Gracemum, sorry to hear you 'know' what it's like. We were so fortunate though. First our buyers, who had taken time off to move and do some alterations, were great and agreed they could not put us on the street- which they legally could have done. I'll be eternally grateful to them. We then spent the next day in Leicester looking at every vacant possession house in the area we needed to be (for OH's job) and it was heart-breaking. At 5pm, exhausted, we returned to one of the Estate Agents and said we were so desperate but just could buy any of the properties seen - and he said 'I've got just one more - but it is slightly out of the area you've said is a must'. I begged OH to go and have a look - all the neighbours were great and welcoming, Betty next door cooked some fish fingers and chips for little one, whilst we were having a second look- and then made us some coffee, and offered to phone the owners, as they lived along our route back to Staffs. We went, sat around the farm table with another cup of coffee- agreed we would meet 'half-way' (over our budget... little did we know interest rates would soon soar to 19.5%) - and shook hands. We moved in 2 weeks later, Betty having cleaned the house top to bottom and lined the kitchen shelves! Bless her cotton socks. Baby born just under 4 weeks later.
Pheeeew.