rung my door bell with this today. It had been sent to the Cttee (as they are the name on the contract) and had got the flat number wrong, so it had taken them sometime to work out who it was for. Felt quite embarrassed -but not my fault. I have now paid it. Now wondering what happened to the quote they were also supposed to send to me to have radiator valves fitted.

Pressed wrong button. She showed me an email the estate agent had sent to her and both solicitors. I did ask if English was her first language as it did not make sense. She said yes. She must have used predicted text or something. Worst email I've seen from a professional.

Don't think any politician knows what they are doing anymore. So few of them had ordinary jobs before going into politics. If they did they wouldn't keep on making daft decisions.

Craftyone you are a women after my own heart. Like you I take me as I am sort of person. I have no airs or graces. But I must be ok as I've made new friends since moving. In my sit fit class and craft group. Met up again with a woman I met at U3A in December. We went to a lovely cafe where I do my sit fit. Their hot chocolate is made with chocolate and not powder either dark,milk or white. Cakes to die for. She is in the process of buying a house. She sold hers last September as she had a buyer who wanted a quick sale and paid full asking price. She has been staying with her daughter and family. Apartment she wanted fell through and has revised her offer on a house after having the survey done. Just waiting to see if it will be accepted.

I will be thinking of you whiff. It is different circumstances with young families these days, life is so very busy and stressful for them. I try to stay back from mine, to give them family space. I will be off out on my significant day, don`t mind where I go but want to be tired when I come back. Maybe have a glass to the good memories whiff

Two of my fellow members of my craft class are going to my carving group, to the next meeting. I am chuffed to pieces, both very nice women, independent normal types like me. I can see the beginnings of friendships. Lots of nice women about but I am most definitely not twin set and pearls, I am a take me as I am person and it is truly nice to have conversations without thinking what to say next. It already flows. Cannot rush friendships and I definitely do not want to dash into superficial friendships that I cannot wriggle out of, hence me taking my time before joining U3A

Quarantine site is just behind my brothers garden in the wirral. The NW is used again, what was wrong with them staying in the south, near brize norton?. Merseysiders are not happy and are feeling used now that the tories are in. BJ had better be careful, the tory relationship is hanging by a thread up there.

Shandy57 that's thinking on your feet about the labelling. Craft group enjoy my cakes. Not expecting to see any of the family on those days. It's just as hard for them especially as they have got children . But I know I will be ok. As you know the loss doesn't lessen with time but you cope. My husband said he was dying but we had to live and live the best life's we could. And proud to say we have .

Morning Whiff, luckily the wind dropped just as I was going to bed, I was scared when I let my dog out for his night time tiddle in case a tile flew off. Looks like the wind is back this morning but not as severe. We are so open to the elements here as the back of the house faces the railway line and an open field.

This buyer is a dead loss isn't he, I am going to ring the EA this morning, I find it hard to believe he hasn't heard yet. His original offer of £355 was on the mortgage surveyors paperwork, I told him he had reduced his offer to £330.

I am very nervous of going to auction but if he cannot get a mortgage at least I know I am limited to cash buyers. I have been looking at the House selling forum on moneysavingexpert and the people on there don't think much of auctions.

I hope you can see your family on one of your forthcoming remembrance days, and share some happy memories. I went to my husband's grave yesterday, and the sparrows have eaten all his crocus tops, I hope he gets at least one flower I am glad you are in such a safe and happy place and are making friends, will you still make cakes for the craft group?

I've nearly finished packing everything I need for the cottage, I've found it so hard. I have to return the boxes to the movers, and couldn't work out how to label them without touching the boxes, it was so obvious, I've written on the tape

Shandy57 hope you didn't stay awake worrying about your windows. This so called buyer is a dead loss. Best for you to sell at auction. The longer you own the house the more it's costing not just in money but piece of mind. Your stress levels sound at times sky high. Last day of January not long before your move to the rental. Yah. Will you have your house in a March auction as I think you said can't get it in February?

SueH49 hope you and your husband are coping ok. Not long now until his operation. I will wish you both all the best for then and a speedy recovery . Hope you find somewhere to rent or buy soon.

On Sunday it would have been my husband's birthday, Monday anniversary of our first date and the 6th anniversary of his death. Might not feel like posting . At the moment I'm feeling ok. Not a sodded mess like past years. 16 years has flown by. Such a lot has happened in that time. Well that's enough of that.

Hope everyone had a good day.