Help calm me. House buying and selling stress *Part 9*

Yesterday I was told that my BiL and SiL have had a disastrous moving day. Not quite sure what happened. My BiL is always very exact in his arrangements and dealings. However, when they arrived at their new (more expensive than the one they sold) property back in London, they were contacted ( late Friday afternoon), by Solicitor to say that a further fifty three grand needed to be paid before they could get the keys. Chaos!!! Removal lorry has now returned back to Surrey, leaving them totally homeless at present (and this evidently affected two other people in the chain.

Solicitor says there was something in the 'small print' which they claim my BiL failed to read. To find this extra large amount of money, will mean drawing down from savings, which are mainly tied up in different ways, probably will not be able to do much until Monday, and removal company say they cannot find a time slot to return the van to London before next Wednesday. They (and their cat) are staying at a relatives house, who lives close by. It is probably that BiL will be responsible for extra costs incurred by those other two movers!!

I thought that over the last three years I heard all the nightmares of removal - but this is a new one on me!!!! They are both in their late 70's, my SiL has dementia. They are returning after their 'Escape to the Country' six years ago did not work out.

For me - I have a lovely activity free weekend. My main job is to sort out my patio balcony and pack everything away and prepare pots with spring bulbs etc. Would have started this yesterday, but it poured down and got heavier and heavier. Very annoying, - when we get really heavy rain, it interferes with the communal outdoor aerial, and my tv picture breaks up to a point where it is impossible to watch any programme. My bedroom tv, which uses a cheap indoor aerial was fine. Have decided to purchase a good indoor aerial for my TV and Humax in my Living Room.

It is dry now and the sun is breaking through. Still not needed any heating on, My Living room showed 21 degrees when I came in at about Midnight. Still only light coverlet on my bed.

A further two questions from Solicitors for empty flat. They say they are close to completion. One of those I have already sent them the answer - perhaps they thought if they ask it again they will get a more preferred reply!!!!

The autumn sense of calm has descended on my house, heating has kicked in, upstairs and downstairs, however upstairs is set at 18 all night from 9.30. I am warm and cosy and I have motivated myself to re-ignite my sewjo, which vanished all through summer. Only slow mindful sewing now, special things while listening to free audio downloaded from the library. I need things to do, otherwise I will waste away just sitting or pottering, doing nothing much that is constructive

A couple of hours left of garden work, including covering two wooden benches this month

Razz, I only worry about you, please make sure that you stay warm enough. You will feel better in time but you need to make it easy for your body

Some people can work from home, but there are very many jobs that this is not a possibility. Think about bus and train and underground staff, all involved in hospitality, shop workers, care workers, NHS workers at all levels, cleaners, teachers, craftsmen like plasters, bricklayers, kitchen fitters, plumbers, electricians etc. etc.

It is not MOST people working from home, it is a slowly decreasing minority - and even those that do for part of their jobs usually have to go in regularly, sometimes weekly - so increasingly (with increased commuter costs), need to live close to where they work.

There has has always been an incredible variation in property prices, mainly North and South. The are in which we purchased that Victorian end of terrace house back in 1964 has now been 'gentrified'. These are not large houses, not like the Edwardian or Georgian ones in other areas, quite small terraces, with small back garden, and (usually) not enough room in the front area to park a car. Yes, they change hands for around a million pounds these days.

whiff, bootle is fine for a first timer, plenty of buses, shops and green spaces. My husband came from bootle

The house price rises are really horrific for first timers.

My house is 4 bed, pretty, double fronted, detached with garage large 2 car drive, decent garden etc. A new build under construction, that I can see a few gardens away. 3 bed, pokey garden and only off road parking is selling for 450. Mine was 375 in 2019. Houses are selling like hot cakes here, within a week close by.

Have to pinch myself at times, that I really did pick the right area. No one will benefit however until I pass and then the house will pass to AC free from IHT. Better than savings right now and less worry than a pension

Should have put I moved in 2019.

Karmalady yes they are properties here in the north west for first time buyers around £100k but depends which area you want to live. The nicer areas start at £200k now prices here have risen a lot since my move. A smaller bungalow to mine in my road fetched £305k a few months ago. I paid £220k .

plenty of much cheaper properties up north <100k. Many people can work from home these days and still there are plenty of jobs up there. Nice area, lovely house example. Ideal for first timer. The homes are out there

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123465200#/?channel=RES_BUY

I did my cycle ride at 8.30 today, totally different clothing and I was more comfortable and warmer but still came back with a numb hand and a white finger. I shall have to find my silver-impregnated inner gloves to go with winter gloves, which I wore

I have a bit more compost distribution on a day when the sun comes out and 3 big bags of composted bark to mulch with. I silicone sprayed my electric garage door runners this morning.

