Help calm me. House buying and selling stress *Part 10*

When moving I never considered the weather. Where I lived we always had heavy frosts and snow every winter. My last winter there I was snowed in for a week with 9" of snow. Here last winter was an oddity as it snowed and stuck for 2 days. In all the years my family have lived here never had snow that stuck.

We have strong winds and horizontal rain. Our daughter hadn't started uni long before we came to visit and saw it for the first time. I still forget I live close to the sea but have only been to the beach 3 times since I moved here. No bus route to get me there.

Still makes me laugh when people say I live on a hill. There is an old windmill on the main road. What people call a hill is a slight incline. The black country that was hilly. I lived near the top of a hill my whole life there.

I would much rather have the rain than the snow . Hoping energy bills come down further and will beable to have the heating on more this winter than only 2 hours of a morning and hour at night like last winter.

Glad I moved when I did as in 3 of the areas I looked at there have been no 2 bed bungalows on the market for a couple of months. People here are still having lot of work done on their homes and many extensions have been built.

As soon as properties are for let they are snapped up. House sales have slowed down .

Franbern
We had already checked Buses, Doctors and medical care, we are now trying to narrow it down, obviously for me distance to the nearest beach was important too.
But cost has been a big issue, moving to north Devon would have meant that we didnt have to downsize, moving south means buying something much smaller, but close to all the beaches ( closer than we are now anyway) and MissOops would be near her relatives, as it’s our last move we have to get it right, plus, do I want to stay here forever? because once MissOops has her own house we will be here to stay.

Interesting!! First time I have heard of someone checking weather and rainful before deciding where to move to. Wonder how accurate those charts are, particularly now when 'weather' and 'climate' are so confused.

Normally suggest checking on things like public transport, medical services, libraries, shops, etc.

Selling property seems to be totally at a standstill at present in WsM. I know several people wanting to sell their nice, family houses so they can move into flats. They are getting very few viewers and no offers. I one of the inherited owners of one of our lovely empty flats on the phone quite recently, pretty desperate. They keep lowering the price, but no takers and, of course, they still have to pay out for Council Tax and Service charges. I suggested that they might look at short term let to take them through this difficult period. The rental market seems to be going through its own chaos. Far too few places, far too high rents,

Would be good to hear on here of recent successful completions.

My DD bought her house on the south coast and is busy restoring it.
Built in 1860ish so has damp etc but she loves it.
I am looking at a house, sort of chalet bungalow so we could be down stairs and there would be rooms for family upstairs and loads of space for my DH books.
Upsizing to somewhere cheaper.
But not on the cards at the moment for various reasons.
But am starting to declutter....

Just a quick update, the initial idea was that we would all move to a small holding or something similar in Wales, so 3 families on one very large plot.

Sadly MzOops circumstances have changed and she has decided to stay where she is in her little cottage, she has her own woodland there and I think she will be happy there surrounded by her friends.

So we then decided that as we are buying 2 properties we would go for separate ones a few miles apart. It was too difficult to find 2 properties on one plot with enough space between that MissOops wouldn’t feel that she lived with us rather than separate.
So, yesterday we looked at the average weather and temperature for each area and it seems that North Devon, our next preferred area, has on average 180 days of rain a year and is cooler compared to where we live now so MrOops won’t go anywhere where the weather is worse than we have at present
( we hadn’t thought of checking the weather when we thought about Wales, can you imagine if we had moved there?)

So we might stay here if the money allows and buy MissOops a bungalow nearby, or we will go south where MrOops still has family and MissOops has her cousins and second cousins.

That still doesn’t make us nearer to MzOops , but we know that once the GCs are both at University she could quite possibly move anywhere.

We haven’t told her yet and MissOops doesn’t know anything about all of this, we still have to have that conversation.

In the meantime I am decluttering, if we stay then it still needed doing and if we go ( it won’t be until next year now) then I will be ready.

So that’s where we stand at the moment.

TBH moving South suits me, I was born there and still have an army of relatives down there, so I’m easy either way.

We were the lucky ones who managed ut moves in 2019, just before the Pandemic etc.

I felt sorry for those who were involved in this during 2020 and '21, but that is nothing compared with those trying to sell/lbuy now.

Ahh whiff your happiness is infectious. Lovely post

Can't believe but it's been 4 years today since I had my bungalow. There where a number of us who moved in 2019. For all the stress and worry plus 2 buyers pulling out at the last minute. It was well worth every stressful minute.

