Second Time Lucky

amycool

I am sure I am the bane of my solicitor's life right now but we still haven't exchanged and I am getting anxious! We're waiting for a response from the vendor regarding some paperwork and they didn't reply yesterday as far as I'm aware so I was hoping it would have arrived by now.

Despite not having exchanged yet, I have gone ahead and paid for the home insurance. I went through TCB so it was £136 with £70 cashback. £66 for the year seems pretty good to me. :j

I suppose I'll spend the rest of today checking my e-mails...

giblet1979

Hope it gets sorted today - how frustrating! x

amycool

Thanks Giblet! They have refused to get an indemnity policy for the conservatory so it looks like we'll be £150 down, but I can live with that.

So hopefully exchanging this afternoon...hopefully.

Just sorted phone and internet. Same price but now have unlimited internet - hooray! My husband will be overjoyed. :j

sammy70

What an exciting day you have ahead of you! good luck, and hope everything goes through as stress-free as possible! :beer:

amycool

Thanks sammy! Unfortunately, nothing ever goes to plan and the vendor's solicitor isn't in at all today but hadn't thought to tell anyone.

So no exchange today. If it doesn't go ahead tomorrow there will be panic!!

What I would give to hibernate for a week or two...

amycool

Spent the morning packing more things (need more boxes) and ironing, pretending I wasn't waiting for the phone to ring. Almost dropped the iron on the floor when it did.

So today we are attempting to exchange but I'm not getting excited until I get the call to say it is done. It's been so hard not being able to arrange everything.

To take my mind off things, the local paper came and on the front page is the man who organised our wedding reception! They are selling off the seats from the venue (a 1930s theatre) and I've got my eye on one! Not at all MSE really but it'll be a great memory of the day for £40. Just hope they haven't sold them all already.

In better money saving news, my husband took the car for new tyres and they said it doesn't need them yet and we should get a good few months more out of them. Very honest of the garage!

sammy70

hi, did you exchange yesterday?

amycool

We exchanged!! :j:T

Thanks for asking Sammy! Thought I'd already updated!

I had about an hour before I started work to sort out the mail redirection and got there just in time.

Sorted the utilities and the van is booked. Cancelled old home insurance and getting £50 back. Just used a £20 off a £60 shop voucher on home delivery so a ton of food will be arriving at the new house on the evening we move. 73 items for £51!!

Working all day today so only have tomorrow to get everything pretty much packed before we move (on Thursday). Going to pick a few days worth of clothes and vaccum pack the rest. Haven't really had time to stop and think yet. I'm sure I'll be very sad to see this house go as it was our first home together (without parents!) but very excited about the future. I'm not relishing working out how to use the old heating system though. Apparently the shower is either freezing cold or scalding so think it'll be baths until we get the new bathroom.

I have sent a huge chunk of money to the solicitor so I should be able to see what we have left very soon.

amycool

Ruddy weather! The wind and rain have dislodged the downpipe and we don't have a ladder long enough to get up there and pop it back in. So as I'm not at all well (on 2 antibiotics right now) and we're both in work all week, I've offered the buyers £100 in cash if they can fix it after they move in. They have accepted. So less stress but another £100 that I hadn't budgeted for.

Bad weather + illness + house not behaving = feeling rather deflated.

So, what's left to do before we move?

• Clean the bathroom thoroughly
• Clean the kitchen thoroughly
• Sort out the paperwork we're leaving for the buyers
• Print info for buyers
• Make moving box with useful numbers and essentials
• Do a last wash (not worked out how this will dry though)
• Write cards for neighbours and say goodbye
• Make a giant checklist for on the front door so we don't forget to do the meter readings or take all the keys off our keyrings

There are a few things left to pack too.



It's going to be a hard few days! Might go and look at my spreadsheet to cheer myself up.

amycool

Got my internet back - hooray! :j

I found it difficult not having any way of contacting anyone, researching things, or indeed writing about what was going on. The last hour has been largely futile, trying to contact various companies about my change of address. They make it so hard.

So, this is what has happened over the past week:

• Paid off old mortgage (although still showing on on-line banking)
• Moved into the new house and acquired a shiny new mortgage
• Drain was fixed by my neighbour so saved £100
• Unpacked most of our things

I've totally lost track of my spreadsheet and it doesn't seem to add up, which is frustrating. Luckily I have a new one waiting for 1st September so if I haven't worked it out by then it'll have to stay wrong forever.



Outgoings for the move were:

• £105 van hire (although they still haven't refunded the £250 deposit
• £34.99 Royal Mail Redirection
• £10 phone credit whilst I had no landline
• About £20 gifts for old and new neighbours

Things I have learnt about the new house:

• The hot water and heating are baffling. I've only ever had a combi boiler before (just an immersion heater when we were kids) but I'm guessing this is a condensing boiler and a separate immersion. It constantly heats up water even when you don't need it so we've decided to just switch it off and use the immersion until the new boiler is fitted. Had no idea how long to put the immersion on for (my Mum's is very inefficient) so got tons of hot water the first time and about 2 inches the second. There's no shower so just baths for now.
• We need a new garage door. OH opened it to put stuff in and closed it. The next time we went to open it, it didn't. Tried everything to get it open so next step is to dismantle the old boarded up side access and buy a new door to replace it. Hopefully we can fix the garage door from inside.
• Never leave without the key! The door locks when it closes.
• The kitchen cupboards are very shallow - will need some furniture to store crockery and things.
• No idea how the alarm works. The owner didn't either. I don't dare to test it in case one of the two possible codes don't work.
• My new walk to work is a workout.

Things I love about my new house:

• The carpets are really thick and lovely
• It feels massive
• I can see horses from my bedroom window instead of just houses
• I can see the whole of Manchester in the distance, which looks amazing at night - looking forward to Bonfire night and new year!
• It's about the same temperature upstairs and down
• My new neighbours are lovely
• It's so quiet at night
• The old fashioned gas cooker with an eye-level grill - cheese on toast is so much easier!

I thought I'd really mourn the loss of my old house but this felt like home straight away.