Yesterday I broke the pattern and put my recycling out right outside my own front door. Usually we group three lots over the other side of the turning area and I always end up bringing them all back. I am going to stop always being so kind, hate that feeling of taken advantage, like garden holiday care, parcels, bins etc. Last winter that tiled turning circle was slippery at times and I am not risking it again

Yogi not in London you cannot.!

My figures are not wrong. Those old Victorian houses that we lived in back in the sixties, now sell for over a million pounds, Okay, they have been modernised, posh kitchens and shower rooms, central heating, etc. etc. But still terraced Victorian properties. Often need to find a quarter to a third of total cost as deposit.

Think you've put too many zeros there Fran must be £25.000 deposit, you can buy a small property outright for £250.000.

Karmathink it is very different the sort of percentage of earnings required now to purchase a property than it as back in the day (well, at least in my day).

Our first house, a Victorian end of terrace, was £3950 (East London,1964). Yes, high interest rate, but back them my earnings would never be taken into consideration by any lending company (presumably I would spend all my time either being pregnant or being a stay at home Mum!!)

We got a one hundred percent mortgage from the LCC. Yes, both of us worked, and we took in a lodger. Those same properties are round the six figure mark now . (More when divided into two flat), And, would probably require a deposit in the region of £250,000 plus - who has got this sort of money??? No amount of second jobs and 'making do' will enable most wage/salary earners to avoid a mortgage of a three quarters of a million pounds!!!

Personally,I do not see property ownership as a good way of organising a housing market. A well controlled rental market is far better and allows much easier movement for jobs or any other reason. BUT, this does mean a well-controlled rental area, no slum landlords, no overpriced rents, no ability to throw tenants out for no reason and with little notice. Preferably as few private landlords as possible and a vast extension of local authorities/housing associations being the landlords.

Sadly,not likely to see this in my lifetime.

I have great concerns for the younger generation now and the foreseeable future. For homes, for work, for prospects. I will be more than happy to encourage any of my g.children to move abroad to live.

razz, I worried about mine too but have learnt that the only worry I should have about mine ie wrt health, if they are ill. Everything else has to be seen as something they, as adults, need to sort out for themselves. Many can still get onto the housing ladder, lower expectations and certain sacrifices that we all had to make, once upon a time. Two jobs were not uncommon, working all hours to get that all important first home.

Morning all, I'm off balance again today, so glad I had booked a taxi for my dog's monthly injection at the vets. No beach for him today unfortunately, I can't drive.

Talking of injections, I do have both flu/covid booked in for the same day in October, getting lots of nice things to eat - and dog food! - in case they floor me. Can't feel much worse than I do now - can I?

Glad you had a nice time with your friend karmalady. I do miss the friend I 'lost' during lockdown, she was too flaky.

Great you got all the lights changed Franbern. I'd never had spotlights before and when I viewed here, hadn't realised I had 17 electricity munchers! Lucky the electrician was able to come when he did.

Such worrying times ahead. I am anxious about my daughter - and now my son - buying next year. Neither of them have approached a mortgage broker yet, I wonder what the interest rates will be by the time they are ready.

yogi what solar boards? Ah I think you mean my solar fountain, I am not doing that yet, only when frost is forthcoming. I like to empty the water out and give it a good clean

Nice quiet pottering day for me today. Big bowl of veggie soup in the fridge to last three days. Halloumi sliced and dry fried, also destined for the fridge. No more obvious jobs to do right now

Two houses ago, when in a modern townhouse with management charges, self managed eventually. Electricity for all the communal areas came from a joint pot. Husband and I went around and saw two owners/perhaps tenants stealing electricity from the communal areas via extension leads. Sickening

Karma no reason to have a time distance between Covid and 'flu jabs. Most GP surgeries are encouraging their older patients to have both done together (usually - if possible, one in each arm). Had mine last Saturday, so just one day (Sunday) of after-effects and then absolutely fine. I know that I have to wait a fortnight for the protection really to kick in, so I should be fully covered by end of first week in October.

The electrician is just completing work in our flats ensuring that ALL our public area light are now LCD and all of them motion controlled. When I first moved here, I was horrified as how many bright lights were on (some 24/7) and others on a time clock that was never amended meaning 4 pm - 8 am.

