Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

Crikey Whiff you've scared me about the workman with covid, but as you say it's unlikely to happen to you if you keep out of their way. Good luck with the mammo.
I can visualise and almost smell your cake Spice. Is the alcohol going in next?
Shandy that woman is only jealous. Ignore.

Afternoon everyone,

I think most of you know my tenancy runs out on 7th February. I contacted the rental agency because I couldn't find my 'renewal' tenancy agreement, and they are now asking me if I want to renew for another six months. I've said I am house hunting and don't have an idea about time scales yet and will contact them as soon as I know.

Has made me feel a bit panicky, I have no idea how long this will take.

Can the tenancy not be extended, after the initial period, month by month Shandy? Find your agreement to check.

Shandy I’m sure he didn’t mean to make you worry, probably just trying to suss out what might happen next year! Don’t worry about it.

I've just collected my post from the end of the garden (saves the postwoman walking up the long garden) and I've received a second copy of the forms for my aunt's LPOA.

They've spelt my middle name wrong again, isn't it appalling. She's paid a lot of money for this and they can't even proofread their work

Ellianne the alcohol went into soaking the fruit for several days before cooking. The recipe says 1/2 a cup but I used slightly more - actually it was 1/2 a bottle.
The oven here has the element under the floor of the oven and in spite of several layers of newspaper lining the tin and it not being on the floor, the bottom of the cake is slightly browner than it should be. I'm hoping it does not affect the taste. Years ago I went to a cake decorating class and was taught to line the tin on the outside as it made for sharper edges to ice.
A funny story about making Christmas cakes and puddings. My maternal grandmother lived with us for many years. She was a strict teetotaler with the exception of alcohol being used in Christmas cakes. My mother used to use the recommended amount of alcohol to soak the fruit over several days, but everyday Grandmother used to secretly add more alcohol to the mix when she thought no one was watching.

Whiff in spite of the above and having decorated many cakes including our wedding cake I no longer ice the Christmas cake. Probably laziness but now days my hands do not have the fine motor skills needed.

Shandy attention to detail is something that lacks in many places. Many people make assumptions and don't check but after you pointing it out there is no excuse to misspell your name and one wonders how efficient they are at other matters. Hopefully you will have a moving date before too long and can let your rental agency know when you will move out. I hope you have a buffer period between the date you can move into your new home and the date you have to move out of the rental. This will make it easier for you rather than having to do both on the same day.

Franbern washing down and preparing is the worst bit of decorating think... and then of course the clean up I'm sure it will be lovey when it is done though.

Another hot day today - expected top of 30C.

Shandy spelling your middle name wrong again is appalling. Hope you sent the paperwork back with a piece of paper attached to it with your middle written in large letters. Also a letter of complaint. I always have to spell my surname as there are four ways to spell it but it is pronounced the same. But sometimes even though I say the letters clearly sometimes the first letter is wrong. But on legal documents there is no excuse . Someone is not paying attention.

Spice love your grandmother story. My dad always made the Christmas puddings. We had an old cooker in the garage which was used for his wine making and boiling of the pud for 8 hours. He always made them in October and the mincemeat. Mom made the Christmas cake then as well it had lot of brandy in it. And every week for a month it was pricked and fed more brandy. Beginning of December dad would marzipan the cake and a week later ice it. Christmas Eve dad made sausage rolls with rough puff pastry he made and mince pies which very rich short crust pastry. Christmas breakfast for as long as I can remember until I got married was warm sausage rolls and mince pies.

It's lovely on here that one of you mentions something and brings back memories mostly happy , funny sometimes sad. But always welcome.

Got my grandson for a couple of hours this morning. So nannie play time.

Mammogram was fine. It was at a mobile unit. Very well organised as usual. Just extra Covid precautions.

Have a good day everyone.

Crikey I'm getting even more worried now. Our flooring company has just phoned to say everyone is dropping out due to lockdown and can they do our floor on Monday. Was I wrong to say yes? What extra precautions can we take while they are here?

Spice what a lovely story about the added alcohol. Good on your grandma!
My cake will be from M & S along with their Christmas Colin the Caterpillar for the grandchildren. Maybe one year I should try to bake my own.
You're right Whiff, we all have collective memories which get stirred up along the way. Glad the mammogram went well.

Ellianne and don't worry . My home improvements guys had to pick me up off the lawn when I fell. Didn't have any worries about them touching me. I know I was outside but they had their heads right by mine.

Just keep your distance. After they have gone give everything a wash down . I've had work done since March and even with the different workmen I didn't worry about catching anything from them. I have several health problems but didn't worry.

If you are really worried wear a mask while they are there and you could ask them to wear masks . Get in touch with them today if you want them to wear them. Gloves for them may be impractical as they may not be able to handle the flooring with them on.

Think about the positive side you will have a lovely new floor. Just don't worry.

Ellianne, just go ahead and have the flooring done. And, then you will have everything back in place and enjoy it.

I take it that you do not have a lot of packing up of furniture to do before they come in. It is going to be a major removal job when I get my flooring put down.

