BritishBibliophile Wants A House

BritishBibliophile

Dairy Milk Magic Stars, and Great British Bake Off!

BritishBibliophile

Small update - Estate agent phoned me this afternoon, first question was "how are you?". Well, still quite angry about the news from Tuesday, but apart from that I'm fine, thank you for asking.

"Yeah, about Tuesday, have you found another property to purchase?" Er, no, it's been 2 days and I haven't seen my fiancee yet let alone discussed this properly with him.

"Well, if you're still interested in buying the house, we think we've found a solution that the landlady and the tenants have agreed to." *Lightbulb moment when I realise he's outside and not in his office* You've found an alternative property for the students to move to.

Yes, in theory the students have now got another house. He said he was hoping to phone me back "within the hour" with good news. He didn't, but that doesn't worry me as it took them 2 days after speaking to the vendor (after their 2 week holiday that no one told us about) to let us know our offer was accepted. We said we wouldn't be progressing the sale any further until we've had confirmation that they are out (Gentleman Caller has decreed that it must be written confirmation, and he's right!), they're going to do their best to get the students out next week, assuming they accept the new place.

So God knows what's going to happen over the weekend, but I'm having pizza and cuddles with my fiancee tomorrow night, so bring on the stress!

BritishBibliophile

Eventually gave in and phoned the estate agents myself on Friday afternoon, got put straight through to the bloke who's been dealing with the mess over the past few days. The students have now moved out (in theory), the landlady/vendor is thrilled, and I'm going to go and see the house myself on the 12th as I'm off work that day.

I'm wondering if the students were using this as a way to get a nicer place without having to pay a load in extra rent. They really weren't happy with the agents or the house the two occasions that I've met them, which is why I was so stunned when the agent phoned to say they were staying. We'll probably never find out what was really going on, and I'm still !!!!ed off that we got caught in the crossfire of it, but at least we can now get things moving again. We haven't received the written confirmation yet but I've already asked the solicitor to pick things up again, at the end of the day they can write what they like but until I see the damn house myself I'm not going to believe it. So it's 3rd viewing on the 12th, and on the 21st we're meeting the solicitor to start signing paperwork and reviewing what's arrived so far, and hopefully begin discussing dates for exchange and completion. I'm really not going to be able to relax until we've exchanged though, especially after this week

Had a lovely weekend with Gentleman Caller, his parents were out all weekend so we had pizzas on Friday night, and then last night I cooked us a nice toad in the hole, and we made pancakes for breakfast this morning. The only thing we did was walk in to town for some bread and then drive to Waitrose to get the toad in the hole ingredients, apart from that we just lazed around for the rest of it. I haven't been sleeping well for the past few weeks (even before the mess this week) so it's nice to be able to sleep in a proper bed when I go to visit Gentleman Caller.

I did get some awesome news in between all the stress - a friend of mine who lives abroad gave birth to her baby twin boys during the week :T They're a few weeks early, as twins often are, so they've been in the special care unit, but hopefully my friend can take them home soon, and she's doing well (although obviously anxious to be able to bring them home as she hates that she has to "visit" them in order to see them). They're thoroughly adorable, and I've already spent a good 15 minutes this afternoon mooching around the baby section of Tesco trying to decide what to buy for them. In the end it was all too cute for me and I had to leave as I couldn't make a decision :rotfl:

Anyway, I've been paid and done my money moves, so it's another £300 to the wedding fund, and £73.33 to the furniture fund, plus £200 to my HTB ISA as I haven't cashed that out yet (increases the bonus!), and then as usual it's TTs for the rest of the month!

Wedding Fund - £1400/£4000
Furniture Fund - £550.39/£1000

savingwannabe

It sounds good about the house hopefully it will be sorted very soon and you will be able to move in. I hope they leave it tidy. I lived in a few student houses in my day and I was the tidy one!

Fab news about friends and the twins! I'm not surprised that you are not sleeping buying a house is one of the most stressful things ever. Well done on saving money it's all going to a good cause.

Fortune_Smiles

Keeping everything crossed for you BB.