Since my move I live my life to the full no longer exist. Have better healthcare than I have ever had and wonderful neighbours. People here care about eachother. In my 4 years I have never slept so well and have more friends than ever who I can trust . Found I am a gardener. And thanks to my GP sending me to see consultants finally know 2 things I was born with.

Moving to the north west has improved my quality of life and have never been happier . Some people talk about where they grew up as home. But home to me is here. I never want to even visit the area I came from. Than chapter of my life is firmly closed .

To all those who moved in 2019 I couldn't have kept going without your support . Thank you.

If you use google, property log ,on chrome, that enables anyone to view property price changes on rightmove

This is something I would do if buying now. To see if and when a property has been reduced, how many times etc and I think it will enable us to see if sales have fallen through

Look up youtube videos by someone called honest money. I have just had my eyes opened wrt rightmove red flags and also tips and tricks used by sellers. I have just subscribed to this persons channel.

We only had 4 days in Wales as MissOops was rushed to hospital and we had to come home.
We came back via the M4 which is a much faster way to get home.
Visited the beaches on 3 separate occasions ( being within an hour of the beach is important to all of us) Each time took just over an hour, I think though that our cottage had the best views, but not a practical place for us to move to.
Llandeilo, our closest town took 20 minutes or so to get to, too far to fetch a loaf of bread.
MrOops and the girls are planning to go back in the Summer and have another look around.
It’s all a bit of a muddle at the moment as we have 2 family members having Chemo and it’s put everything on hold for a while. One is having the full course, but has been given a terminal diagnosis and one has agreed to one session of Chemo and now has said that they will refuse any more treatment. …….
All this has happened in the last 2 weeks, which just shows that your plans can change in the blink of an eye.
Anyway, I’ll continue to declutter and sort things out here and when everyone decides that it’s time to move I’ll be ready, but for now everything is on hold.

A belated catch up and a thank you for excellent advice earlier this year. We have a completion date for a week's time after a very prolonged and stressful 'will it happen or not' few months! We had a very short chain but our buyers chose truly awful solicitors who have caused a few months delay. We are moving from the south coast to Scotland so we weren't expecting an easy ride! Nearly there now though and can't wait.....

Hi

We are in the middle of selling our house and buying another. The property information forms have landed I had forgotten just how much information is needed but do people really remove the boilers when selling a property?

We have also discovered our village and all,surrounding villages are in a Radon Gas zone and buyer’s solicitor wants to add a rider retaining a sum of money to cover testing and remedial work of necessary. First we have heard of it and a surveyor friend says it is just a money making scheme but is it and should we be worried we have been living here for 30 years!

Midgey we’ve never bought a house in the sunshine! Even today it’s glorious, but the wind is chilly on these sheep filled hills.

Maytime you’re right of course, we’ve just had a long chat with the owners of our cottage and the medical facilities around here seem dire.
Something that we had thought about, but not realised how bad it is.
Methinks we might need to be closer to Cardiff or Newport/M4.

Agree with maytime2 about health care. Another thing to bear in mind is to never buy a house in sunshine! You need driving rain to make think.

A word of warning Oopsadaisy. If you are seriously thinking of moving to Wales, please check out the health facilities. It will be important if your daughter is chronically unwell.
The NHS is dire in Wales, worse than England, if you can believe such a thing.
People living in North Wales have just seen their health provider, Betsy Cadwallader, put into special measures for the 3rd time.
If you re-locate to Powys, a very rural area, the county does not have its own main hospital, so there's a great deal of travelling involved.
Hywel Dda Trust, the provider where I live, again covers all of South West Wales - Carmarthenshire, Cardigan and Pembroke. Again there can be a great deal of travelling involved because it is deemed that there should be only 2 main hospitals, one in Carmarthen and the other in Aberystwyth, even though the bulk of the population lives in East Carmarthenshire.
It leaves us with a ludicrous situation whereby we have a large main hospital just a few miles away, that we are not allowed to accesss because it is run by another health authority and have to travel 20 miles plus to get to a main hospital. God help if you have no transport of your own, you are left to sink or swim.