I always used to make a lovely Christmas Cake. However only myself and hubbie used to eat it. Children do not seem to like rich fruit cakes, then this one did not like marzipan (years later turned out she was intolerant of Almonds - so had good reason), another did not like royal icing etc.etc. So, each year I made one, it just put lots of pounds (not the monetary ones) on to me, so I stopped.

Part of my preparation in the spare bedroom is that one of the walls had lots of things we had to take down, causing lots of holes, some quite big. I used filler on all of these, and they now need sandpapering down to make smooth. Part of the problem (with me), is that I can only stand up and do such things for about ten minutes, then need a long rest - but it will get done.

Feeling very optimistic at present, two lots of good news in one week! USA election result (although I doubt if Biden will be able to do much reform as he does not have overall power), AND, of course, the vaccine. Can now start to look forward again, and my arm is just waiting for that.

I can really start to re-plan my 80th birthday next year which is just two days after my eldest g.daughter's 18th. Have positive feelings about next Spring and Summer.

I have a surname which is pretty unique (probably made up buy some immigration officer who could not understand my ex-hubbies g.grandfather when he arrived from Russia.
Has the advantage that (when we had such things) I was able to tell people just to look up the name in the London 'phone book and ring one of the three numbers there (ours, my BiL and my Mother in Law). Disadvantage is the so often misspelling.

Shandy do hope that you can get the purchase of your new property completed in the next ten or eleven weeks. Probably depend more on whether the present owners have somewhere they wish to move to.

Spice - when will you be told the outcome of your bid?
Temperature sounds very hot, thirty degrees would make national newspaper headlines here, I assume that you have good air conditioning though.

I have two U3A zoom meetings to attend this morning. Had one, waiting for next one. I have always detested the winter, and had to really MAKE myself go out to meetings, so much nicer now that I just sit in my own living room and attend them!!! Then this afternoon, will need to go out to collect some repeat prescriptions from pharmacy, and return my car to its garage (it is still in car park from where I returned from shopping yesterday).

Morning all, great to read your news.

I empathise Ellianne, I'd just returned from a trip to Venice when the decorator rang to say he'd had a cancellation. Somehow we managed to move everything in three rooms in time, but of course, there wasn't the risk then. The big thing is using the bathroom, I was surprised when my landlord visited and asked to use it, I do have a Dettol spray.

So it's survey day, sometime this afternoon!

I've just had my removals quote of £590, still waiting for my son to measure his front door/back door to check my sofa/chair will go into his house.

So far the move has cost £2,410. £1250 for the solicitor, £570 for the survey, and it will be £590 for the move plus an additional sum to give my son the sofa. Fingers crossed I do save the stamp duty of £2,457.

I put some skirts into our local crafts/repair shop to have the waistbands enlarged, I'm so delighted with them. They are heavily embroidered 'Peruvian' style and I've had them languishing for 15 years, I just kept putting off doing it myself. Now need to get some tops to wear with them!

Enjoy your day

PS I popped into M&S last night - the light up decorated gin bottle would make a lovely gift. They also have beautiful tin 'houses' of shortbread.

Franbern we have not put our offer in yet. Before we can do that we need to see what is called the Vendor's Statement. This lists the information about the property including, the title, the service connections and which authority they come under, the subdivision plan, the local council rates and charges, any covenants and/or restrictions on the property, whether it is on a flood plain or in a bushfire zone and the terms of the sale. When we receive that - which should be soon we will have it examined by a conveyancer to make sure that there is nothing of concern and if it is fine we will submit our offer.

Once the offer is submitted we should know within a day or two if it is accepted. Our offer will be conditional on us having a satisfactory building and pest inspection done on the property. I would expect the VS to be available tomorrow. I have discovered that EA's like to manipulate things to put pressure on buyers -particularly emotional pressure and try to drive up the price.

Hello Spice, good luck with the Vendor's Statement. Sounds scary being in a bushfire zone, we've seen lots of photographs of the fires here lately, including animals suffering terribly Hope it is in a safe zone. Good luck!

Good service from North Somerset Council. After having to submit such a long, and detailed form to get my Blue Badge (expiring first week in January), they only took just over a week to reply that this is now being issued and will be posted to me within next ten days.
I am impressed, that it took such a small amount of time, particularly in these difficult times. After the terrible time I had three years ago, when my local authority required an assessment, but did not have anyone in their employ able to carry that out.
Another worry not to worry about!!!!

We've been viewing houses and showing people around ours and have seen different attitudes to the pandemic. Yesterday's owner had moved his wife and dogs out, opened all the doors and stood outside while we looked around. Another had the agent show us around while the family sat in the lounge. I am happy if we are all masked and keep our distance.
We received an offer for our house today that was far lower than we would like. We haven't accepted as we are yet to find an ideal place and so can afford to hold out.
One more viewer in the diary and another place for us to look at this week.

Great news Franbern, glad it is coming so soon.