Fortune x

BritishBibliophile

Finally got an email from the estate agents saying that the students have moved out, so I've rebooked the surveyor to carry out the building survey on Monday (not sure if his check will coincide with my visit yet), and emailed solicitor to highlight that the vendors will probably want us to proceed ASAP as they're no longer being paid any rent.

Realised early on Monday that last week had got to me more than I thought. I've been trying to save up my days off so I'd be able to carry some time over in to the next holiday year (runs from October to September) so haven't had a week off since our trip to Rome back in May. I've had lots of individual days off, but they've always involved driving to various places to view houses etc, and haven't been very relaxing. By Monday afternoon I was feel completely exhausted and my boss and my line manager were both commenting that I looked "really pale", I'd already booked Monday and Tuesday off next week, but I felt so rough that I booked Thursday and today off as well and drove straight down to Gentleman Caller's on Wednesday evening after work.

Feeling much better after only one day of rest, all I did yesterday was read on my Kindle, browse a few websites, and pop out twice to get some food. Didn't sleep in as much as I wanted yesterday but more than made up for that this morning. Gentleman Caller had to get up at 5:30 as he's still working while I'm off, so his alarm woke me up but I soon went back to sleep. Woke up again, saw it was only 8, rolled over and fell asleep again so I finally got up at 9:30. Generally feeling less anxious and worried, my in-laws are on holiday at the moment so I have the house to myself and it's nice to have peace and quiet and being able to do what I want when I want, without worrying that I'm getting under people's feet. Gentleman Caller has been lovely about it all and has sorted out a pile of books for me to read if I get bored of my Kindle.

Bit of a spendy week as I'm sorting out food for me and Gentleman Caller (he keeps telling me to just cook something from the freezer but I want to indulge in a bit of kitchen craft), and I've bought a bunch of stuff off Amazon for a "Going to University" box that I'm making my sister. It's been so long since I first went to university that I'm struggling to remember stuff I needed but originally forgot, so I'm alternating between indulging her in "back up" things such as marmite and hot chocolate sachets, with useful things like post-it notes, safety pins and paracetemol. Also going to pop some emergency money in an envelope, and a giftcard for Starbucks. The main thing I remember about university was how grateful I was when family members gave me some money with the instruction to "treat yourself", first time balancing a budget is always difficult and I wasn't even getting in to that much debt compared to nowadays! :eek:

Right, I need to pop out in 30 minutes to get some bits and pieces for tomorrow's dinner, that way I can have tomorrow itself as a full pyjama day! :j

savingwannabe

Gosh you have done loads. No wonder you are tired. Take it easy. I am having a pj day too. Cheap and cheery. lol.

BritishBibliophile

Days off work was just what I needed. Spoilt a bit by on-going house drama. Survey came back with minor issues, but one of them is an electrical issue which my in-laws say we must get checked, which means I have to phone the estate agents, and I just don't want to

We were meant to be signing papers this week but turns out that the agents also hadn't sent the memoranda of sale, even though they said they were sending it weeks ago, and they got the price wrong, £2k less than our accepted offer. Solicitor is trying to sort it out for us and get it done quickly, which means I really should sort out the electrician check quickly.

So fed up with this now. I'm never moving again XD

In other news, £3.64 TT in to the furniture fund. In wedding news, Gentleman Caller has been making our wedding invitations, just need some final touches and then we'll be able to get those out to people. At least there's one thing going right!

Furniture fund - £480.70/£1000

savingwannabe

The estate agents sound absolutely rubbish. Keep double checking everything they do. I hope the electrics are ok. Well done on wedding cards. That is something wonderful.

BritishBibliophile

It's a new week, electrical inspection of the house is being carried out tomorrow, going to cross my fingers that we don't need it to be completely rewired as I don't have the mental or physical energy to renegotiate the price if it does.

Work paid me 2 months of expenses in one go today, so that's £30 towards the wedding and £7.66 towards furniture!

New totals;
Wedding Fund - £1430/£4000
Furniture Fund - £488.36/£1000