The 'new' Committee of which I am a part have been getting these all sorted to motion controlled ones, and this current work will mean that all are that way. Will be safer and save us electricity as well as helping to ensure less replacement work needing doing in the future. Also had all our many emergency lights on the stairs, changed over to LCD. It has been an expense, but doing it any other way would have been 'short termism' which always works out more expensive.

I am wondering if my daughter on the South Coast will be going ahead with their move, in light of the almost definite forthcoming hike in mortgage interest rates. They were intending to increase their, already considerable, mortgage for this move. The two and half grand they will be saving in stamp duty, will get eaten up in interest very quickly.

Karmalady why are you packing away your solar boards? I have 4 for my garden lights.

I had a lovely long chat yesterday with my friend, ex neighbour who was a GP, very interesting, We need to meet up more often, there was a lot to say and not enough time. She was widowed about 18 months ago

I need to do easy relaxing things today and turned the news off after seeing that very many more mortgage schemes have been withdrawn. This is going to send chains into huge disarray with many worried people. What a stressed country we have become

I have finally managed to book a flu jab, this evening and locally, I read 0.2 miles away, so that is the actual distance to my local shops. How very lucky I am to be so close, yet surrounded by peacefulness and no passing traffic or people. Covid jab is on 15th october. I wanted to have distance between the two

Madeleine45 who was your post for as I haven't read a post about anyone moving soon. Either that or it was on another page and I missed it.

A little bit of cheering thoughts for this next move. Firstly you wont have as much stuff to sort out as it is not long since your last move. Then you can look round and see if there is something that you brought from your previous home which really hasnt been used at all or much and plan to get rid of that. Then you now have clearer ideas of what you want to move to, which should help you with the actual searching, and you know whether your last estate agent and solicitor were very helpful and good at their job so whether to go back to them or choose someone else, and what documents you will need to help speed things through.. It is a daunting thought, but if you feel sure that you dont want to remain in your present area, the sooner you move the less stuff to sort. Perhaps it might be worth spending a few days bed and breakfast in the area you think you want to go to and then just look around and try and see the good and bad in that area and to look at places at different times of day. When we saw a house we thought looked very peaceful and in a good position, I took myself off to sit nearby at different times of day such as 7.30am or 5pm and kept a check on what traffic and what types there were and we decided it was not for us. Worth that checking up to us. So I wish you good luck and hope that all your previous experience will help you to find somewhere you will be happy in

I did similar this afternoon Fran, all my clothes are now changed over and I have some nice things for cs, too big for me now. I was quite tired when I had finished but everything has been sorted

The people on mumsnet are very worried indeed about the potential mortgage rises.

my boiler is in a kitchen cupboard and the engineers had no trouble at all in servicing it. They can get to every part of it. Maybe because it is a younger combi and the condensate trickles down an interior pipe into the wate. That is very annoying razz. Find yourself a good local heating engineer, they are likely to be better at building a relationship with you, also cheaper

Oh dear, Razz, I know that it has been a long time, that they have not liked boilers being put in cupboards. When I moved in 2003, the boiler there was in a cupboard, and it was one of the things I had changed very quickly.

You will need to get that boiler serviced. Is it possible to take down the cupboard? I stopped using British Gas service contract as it just kept on increasing in price each year. Found a lovely 'GAS SAFE' person, reasonably local. He would come out service my boiler once a year, for a set amount. Then,, any problems I could call him. Had been recommended by a friend, to whom he actually went to one Christmas Day when they had a problem. My daughter still uses him. Okay, it is a form of 'self insurance;, but did work out a lot more economic.

In the flats we have a multi-premises BG 23/7 contact, the cost of which is included in our service charge. These days they do not permit flats above a certain height to have gas at all. So, our insurance requires regular servicing of boilers and gas appliances.

Really dull day today, quite chilly when I went out. Have spent some time putting away summer t-shirts and sandals, and bringing into my bedroom jumpers and winter shoes.

The Bizzy Lizzies on my balcony have come to the end of their lives. They have provided a wonderful colourful display for several months. If it remains dry at the weekend, will start packing away stuff on that balcony and preparing it for winter. Patio chairs and tables to be packed away, most faux plants packed away. wall art packed away - some pots kept out planted with spring bulbs and they will also need to be planted with winter violas, etc.

