Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

Chest of drawers has gone, hopefully being collected tonight - one less thing to worry about. I was sorry it wouldn't fit the space in the bathroom, but am sure I'll find some drawers that will.

It is a glorious day and I am fed up I had to leave the beach.
I won't tell the charity, but I am cross they changed the delivery time to 1 pm - then phoned me at 11 am at the beach to say they were here. I said I'd be 20 minutes so they agreed to do another delivery and come back. I had to carry my old dog the full length of the beach to get back in time - and they'd left my new formica table - filthy! - outside. They've just come back and refused the chest of drawers because one of the struts has broken, but have taken the desk. Petty but frustrating, I've just listed the chest on FB for free, as it's in the hallway I hope it goes quickly.

I had that full structural survey, the one that digs deep, cost me £2000 and was worth it, I pulled out because of that survey. Things like the long lead water pipe to the road, the single skin garage, the drain under the extension, the dodgy few wall ties. There was a lot like that in the survey. We never needed any survey before that one as my husband knew in depth potential problems, his job. Tbh I didn`t dither about getting the full survey for that 1930s house. I never got any survey for this new build, I knew I would not need one

What a glorious day it is here, most beautiful sunshine and wham, that spring cleaning feeling has arrived, I have been a busy bee, pottering outside and inside and enjoying all of it, knowing that pottering is as good an exercise as any

Morning all, warm and sunny again!

Good luck to your person finding a roofer Franbern, I hope they find a good one. I was so very lucky to get mine though the builder, so many cowboys came out of the woodwork here taking advantage of people's distress. One dog walker I speak to was charged £250 to replace one tile!

I hope your daughter is getting on OK with her claim. My insurer is still getting 'bad' reviews on Trust Pilot about Storm Arwen.

Have a good day everyone

Our lovely Committee member who is in charge of matters to do with repairs, has actually to find a roofer who is going to come to sort out our roof insurance claim. Once that has been completed we will then use him to see what further preventative work that needs to be carried out on the roof.

Will be our big spending work for the building for 2022. I have not heard how my daughter is getting on with her insurance claims. I know better than to contact her during the working week, so will find out more when we have our usual weekend phone chat.

I still find it difficult to understand that any surveyor doing a full survey on a property can miss something like that floor (in Shandy's house). Okay, I know that they cover themselves with writing things like 'due to floor coverings being in place, etc. etc. etc.......' But, then what is the point of paying out for that survey???

The two flats which supposed to complete here yesterday (and that was a delayed date from earlier in the month), have been delayed again until next week. Evidently, due to Solicitors having to close last Friday!!!!!

Yesterday, at a meeting - one of the people there told me he really wanted to move into our block of flats, his own house is now under offer. However, he was totally taken aback at the speed at which the last flat on sale was sold. He had actually arranged a viewing on the day this first appeared on Rightmove, but before he could actually do that, the flat had been sold at the full asking price. I have said I will let him know if any flat is going to come on the market, but he, obviously, cannot keep his purchasers just hanging on indefinitely.

Really do not envy people in this process at the moment.

Oh Shandy When are you going to get a bit of luck

Sad for people of Ukraine but not churning up. In my eighty plus years of life there has not been A SINGLE DAY when there has not been a war going on somewhere in the world!!!! So tragic!!! Wonder why none of the present people so decrying this invasion were so silent a few years back when exactly the same happened in Crimea??

Anyway that is all off-topic. The storm last Friday took off some tiles from our roof. Cttee member in charge of this finally got a 'cherry picker' company come along to take some photos. Insurance company have said to do that and get repairs done asap. Easier said than done!!!!

At my daughters house, some tiles moved on the bay above the rear bedroom. Her daughter went up to get ready for bed on Sunday night, and reported water pouring through that bay ceiling, on to her bed. So there will be both building and contents insurance claims going in. Fortunate that my gdaughter was back at home that weekend otherwise not sure when this leak would have been discovered.

Prior to that we had a lovely weekend, although both the older g.children had to be collected from their Universities as their trains had been cancelled,

Got some lovely piccies and some great memories of the weekend, and my knitted baby articles were happily received.

octopus sent me a smart reading electricity bill today, didn`t know my electric meter was smart but anyway it is a good thing. They are sending an engineer in 2 weeks to change my gas meter to smart, that will be very helpful as I have to kneel on the ground to read it. A bit of future proofing for me

Mould, high moisture and a food source. Oh dear. I expect the problem will go away in time, when ventilation is improved and the ground is tanked. Front bedroom ready shandy, big tick.

