Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

Fantastic Pittcity. I hope it looks lovely when it's done, we are also due thunderstorms, I'm always glad when this weather breaks.

Because there is an 02 mast problem here, I've just missed a call from the casting team. They left a voicemail and said to ring back - but didn't leave the number! I've emailed and might google them now to see if I can find it.

I've missed my chance, no response, must be fate, perhaps she'd have painted it all shocking pink and I'd have to wear sunglasses all the time indoors.

Oh well! When we moved to the station in 1999 'Changing Rooms' approached us for a 'makeover' and we had to make videos and send photographs. After much faffing about and a lot of work on my part, they decided it would be too difficult to film there because of the trains going past. Was lucky really, they did do the vicarage in Morpeth and the owner was horrified at the result.

Best to decorate to your own taste - you have to live with it. TBH I would detest having someone else come into my home and decide how to decorate it and lay things out. Part of the fun of moving is sorting out the decorations, etc.

My Living Room in the flat has envolved into a beautiful one with cream and gold (with some silver) colours and golden oak furnishings. Step by step it has developed and is now fully complete (except for door which I am still awaiting quotation from carpenter). I love it. My bedroom is basically cream and duck blue. Again to my taste. Needs new carpet in there (job for next year).

That's why I love this thread and other housey ones on Gransnet. Everyone comes with their own ideas and personal tastes, and there's no sneering or competitiveness. Just good advice.
Like buying a car, we all choose what suits us best.

No call so it's goodbye Homestyle programme transformation It's quite funny - on Facebook several people have been contacted today, and have been told they will find out if they have been chosen in two weeks.

Then someone said they weren't ready yet as still having building works done, and would be saving their money in case they were chosen for the next show - people didn't realise they had to pay for the paint/furnishings etc!

I.ve lived in my large victorian semi for over 30 years and at 70 it.s time to downsize,the cleaning,maintenance and garden are too much. I love the place but aware of my age it's sensible to move now.my original idea was a smaller house ,ready to move into and most importantly it had to be within walking distance of my country park.I saw one house that was perfect and would be the sensible choice,ready to move straight in.
So why have I just put in an offer for a house that needs so much work??
The owner is a d.i.y. idiot! Great quality materials but fitted by a blithering idiot and with a strange love of brick laying as the many pillars in the garden show.It's going to cost a fortune just to move his "projects" in the garden and fix his work in the house.
But the layout is ideal it's on a quiet lane ,fields back and front,lovely neighbours and easy parking ,it feels right whereas the other one didn't.
I'm half excited and half terrified of taking it on but fingers crossed,survey next week.

I am glad you sold so quickly lovingit, my friend has had to return to the market after her buyer pulled out, and isn't getting many viewings now the stamp duty holiday can't be met.

Good luck with your survey, if you love the house and have the money to renovate go for it, I hope your chain completes quickly.

Enjoy putting your stamp on this house - it sounds ideal

I put my house on the market mid March and sold straight away. I pulled out of the house I was buying with my partner for personal reasons (thread on here somewhere) but found a place of my own within a week. The house is only 3 years old so I thought everything would be pretty straightforward but my solicitor has sent 15 enquiries to their solicitor today
I am so frustrated and stressed, as my buyers wanted to be in by end of June (offering me 5k more if we could complete by then) but that’s now an impossibility. New estimated time is end of July.
I feel like my solicitor only does anything when I give her a nudge which may be a little unfair, but that’s how it feels.
Both estate agents tend to ring me for updates - is that normal? I get annoyed that they don’t all communicate with each other. Does this all sound normal?
I haven’t moved for over 32 years (my ex dealt with it all the legal stuff) and don’t ever want to do it again

Would you consider breaking the chain by going into an Airbnb/rental so that your buyers could benefit from the stamp duty Flaxseed? The £5K could be used for that? The stamp duty holiday has caused so much anxiety for buyers/sellers/conveyancers, I hope the 'holiday' isn't repeated. My friend is now looking at £8K stamp duty because her chain is incomplete because hopefully her seller is still looking - it's now around 3 months, without any contact at all.

