Sunday, February 8, 2009

Here we go again..........

One reason I have been busy is that we have been house hunting, and to cut a long story short we have found a house we have fallen in love with, in the middle of nowhere (dh's description, not mine) on nearly 5 acres. As far as I am concerned it's PERFECT, yes it needs some work, but wouldn't we all if we were built in 1907....... When I walked into the house I got "that feeling." You know the one where you instantly know this one is right for you, the one where you know exactly where your furniture would fit. The one where you can see yourself washing dishes, while looking out of the kitchen window feeling, you know the one? The second and third house I didn't get that feeling at all.

So now the fun begins, we have to play the game of us trying to get it for as little as possible and them trying to get it for as high as possible. It's all done through real estate agents over here, but it's still stressful.

Oh then there is the matter of selling our house. Well the reality there, is that in a market where there is a glut of houses for sale, especially in the area we live, we are going to have to drastically drop the price of our house to sell it.

Really its a case of swings and roundabouts, you sell low, you buy low. Obviously we would love to get what the house was worth this time last year, but that isn't going to happen. So it's a give and take situation.

Meanwhile I have been trying to tidy up our house, as a clean and, show/model home tidy home will make more money than a pig sty, though last weekend we went through three houses and of the three only one had made a bit of an effort to tidy up, and even then there were still cobwebs hanging from the ceilings.

Now my family do call me "Mrs Bouquet" at times, as I do like a clean house, however our house could be a lot cleaner than it is. The last house we went through last weekend, there was clutter everywhere. You couldn't see the kitchen countertops for mess. When we went down the basement, where the bedrooms were, you had to bat the cobwebs aside to get past them.......and you know as well as I do, cobwebs that size don't just sprout up overnight. It looked like Christmas morning as there were presents everywhere, it turned out the mother had just got married, and they had opened all their presents, threw the paper down and dumped the presents on any spare place they could find. I could go on and on, but its not worth my energy. My point though, I can normally see through mess, but this house I just couldn't visulize anything, as I couldn't see past the mess as it was that bad.

I am so excited as the possibilities with this other house are great, so fingers, toes and everything else crossed all this worked out. On a side note, the last two houses we sold, we sold them in February. I would love to be moved before gardening season starts.......we'll see!!

19 comments:

Cassie said...

Best wishes on getting the new place.The middle of nowhere is a lovely place to live. Our 10 acres of forest in Idaho WAS in the middle of nowhere, then the land sharks came in & went through loop holes to cut parcel sizes from 10 acre minimum to 1 acre minimum. UGH. Now we still have our property as a buffer, but there are houses built on 2.9 acres just up the road from us. Like little subdivisions.

Lindsay said...

Very very good luck with the house selling and buying - so very stressful.

Unknown said...

Good Luck! I'm still dreaming of someday owning a house with some land (space for my kids to play, grow a garden to feed us, enjoy the quiet and breathe clean air).

DeniseinVA said...

Remember those days well and lots of luck selling your house and buying the one you love. When we moved here we had similar experiences. One house you could just tell there wasn't a female involved at all, all men in that place. They had cooked steak for breakfast and practically burned a hole through the countertop. There was a smell of burnt steak everywhere and after checking the place out and many others that were far from satisfactory, we ended up buying this one and not any of the others. Just remember the Real Estate creed, with all due respect to Real Estate people. One of Gregg's colleague's, the husband of a Real Estate Agent said, and this after hearing about all the places we had been to, yes, it's their way to show you some really bad houses and just one house that looks like a masterpiece, the one they really want to sell. That's usually the house people go for.

softinthehead said...

Gill good luck with the buying and the selling. Glad to hear you are being realistic about the current market, that is half the battle. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you, keep us posted :)

stitchersanon said...

We got the feeling for our home when we saw it on the internet...but they wouldnt sell it to us unil we saw it, so we had to fly over to Ireland...took a step into the garden and then repeated the offer..and we got it.
It waited for us having been on the market for over 2 years, being seen by everyone we know (oh, we looked at that house!) and got all the work on it really cheap..It wanted us as much as we wanted it. Good luck with your house sale..if it is meant to be, it will happen!

Unknown said...

The very best of luck for you getting your dream home.
I am in the same situation as Cassie with my house in Brazil and the best 'feeling' you can have is to know that you are in the middle of nowhere and that piece of land if yours!
You made me laugh just thinking of Hyacinth's behaviour.
Best wishes

Betsy Banks Adams said...

The new home sounds incredible. IF I were younger, I'd choose to live as we say, "in the country". I'd love to have some acreage--and not have houses very close by... BUT--we were practical and moved into a planned community where the amenities are close-by.

I'll agree about seeing that 'perfect-for-you' house. You just KNOW it when you walk in. When we bought this house, both George and I KNEW it was for us --even though we saw several other homes that day.. We negotiated and took it almost that very day!!! You JUST know when you find the right house!!! Sounds like you have found it. Good Luck!!!

Have a great Sunday.
Hugs,
Betsy

George said...

I know what you mean when you got 'that feeling' when you walked into the door of the house you saw. Betsy and I both felt that way the first time we walked into the house we now own. We knew we wanted this house! Good luck in selling your present house.

Scrappy quilter said...

Dear friend, you know I'm praying for you guys for a quick sale and that that beautiful home becomes yours. I know it can be stressful yet I also know when you get that "feeling" about a home. I did when we bought our present home. Even before I got out of the car, I knew it was ours.
~hugs and don't forget to take a few mins through all of this "just for you".

Rudee said...

A one hundred year old home will be quite the taskmaster, but then it will also be quite a unique place. I get it. Good luck selling-and buying.

cheshire wife said...

I wish you luck with selling your house. Hope that your dream house does not need too much doing to it. We have been here nearly five years and still have not finished doing it up.

Twisted Fencepost said...

Yeah! First step taken. Good luck with the new house and the selling of the old house!!

Tea Time With Melody said...

I hope you get it! Everyone wants there little piece of land to call their own without the "so close" neighbors and I am right there with you! I'd love to have an old country farm house with a big front porch and rocking chairs etc.....

Evelyn said...

Good luck Gill! i am sure it will be yours and there will be a quick sale. LOl I am a fan of "Keeping up Appearances" but can't picture you as a Hyacinth. eevlyn

Anonymous said...

Congratulations and best wishes on the new house. Sounds really exciting. :-)

Gill - That British Woman said...

thanks for all your good wishes...I just wish it was all over and done with.....

Gill

Janet said...

The house sounds perfect, I have my fingers crossed for you.

Stephanie D said...

Good luck on selling your house! I agree with you about presentation--when I flew out here to look at houses, I couldn't believe some of the places I saw. One man complained that we didn't give him enough notice, but it was obvious they would have needed a week's notice to get that place cleaned up.

And of all the houses I saw in 2 days--the last one was it, and I knew it before I ever stepped a foot through the door.

{{{SIGH}}}

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