Well, we are in South Wales for a week to see if we like the area, MrOops chose a farm cottage for us, beautiful place but a 3 mile track downhill back to the main road, not at all what we are looking for, but who knows, maybe the prices are lower further away from the towns ? We have beautiful views though and will go out and about looking (from the road) at some properties we have seen on the Internet.
But a beach day today, have a look at prices of properties, I think though for what we need we will find it difficult. We need to have another family chat.
MissOops diagnosis was poor, she has ordered some splints for her fingers to help stop them ‘swan necking’ the photos on Google look horrendous and she is in so much pain……
Anyway, we will do what we can.
The de cluttering is going well, but this 2 bedroom cottage makes me realise that we will have a lot more to get rid of than spare pots, pans and ornaments!
Have a good weekend everyone.

Another flat in our block has completed and new owners have moved in. We still have three more waiting new buyers. The market is very, very slow. Understandably, as people are so concerned about mortgage rates.

A friend of mine viewed the latest one on the market, yesterday and would love to buy it. BUT firstly she has to sell her house.Be good to hear of others on here in this process and how it is going.

Enjoying being back home after a very pleasant few days away. Pity we can't take our own beds and bedroom facilities with us when going away!!! Did have a rather stressful situation on the undergound on my journey there. Right at the end, Daughter in car park of a station near the end of he line, I am sitting in my chair right by the door. Platform staff comes over to unlock and take down the ramp for me - whilst she is getting it readd to place in doorway, driver closes door and despite that lady desperately waving to him he takes the tube onwards. There were a group of school girls in this carriage and they were very worried for me. Quick phone call to daughter, glance at map shows next station is last of those with step free exit. Train stops, doors open, but no platform staff. These lovely young girls keep preventing the doors closing, and eventually I get out of chair and they lift the chair over the 'gap' and onto the platform. I did go down to talk to the driver (he was sitting there bewildered as to why each time he tr4ied to close the door, they were being stopped), and he knew absolutely nothing as what had happened..

But all well in the end. When I do this journey next time, I will be using an alternative route using the new Elizabeth Line which is totally accessible without assistance.

Had a lovely time, enjoyed being able to catch up with my Sister in law. So sad how effected she is with early stages of Dementia, and loved my youngest's new Eastbourne house, although it needs a lot done to it. Much of which will need to be delayed due to the sharp increases in what they are having to pay in mortgage.

Good ,relatively stress free journey home yesterday.

I noticed there where ,2 decluttering threads you don't need 2. Also reading a few posts it's seems it's same people on both.

Franbern have a wonderful time in London and Eastbourne with your family. I find the travel assistance on trains is brilliant. Without it I couldn't have visited up here before my move and since living here my visits to my brother and sister in law in Lincolnshire.

My mobility has gotten worse but I still keep going. My sister in law has a Quango and an other motorised scooter and I will have a go on them . Don't know if I can use one as my hands shake all the time. Mind you I can't walk in a straight line forever heading towards a fence or wall. But at least having my diagnosis last year I now know I am not weird but have hereditary Hyperekplexia gene mutation SLC6A5. And my life now makes sense. Have a great group of people who also have it or one of the mutations as there are 5 it effects us in similar ways but with some individual differences. I no longer feel alone. And everyone is willing to share their experiences as it's a rare genetic neurological condition. Not much written about it and only the bear facts. Just wish my husband had been alive to hear the diagnosis as without him I couldn't do what I can. But that's life for you. We just have to keep going the best way we can..

WHiff Thanks for g this thread. Notice that people are posting on some home moving on other threads,

I am on trains to London later today for the weekend. Over to my eldest daughter in NE London on the Essex border. I travel in my small powered wheelchair and am always looked after so well both by GWR on the trains and TFL on the London underground. Will be visiting family over the weekend, including a trip to Eastbourne to see youngest daughter who moved house just before last Christmas. Giving me the opportunity to see that house and two of my g.children. None of my family have any interest in the events taking place this weekend. I will be returning home on Monday.

Hope everyone is well and looking forward to the warmer weather. Got lot of veg seeds coming up in my greenhouse and the garden is a blaze of colour as the phlox out in bloom.

Just thought I would bump this thread up incase anyone is thinking or about to move house and needs any support. As I know how much everyone helped me move and got me through my house sale falling through twice.

Karmalady indeed, we have just returned from staying in a Hotel on the South Coast its garden fence is now only 3 feet from the cliff edge, when we walked along the beach the cliff face is studded with old house footings. 30ft. left before the door of the Hotel is on the brink!

oops re coastal waters, that was always in the back of my mind too, having seen the likely flood map of the future. My own town and local area is on a ridge so will be safe but we will one day become an area near to the new coast. It is already happening judging by the number of properties falling into the sea

21 areas on this map
www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/erosion-homes-falling-sea-map-b2271863.html