As for both of the EA's phoning you, what are they asking you?

I currently have my DD, her DP and my GS living with me whilst waiting for their onward property to complete. This was agreed long before I decided to sell.

Their move has taken 6 months
All due to their solicitors needing constant chasing too
Neither of us want to sign up for a 6 month tenancy as we want to be able to complete as soon as we can.
Also, I know it sounds daft, but I am already worrying about moving with my cat and don’t want to stress her by having to move twice.
My DD runs her business from my home too so I don’t want that disrupted anymore than it’s already going to be. So breaking the chain isn’t an option.
If the solicitors got their fingers out we wouldn’t have this stress

The EA’s ring me for updates! They have found my solicitor frustrating too and like to check if I have heard anything they haven’t.
I sometimes wonder why I am paying them all so much money

Good luck Flaxseed, fingers crossed for your DD's move.

As for moving with your cat I do understand, I was very anxious about my 15 year old cat who had always lived at the station. She did have to move twice with me, but moving out of my house to the rental was OK as I was only taking certain things as I was selling at auction and wanted to leave the house 'dressed'. On my 'part' removal day I made sure the room she was in wouldn't be disturbed. I lived between the two houses for about a week, and took her down to the rental the second week. I did lose her for about twelve hours when I let her out the first time after 4 weeks, she had gone 'home'. I would recommend keeping your cat in for at least four weeks if you are moving a distance from your old house, longer if you are going to be closer.

When my purchase was imminent, I'd been dithering about leaving her in the car as all rooms needed to be emptied at the rental. A friend recommended I get a dog crate, which proved to be a good solution. I set it up with her bed and litter tray water etc, in the bathroom of my new property, with the door blocked off. When I viewed the house I hadn't realised how contained the garden is, but she seems very happy to lie in the grass under the apple tree. Just wish there weren't so many portly wood pigeons dicing with death!

shady Thanks for understanding.
I’m really concerned about keeping her in for a few weeks (although understand it’s totally necessary) and for that reason, I don’t want to put her through it twice. A dog crate is a fab idea, as depending on who completes first, my DD and family may be moving with me, so there won’t be any rooms I can lock her in safely.
Also I work full time so the thought of moving twice within a couple of months is just not feasible. I already know my manager with be annoyed that I will need last minute leave when I have a completion date .
I’m really shocked at all of the queries my solicitor is raising, as the house I am buying is only 3 years old!
But I guess it’s all in my interest so need to be patient.

I bought my cat the Feliway plug in, and I believe it does help. I had it in the cottage and transferred it into the bedroom here - she sleeps in there very happily for the majority of the day. There is also a spray you could spray onto the dog crate/her bed.

As for the confinement, I have got a very large scratching post and if you have a local PAH, there is a realistic 'squeaking' mouse you can buy, I tied it onto her post and she regularly killed it, the squeaking drove my sheltie mad I also put cat nip onto all her toys and made sure I played with her at least once a day, she did used to like playing on the stairs with a piece of balled up foil.

So sorry your solicitor is having to raise so many queries, good he is thorought, important drains are adopted etc. It seems some new builds also have some scary leasehold problems as well as 'coventants'.

I've just popped in to say a) my eye is OK and b) Pi Productions tv casting rang during my eye test! The series will last six weeks, they aim to do one or two rooms, I had to say what my budget was and said £3K. I had to answer some questions on the hop, and said some ridiculous things, so doubt I'll be hearing 'in a few weeks'!

Just popping in to wish all house hunters/purchasers and sellers good luck tomorrow.

Yogi, how is it going?

My poor old dog is going through the wars with an investigation on his liver tomorrow.

Have a good Sunday

Sounds like it's a race to the finish and to move by the end of the month with unscrupulous removal companies cancelling people already booked due to others coming along and gazumping. As if things aren't stressful enough.

Hope you dog is ok Shandy, fingers crossed.

Thanks Ellianne, stupidly I've gone onto a dog website and everyone has shared their experiences with me, not all happy.

