Ruby's Bought a House, Now I want to Own It!

ruby_eskimo

*creeps back in*  Is there anyone around here?

I seem to go through phases of being on here every day and then have to take a few months break and then feel like an interloper coming back to the forum!

So what's been happening over the last couple of months you may ask?  Well...

- On the House selling front, we're sort of, kind of on the market.  Should officially hit the portals etc. either today or tomorrow if the agent's can add in something they missed off the particulars relatively easily.  Not going to lie, it's been hard work getting to this point but the agent was happy with the staging so lets hope we get some people through the door this weekend.

- On the house buying front, I'm very very stressed and might have had a meltdown yesterday about it 🤣.  Putting a very long story short, there's been a house that looks perfect on paper, and we've tried to view with 3 different agents (don't get me started...) over the last 2 months but it's kind of off the market because they might already have a buyer but it's still showing as available everywhere.  I'm trying to forget about it but the lack of closure is elevating my stress levels, coupled with the fact this is the first house in about a year that we've seen listed that is within our budget and bigger than our current house (again don't get me started on things round here being listed for £100k more than ours has been valued at and are in fact smaller "but they have potential to extend".  Yes because I'm going to spend £100K extra for something smaller to then pay another £100k to get it to what I need).  It's just going to be the one that got away 😢

- Work has been very busy to say the least!  I've found myself presenting at a couple of large forums (100+ people, IN PERSON 🤯) and have been nominated for 2 national awards (one for something I contributed towards and another for a programme I have designed and implemented on my own).  I may be procrastinating from finishing off my presentation I have to give on Monday...My manager has also re-written my job description that is going to review panel this week with the view to getting me moved up to the next pay band and therefore a small pay rise 🤞

- Money wise I've still continued to squirrel away money every month to "cover" the increase in mortgage / bills that will come with moving and haven't had to touch it at all.  Pay day was today and I've done the shuffle around.  I've not been as dilligent with the NSD's so back on that train from now as every penny counts because regardless of if we move or not, we need to replace our sofa (it's 12 years old and the bottom is falling out of it) so that will be the next savings side hustle goal, once I've got the last couple of bits together for the new laptop / computer I need.

- Health wise, everyone's been ill.  I've had this horrible cold / flu bug that's been going around and took 2 weeks to get over, however I'm now left with 2 wisdom teeth trying to make a break for freedom 😒  My dad has also had it confirmed that his liver cyst is back (and bigger than ever) so we're literally back in the same place we were a year ago.  He's off to the hospital for a pre-op on Monday (right when I'm presenting) so hopefully he gets a surgery date soon after that.

And because that's all been a little doom and gloom because my head is very overwhelmed at the moment, I thought I'd leave this update on a more positive note that we're off to South Africa in less than 2 weeks 😎 and I feel not at all prepared 🤣  This trip was also adding to the stress because I planned it as a surprise for DH's 40th Birthday and have kept it a secret for about 18 months!  Had to tell him a couple of weeks ago though when he started calling up estate agents to get them in the value the place.  

I've probably missed a whole bunch of stuff out but those are the main things.  Happy to be back and strap yourselves in for the stress the next few months are no doubt going to bring 🤣

savingholmes

Welcome back.

Well done for getting the house ready for market. That's a huge job in itself!

Congrats on being submitted for awards and the potential regrade. 

Enjoy your holiday. 

South_coast

Looks like you need a new diary title...."Ruby's Bought a House, Now I want to Sell It!" 😀😀😀

LadyWithAPlan

You have been busy ! 

House buying is stressful - I am sure the travel will help you relax 
well done on the work successes!

ruby_eskimo

South_coast said:

Looks like you need a new diary title...."Ruby's Bought a House, Now I want to Sell It!" 😀😀😀

It's definitely starting to feel like that SC although we do have three viewings booked for Saturday (which are going to finish 30 minutes before we need to leave for the airport! 😳) so keeping everything crossed that one of those people wants to buy it!

savingholmes

Hope you are having a lovely break - and get the kind of news you are after on your house.

ruby_eskimo

Back from South Africa and had an amazing time.  Between the safari experience (photos' below), the people, the food, the scenery, it was a trip of a lifetime.  We'll definitely be back, mainly because our trip to Robben Island was cancelled because of the weather.  DH loved it, especially Boulder's Beach on his birthday for the penguins and the wine tasting and cellar tour at Babylonstoren which is a beautiful place to go.  We may or may not have ordered £100 of their wine to be delivered to our home as they have a UK distributor 🤣




On the house front, the viewings before we went didn't translate into offers - apparently the lack of driveway at the front of the house was an issue because heaven forbid that having it at the side of the house is too far to walk 🙄  

We have actually put an offer in on a house that we like and had it accepted but it's still "on the market" till we go under offer.  So we've dropped the guide price on ours which has generated a few more viewings.  We had one last night and at 6pm the agents called DH a couple of times but he was playing cricket so didn't answer and they didn't leave any messages so we've had an evening of wondering what on earth that was all about.  Maybe they want a second viewing, maybe there's another person who want's to view, maybe they made an offer on the spot, maybe they absolutely hated it.  Who knows?  

All I know is I'm just a constant ball of anxiety this week and trying to not think too much about it!

South_coast

Fabulous photos, so pleased to hear you had such a great time. 

Personally, I think I'd prefer a drive at the side of the house, it would be a bit less visually intrusive to my way of thinking. But people are weird! Hope you get an offer soon 🤞

ruby_eskimo

South_coast said:

Fabulous photos, so pleased to hear you had such a great time. 

Personally, I think I'd prefer a drive at the side of the house, it would be a bit less visually intrusive to my way of thinking. But people are weird! Hope you get an offer soon 🤞

Same, I'd actually say it's lucky we actually have a driveway at all round here - out of the 10 houses on our road, there's only 4 of us that actually have parking included as part of out land!

ruby_eskimo

Well it turns out the missed calls from the agents were to arrange a second viewing as the agent couldn't get the cupboard under the stairs open or the garage 🙄.

Over the weekend we had two more viewings and all three of them resulted in offers not that different from each other so we spent yesterday agonising over which to go with.  I hate making decisions at the best of times and this was especially hard as one of the bids was pulling on my heart strings a little bit.  This morning we've accepted one and the house we're buying should be going off the market as I type 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

Really hoping we haven't jinxed anything but DH is now in overdrive so we've got a surveyor already booked in for next week on our purchase 🤣  We need a level 3 on it as the previous owners bought it from new in the 1960's and have had random bits of work done to it, including an extension so we just want to make sure we're aware of as many issues as possible up front as this is going to be the house that we spend the next 20 to 30 years in.

It could all move relatively quickly as we have a first time buyer buying ours and we're buying a probate property (which has already been granted).  Our solicitor even said at lunch that they'll have the contract pack over to the buyers solicitors tomorrow 🤯

So now it's time to knuckle down and get into proper frugal mode to give us some flexibility over the next few months.  Which means I'm spending my bank holiday weekend decluttering the kitchen and "pantry" and working out what food we have and trying to work it into meal plans.