Calm outside now but I am churning up about Ukraine, need to try not to think about it as I cannot do anything

Afternoon all, still windy here but sunny.

Glad your son put a roof on Yogi but do rescue those photos if you can, can you use a rake or something to get the handle? I was very upset my Mum's tiny box of stuff went mouldy in the garage. Even though it was watertight, the condensation was bad after frosts.

Talking of which, I've finally managed to finish packing the front bedroom and I've just moved onto the back. I had put down 'bags for life' to protect the boxes from the damp - it's acted as a mould accelerator, and there is now white mould on top of the carpet. I've just wiped it all off and given it a killing spray of white vinegar, but I do feel depresssed at how bad it is. Where an earth is the water coming from - well, the answer is in the question isn't it - the water is coming from the earth.

Good luck Mary, I hope you receive positive news soon.

Having a naughty watch of 'Inventing Anna' now with my lunch, back to it at 1.30 pm!

Good luck Mary with your move.

My son put a new felt roof on our garden studio/shed [never sure what I should call it, it's not a shed] I'm so pleased, with all the rain this morning and over night. It's so crammed full that can't reach anything to bring indoors. I have a small suitcase full of my m&d's photos, has a few photos of my g/dad whom I never met. I can see the suitcase, right at the back in the corner, but cannot get there. So hope it's safe now, with the new roof.

Coolgran65
I know exactly how you feel! It’s ok to have an emotional blip - I’ve had many! It’s perfectly normal . My two daughters have also moved recently and one of them said ‘a house move is so stressful - it will bring out all the worries you have about everything !’ . I think this is true. You are lucky to have found somewhere so suitable ‘almost perfect’ is too good to be true! Good luck I hope the next few weeks go smoothly for you. We thought we were about there with our sale and purchase but the vendors want more time to clear the house of deceased relatives stuff (they’ve had 2 months!) and our ‘cash’ buyers suddenly need to renew their mortgage offer ! So until they have that in hand we have no idea when it will be now . We need to book a 3 day move as it is so far to our ‘new home ‘ which is impossible without a firm date ! I’m hopeful all will be fine but the length of time has me wobbling about moving - about the place we’ve chosen - about whether it will ever happen !

yogi, yes we women can certainly be empowered, provided we have our health and strength. I can tackle most things as long as it is not too heavy or too high. I did not want to tackle the decorating as 1, it is part of my settling in cost and 2 the sheer strength needed to roller the ceilings. We also need the right tools

Karmalady you were very lucky, not even a bruise?

I'm always amazed when I accomplish something. My dad was very able, could do absolutely anything, my second husband the same, so I never had to try, but now on my own I have to, can't call a workman in for ever little thing! But the internet is fantastic, with videos showing 'how to'.

Yes Spice we definitely need our laws changed to be like yours in Oz, I would have had the place I first put an offer on, 2 Dec 2020 and would have been moved nearly a year sooner!

coolgran, sit tight and don`t count those chickens. I found out that my so called `cash` buyer was taking out a mortgage and it added weeks onto the sale plus untold stress

yogi nothing is impossible. That sense of satisfaction, lovely. Wd, it is down to you tracing the lead

No bumps and aches at all now, it was the arnica that sorted me pdq. I have visitors later and am completely ready, even got hm bread rolls in the oven

Nice and calm outside now, just a patio full of blown herbage. Looking forward to spring, I have sown a few tomato seeds

One of my sisters in wa is moving, on the market already, they cannot stand the constant extreme high temperature where they are. This has been the 3rd time they have been so close to a bushfire

kARMALADY SO SORRY ABOUT YOUR FALL, must have been a shock! I was nearly blown off my feet too.

Coolgran moving is sooo stressful, even if everything goes right.

I have TV!. the lead that I traced coming in from the roof aerial WAS the the one, it just needed a different connection coaxial. I ordered one from Amazon, replaced it, couldn't believe I actual did it all by myself, plugged it into the TV and 'Hay pressto'

Coolgran this is why our system in Australia is so much better IMO. We put in an offer, when it is accepted a deposit is paid and contract signed. Once that is signed there is a cooling off period - usually of 5 days and once that is up there is no pulling out by the purchaser without losing the deposit. A vendor is legally bound by the contract so cannot pull out either. The settlement date is set during the offer period. The usual time is 60 or 90 days from the contract signing but can be altered to suit both parties.