How dreadful removal companies are doing that! Was it in the papers today? Someone on MSE has just cancelled because their removal company were so odd about only taking BACS when their website said cash/cheque acceptable, I wonder now if it was a ploy?

Yes, Shandy, it was an article about moving to the south west from London. People thought they were booked in but lost their slot due to a higher bidder. I think it said that a 60% deposit is required.

Just popping in to jump this thread up.
Shandy how did things go about your ederly dog?
Also wondering how people who had been hoping to complete before end of this months are getting on.
The posters who were at the start of this long thread are all now happily settled into their new homes, but there are so many others at different stages. Hope you all keep us up to date.
Ellianne Horrified as to how some removal companies are trying to take such bad practice advantage of the situation. Those final days are so fraught normally, this must be the final straw.
I notice that my BiL has put his house in the middle of nowhere on the market at a huge mark-up on the price he paid for it five years ago (approx a third up) - and is now surprised that nobody is even interested in viewing. He wants to get back to NW London with his wife, but I think the price he is asking is totally unrealistic. Lovely house, but even so...........

Yet another cold, wet winter day here.
Was Mr Spice’s birthday during the week and we have had a visit from DS and his family this afternoon. We are mow allowed 15 visitors to our homes each day so it was good to catch up with them again.

The new window shutters arrived this week and are installed. I love them. They were expensive but the deal was that we would have what we wanted with this place.

We Ventured out to look for new dining room during the week. Did not see anything we liked enough to buy, so will need to continue that search.

I’m still struggling to walk and really cannot do so without using a crutch or walker, however, my replaced knee is doing well. It’s my arthritic feet that are the problem. It will be another couple of weeks before I’m able to get back in the hydrotherapy pool but I’m hoping that will help.

Hope all is going well for those of you in the process of selling/buying and you too will soon be in your new homes.

Spice good to hear you are mending but sorry your feet are sore. Lovely you got see family for birthday celebrations.

Morning all, wet and cold here this morning, a welcome break from the humidity of the past week.

Thanks Franbern, my dog still isn't very well after the castration, and refusing to go for a walk at the moment, I'm taking him out in his buggy. He is still eating and wants to play, and is enjoying his late evening beach walks. The heat has been so intense. I'm still waking up to urine leakage on the carpet, I haven't had the liver blood test results back yet. Funnily enough the odd man who breeds dogs has stopped walking past the house, I've seen him on another route, wish he'd done that before and perhaps my dog's castration wouldn't have been necessary. Horrible to think of those puppies in his tiny shed in July.

How nice to hear from you Spice, glad you are enjoying making your home your own. I'm envious of your shutters , I'm putting my shutter budget towards my NZ trip. I'm having curtains made from fabric I've had for twenty years. As the ceilings are so low here I can manage them. I desperately need a table too, I miss having one, I gave my drop down to my neighbour at the rental. I didn't know you had arthritic feet, poor you! Hope hydrotherapy starts up sooner rather than later.

My daughter is coming over for a flying visit next week, I've finally got the 'guest room' ready, just need to hang another temporary curtain in there.

I hope all is going well for everyone too. My friend has only had a few viewings with some ridiculous feedback, and is feeling a bit despondent. She sold instantly last time, I think I mentioned her buyer only waited a month for her to complete the chain and withdrew without telling her. Now the stamp duty holiday is ending I think everything will slow down.

Have a good day

Any other cat owners on edge because of the fledglings that keep appearing?

I had a baby thrush sitting out by the shed yesterday, he/she disappeared after about two hours, almost immediately replaced by a black ball of a baby blackbird. The baby blackbird was there for six hours so I kept my cat in - he's just reappeared again. Fingers crossed Dad will be back for him soon, I'm sure it's the strawberries here that is attracting them.

Just a quick update as someone mentioned others not posted for a while. Nothing to report I'm afraid things going slowly as property we are buying is under probate so various parties have to be contacted before we get a response. Exchange certainly not going to happen before 30 June.