I do wonder how the latest budget is going to effect property prices. Did hear that with the raising of the level when stamp duty kicked in, some would be sellers, actually increased the prices - now with mortgages going to get harder to obtain and being paid at higher interest, should see a drop in prices. But these price falls do tend to be very temporary - and I would not be surprised if, by Spring, most areas will have returned or even risen again.

Morning all, sunny and cold here, time to get the big parka out.

The engineer came and I cancelled the contract when he left, he refused to service the boiler because of the cupboard. He wanted me to 'rip it out' - 'after all, it is only a box with a door'. Give me strength!

Have a good time with your friend karmalady, you need some of Franbern's cheese!

I see my blueberry leaves turning red, also windy and quite cold out. I cannot see much else to do wrt winter maintenance, in fact I noticed the difference yesterday when opening my bedroom window, no force was required due to the silicone

Outside I am steadily using water from my water butts for outside jobs, I still have pots to wash and a water feature to clean and will pack away the solar and water-holding parts for winter, on a sunny day. I know where my stop tap is for the outside tap and also have the tap insulations ready

A friend is coming at lunchtime, only knew yesterday and this time 4 years ago I would have been busy making bread rolls. It is lovely to be able to amble to the shops and buy them, good stuff from Burns the bread. Charity shop visit to offload more things and I bought 2 books and a dvd for only £1.50. I will be well and truly sorted for things to do this winter

Franbern I do hope that completion is very very soon on the vacant flat. The stamp duty reduction must have spurred them on. The only thing that would trouble me now, not if already exchanged, is if in a chain, one buyer is a cash buyer as the talk is now that house prices could fall a great deal because of uk potential recession. I can see cash buyers pulling out left right and centre, to sit on their hands

Morning all, definite chill in the wind here today. I felt tons better yesterday and drove my dog to the beach, he really enjoyed it. I came home to read on the bed and unfortunately fell asleep, and woke up feeling really off balance again. Viruses are horrible.

Hope you are feeling more confident about your car now you know all the lights are working karmalady. It'll be fog time here soon, I don't like driving in it at all.

Luckily had already managed to stuff the garden waste bin for today with some of the plum tree branches, huge pile left but still a few more weeks of collection so it should all go before winter. I've kept the cherry tree branches in a big builder's bag, hope to shake the leaves out on the garden and improve the soil.

Good luck to your daughter Franbern. I was cross when the auction agent told me a viewer said she absolutely loved my house - and was going home to put hers on the market? I thought all auction viewers had to be ready to complete in a month, yet another nosey parker muddying my chinese rug.
Hope the flat completes soon. My neighbour's house across the road is still empty, I saw the new people there about five weeks ago. I'm not sure when my daughter will be buying, and hope I can be of some help to her, I know it's different in NI.

I've joined Homeserve, have to wait in from 12-6 pm for someone to come and check the boiler before they'll activate it.

Have a good day everyone

Glad all the sensors on your car are now sorted. Amazing things aren't they? Our first car (a mini), did not have any heating system, radio or even handles to open the doors (there were just wires). The control to dip the lights was on the floor, which just as often turned off all the lights as dipping/undipping them!!! Seems incredible all the 'stuff' in modern cars now.

I did have a reaction to the jabs yesterday in that I kept falling asleep. Think it is all over now, as I had one of the best nights sleep I have had for a long time last night, and feel absolutely fine this morning.

Karma that was what is called a 'false autumn' when the leaves started to change colour during the drought. It is the way the trees protect themselves, once the rain comes, everything returns to normal. The cherry blossom trees along our main road, have lost a lot of their leaves, they are always amongst the first to become bare, the other trees are just starting to change colour - I see them from my Living room chair, looking out over my balcony wall. That large tree (I really must find out what it is), usually keeps its final leaves until around Christmas time.

Chat to my youngest daughter, who is in the process of selling/buying. Yes, delays are taking place. There is quite a long chain, and she is particularly annoyed that some of the EA's actually permitted people to make offers on properties before their existing properties had an offer on them. She had originally hoped to move at half-term (thought she was being optimistic - but would not dare tell her that!), now she has given up on that and is not even confident as to it being before Christmas.

I talked to the people selling the empty flat here, and they still have no completion date. So silly, nobody has any idea what the hold-up is.

Even I have to admit that there is a nip in the air now. Closing windows at night, although still have just that coverlet on my bed. Very windy today, SeeMonster closes its viewing platforms when it is windy. Think it is going to be closed an awful lot of the time now.