Pittcity, I am sorry you have received such a low offer. I know it is a business transaction but these 'cheeky offers' I see often encouraged by the presenter on tv programmes are ridiculous. When I had my own survey done on the station the surveyor mentioned my kitchen and bathroom needed updating and had included overall estimated costs, without a breakdown. I didn't know if his costs were for an expensive Smallbone and Little kitchen, or a basic Howdens? Who knows, it's all money games. Glad you are able to stay put.

Thanks everyone, I'm feeling less worried about the flooring men coming on Monday now. I've removed all the books from the bookcase and there's only two dining chairs left round the table. We'll move the sofa and armchair out at the weekend. The floorman will have to help with the marble table.
I think I will have all the doors and windows open while he is working and I'll clear the kitchen worktops adjoining the dining room. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for the idea of the shortbread biscuit tins Shandy. Always good to have some pretty stand by presents in the house!
Maybe the viewers will increase their offer Pittcity and good luck with the other place you are looking at.
Those of us who moved in 2019 had some challenges but the class of 2020 is being put to the test more. Stick at it, we are all here to support you. It will be worth it.

when did the current system of 'making an offer' on a property start? When we first bought in 1964 it did not exist. You paid the price asked, or did not purchase the property. When we moved in 1972, in the throes of the total craziness of the housing market then, it was still the same system,. Either you paid what was being asked or not.

Our next move was 1976 and again, no thought of offers, even though the market had then calmed down again.
When my eldest daughter purchased her first home in 1993, there was the problems with 'negative equity', but still no offers on prices asked.

So, I think this started sometime in the late 1990's as when I moved i 2003 it was definitely happening.

Do think it is just an added complication and stress to a system which is totally broken in England and Wales.

Had a bad night, had a dream in which I thought I had lost my purse, had to actually get up and check that it was in my handbag. Trying to doze off again, I thought I had double booked myself for an appointment this morning. My diary is kept next my chair in the Living room, so had to get up, again, to check that (I hadn't!!). So good that at least in my flat I can easily do that without having to worry about stairs.

Had originally planned to use today for decorating, but now have two arrangements one for morning, one for afternoon. Nice to be busy though.
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I'm guessing the whole offer-making business came about when people started marketing properties at over inflated prices?

I think offers have been around for a long time. My first purchase was in the 70s and that was the era of gazumping so you usually had to offer above the asking price.
In the 80s we accepted under the asking price on our sale and had the same on our purchase. In the late 90s it was the same again.
Around 6 or 7 years ago when prices were booming, there were bidding wars and my next door neighbour got £70k more than asking price.
What I think is new is buyers offering insultingly low offers of only around 80% of asking price which happened to me. This was first time buyers trying to buy a large London house which they could not afford. I did have to drop my price quite a lot and take a long time to sell, which was unheard of previously in London and really due to Brexit.

We were once quite high up in a chain and in order to stop the whole thing falling apart we had to "give" £15,000 to the people at the bottom who were about to pull out. It was important to us because it was a job move 250 miles away and the others in the chain would have let it collapse.

Morning all, bit rainy today but warmer.

I can hardly believe it was only February when I was having ridiculous and stressful negotiations with my buyer. But, 33 auction viewers and such low offers during/after auction proved that it was not going to achieve anything like the price the EA had speculated. I don't think an 'ordinary' family would ever have bought it, it was always going to be a developer with lots of cash. Apparently the stone work renovation alone would be £30K plus - I don't know if my stone mason did get the job in the end. I'm so glad I settled and can move on.

Talk of offers remind me of the car boot sale I attended last year. A man was shouting 'everything a pound' and a woman in front of me picked up a set of spoons and said '30p'? Society now wants to barter for everything and anything, I dislike it. It is actively encouraged by Martin Lewis on moneysavingexpert!

I'm still waiting for my masks from 'Bags of Ethics' - the Which report said they filter 80%. Sending one of them to my best friend in her birthday parcel.

Enjoy your day everyone

Sorry got no time for Martin Lewis. He's alright handing out advice but does he really practice what he preaches. Some people get sucked in by him and believe everything he says. I did take a look at his site seems some people can wipe their nose without asking for his advice. There is a thing called common sense seems to me a minority don't possess it. Perhaps it's me but if a thing looks to good to be true then it usually is.

By the way the there is a warrant out of your arrest for fraud from the inland revenue scam doing the rounds again.

When we brought our first home we just paid the asking price. We didn't know you could make offers . This was 1980. When we sold the first viewer offered the asking price so we took it. We made an offer on our second home . Another couple offered the asking price but the vendors didn't like them so said if we paid the asking price we could have it so we did this was 1985. I accepted £3k less than I really wanted on my house just to sell. After 2 last minute pull outs I just wanted to move. But don't regret it. I love my bungalow and won't be moving again unless I end up in a home. Which I hope I don't but who knows what the future holds.

Franbern sorry you had such an awful night. Hopefully you will have a dream free night tonight. I like to keep busy. Try and keep both mind and body active.

But find myself worrying about my son and family. Ok he doesn't want anything to do with me but just wish I knew they were all well. He drives for a living and travels round the country working long hours. I know he will take precautions. It's just the not knowing is so hard.

Pittcity hope you find somewhere you like soon.