To those selling in these difficult times Part Deux. AKA sellers support network!

kymie

Hope you dont mind if I just have a little grumble!!! A house we were REALLY interested in at the beginning of last year has just come back on the market. It was a 4bed EOT on at 165k needing a bit of work as it had been used as two flats for a while but not legit. Well,the new buyers have finished the work and it is now two flats up for £125k and £130k. My grumble is all the 'decent' sized houses seem to be going the same way...all bought and converted into flats or bedsits! There is no longer any affordable bigger houses left in the area we are going to as the bigger houses that are around in good condition are priced high because there is a shortage of them. Any cheaper ones are snapped up and converted. Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now
Hope everyone is ok and not too affected with the snow xx

goldengirl28

Hi Kymie, sorry to hear whats happening in your area, can i ask why you didnt put an offer in last year?

Hopejack

Aww Kymie - you really aren't having much luck. It sounds like you aren't too keen on the house you are buying now - hope it works out OK for you once you've manage to extend into loft etc and that you exchange before 12th for your DS's school application! Fingers crossed

kymie

goldengirl28 We hadnt sold - so there was no point in putting an offer in. The market down there hasnt really been affected with sales,its just had less properties put on the market so those that do / did go on were sold pretty quickly!
Hopejack Thanks! Im just a bit grumpy - I knew we would have to 'make do' moving from the North to the South as the difference in prices is too much to compete with for us,but I just worry about the kids all being cramped up,as I can see all the arguements already lol. We were hoping to have a bit left over to put towards starting a loft room,but as its taken so long of course stamp duty has kicked back in,and higher VAT(coupled with the banks refusing to lend us the same amount we had before our last move even tho hubby now has a better paid job!) we wont have anything left . So our two boys aged 15 and 3 will share the smallest room, we will have the middle room with the baby,and the other 3 girls,aged 13, 9, and 5 will have the largest room. Its just awkward as the two eldest both need quiet space for school work etc,and we just wont have it. But its the best we can do so we will make do lol! Was a bit gutted we missed out on a lean-to on freecycle too - every little bit towards extra space helps lol!

mrsw1983

kymie wrote: »

goldengirl28 We hadnt sold - so there was no point in putting an offer in. The market down there hasnt really been affected with sales,its just had less properties put on the market so those that do / did go on were sold pretty quickly!
Hopejack Thanks! Im just a bit grumpy - I knew we would have to 'make do' moving from the North to the South as the difference in prices is too much to compete with for us,but I just worry about the kids all being cramped up,as I can see all the arguements already lol. We were hoping to have a bit left over to put towards starting a loft room,but as its taken so long of course stamp duty has kicked back in,and higher VAT(coupled with the banks refusing to lend us the same amount we had before our last move even tho hubby now has a better paid job!) we wont have anything left . So our two boys aged 15 and 3 will share the smallest room, we will have the middle room with the baby,and the other 3 girls,aged 13, 9, and 5 will have the largest room. Its just awkward as the two eldest both need quiet space for school work etc,and we just wont have it. But its the best we can do so we will make do lol! Was a bit gutted we missed out on a lean-to on freecycle too - every little bit towards extra space helps lol!

This is probably a rubbish idea, but could you look at having a 'summer house' or similar in the garden for the eldest kids to have a bit of space to work etc?

23rdspiral

Oh Kymie I do hope it works out ok for you. Kids sharing bedrooms isn't anything new and they'll be ok. My nan was the eldest of 14 kids in a small victorian terrace - gosh knows how they coped but they did. And a few packets of chamomile tea wouldn't go amis!! Sorry, I dont mean to make light of your situation, i just really feel for you. I was an only child and would have given up any amount of my 'own room' for the company of a sibling.

Perhaps there could be a system whereby one of the rooms is the 'day/eve playroom' for the youngsters and the other is where the eldest go to do their homework? (Though bedtime might get in the way depending on how long homework takes? On big homework nights, could you let one little one fall asleep in the room where they aren't working and then move them after?)

I didn't have a desk and instead used an A3 size piece of hardboard, covered in several sheets of newspaper, on my knee and was fine - it even gave me space to make notes ect so was rather useful! Perhaps that might help?

kymie

mrsw1983 We will have a summerhouse for the smaller kids, and are hoping to get a shed for the older ones,which will be fine in summer etc,but think I will struggle to get them out in the cold/dark lol
23rdspiral I know exactly what you mean with the older generation! And what you said about being an only child is one of the reasons I had so many kids! I was an only child and was always lonely,and with both parents gone by the age of 23 I have always been aware that my kids have no other support network apart from me (and hubby of course) but most importantly they have each other.I see what you mean about rooms for playing etc but the difficulty is we only have one reception room and the bedroom for playing would be the big one,and the small room isnt big enough for anything other than the bunkbeds (so they couldnt even sit on the bed to work lol!) If the small room was big enough for our bed we would've gone in there as we dont have 'Stuff' like the kids do lol! Im sure we will find a way some how! Once the sofas are in I can play around with the living room and see what I can fit in there - maybe if all the toys and 'stuff' fit in the bedrooms I can make an area in the living room for them. The worst problem I have is a typical teenage girl (with hormones) who has make up and clothes and things she doesnt want touched!! No chance with 3 younger sisters eh lol!!
Thanks for all the replies! It has cheered me up

Hopejack

Kymie - I can see where you are coming from! The thing is if the kids have been used to their own rooms and now have to share I can see the difficulty.

Instead of bunks could you manage with two cabin bed type things with a pull out desk under them? I know it means finding space for another bed in one of the rooms (with the girls in) but it might help with them having somewhere to work on.

You will get there but it will take time to save etc. Not ideal but the fact your family will at long last be together has to be the main thing - well, for you at least, often kids don't care once the arguing with siblings starts

Is there any chance of recouping some of the SD from the vendor? Was it part of their fault that things didn't happen before Xmas - I seem to recall it was?

How is everyone else getting on?

I've just arranged for a locksmith for next week when I get my house back. DH made a v valid point that no end of people have had keys over the last 8 years or so when it was rented out so for piece of mind, as Mum will move in until we sell, I'd rather get locks changed and complete new set of keys.

Are people finding the weather is slowing down any viewings? Or are there hardly any viewings at this time anyway. There is v little on the market here that is new. Mum is desperate to buy but nothing new, all the decent stuff has sold and just the 'not so decent' stuff is left!

goldengirl28

Oh Kymie now i understand, sorry new to this tread,
I shared with 3 sisters growing up, 16, 13 and 5............it was hard work and i know what you mean about studying we had to have a study and bed time rota just to get some time to do everything

goldengirl28

Quick update on my selling..........

i had the drop in 2nd viewing yesterday that i mentioned on the OMG post, had a 3 calls from EA today. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2188729


1st - said they are really keen, sold their house and will hopefully be putting an offer in the next few days
2nd - to arrange a new viewing for saturday
3rd - to arrange another new viewing for Sunday, that i've asked of they can move to Saturday (get it over in the same day)

one thing to note we are still having loads of snow, i would have thought that would have slowed things down.......................goes to show what i know about anything.