There are still stresses involved in moving but at least we know when we are going to be moving and can plan accordingly.

Coolgran sorry to say but until contracts are exchanged nothing is safe. People can pull out of a sale or purchase and don't need to give a reason. Sorry being worried and stress is all part of house moving. I am not alone here who have had buyers pull out on them or had vendors change their minds. I had 2 buyers pull out on me. One day of exchange and other 4 days before exchange.

Moving house is the second most stressful thing you can do breavenment is first.

I hope all goes well for you but until you exchange it's not safe.

To add. The two original downstairs bedrooms can become bedrooms again if we ever can’t manage the stairs. There is already a downstairs bathroom.

We sold our house in November to cash buyers who happily were prepared to wait as we couldn’t find a suitable bungalow, we wanted to future proof. At last we found a converted bungalow only ten minutes away that is almost perfect. Three upstairs bedrooms and two downstairs bedrooms. Sounds big but the third upstairs bedroom is very small and is likely to be used for storage as the attic is practically non existent. Of the two downstairs bedrooms one will become the dining room and the other a second reception room.

It’s a bit bigger than at present but can be well utilised. No garage so a large 12’x8’ shed is on order for the chest freezer/tumble dryer and man cave/work shop.

Contracts are ready to sign once our vendor has completed a couple of issues highlighted by our surveyor.
One of the issues the vendor isn’t convinced he should be doing and will advise his decision tomorrow (really today). It’s not a deal breaker but this hiccup has really thrown me.

It’s the middle of the night and I got wakened by a surge of my reflux. My restless legs syndrome has kicked in so I am walking the floors waiting on my extra dose of medication taking effect.
During the last couple of days I’ve become overwhelmed. In our early 70s and I’m thinking have we taken on too much. The new house is in good order, just the usual run of the mill minor stuff to see to. Refurbished with new kitchen and bathroom, new laminate flooring throughout, painted throughout. But still a lot to be done.
More to heat which we can manage but has eaten into our savings considerably. But we will cope okay.

So why overwhelmed now. We are nearly there.
I do understand that moving house is one of the high stress events of life but it has just hit me like a ton of bricks. DH agrees it is stressful but is more laid back about it.
I’m more… what if it falls through etc ….. no reason why it should. There’s no chain involved.
All being well we should be moved in about 3 weeks. But….. oh we should have done this when younger.
I’m assuming this is just an emotional blip and a happy ending is around the corner.
Did else feel like this?

That was a nice hopeful calm post flaxseed, fingers crossed

I use a desk as a sewing table, it is one of those heavy desks, oak with a space for a pc tower, a pull out keyboard shelf and a cupboard. I cut the feet off and that small bit of shortening means that I can use my folding chair instead of my rolling office chair. Office chair has gone to dd. I took the keyboard shelf out and bought a shelf that I shortened to the length of the desk. I screwed it onto the back of the desk with 5 angle brackets, it now takes the weight of a heavy overlocker, I store it there

I went flying in a gust this morning, saved from injury by my long padded coat with thick hood and hat. The wind sent me running and I fell onto the rubber mat in my open porch. Nose and knees got bumped. I took arnica and feel fine. Saved by my coat and the mat

My stove door is open, I want it to be completely cold before I set it for next time. I can hear bits coming down the flue, hoping it is nothing much

Nice to see you Flaxseed, at least the vendor's will remember you! Keeping fingers crossed the viewing is successful.

Right, back to packing, I'm finding it hard because I've got very lazy with Covid. I've just bought a bright blue formica table and three chairs for the kitchen, the type you see in village halls. I paid £35 for it from our local recycling furniture store and have just googled on line - they are going for ridiculous prices with the 'retro' tag. The company are taking my daughter's desk and vanity unit away with them. I thought the vanity unit would be perfect for the space next to the shower - but too deep, wouldn't be able to open the shower door. And the desk isn't quite wide enough to use as a sewing table, so off they go!

Hope you are all well. I have been living at DP’s after selling my house in September. (Documented here somewhere!)
We had both lived alone for years so we have had to compromise on the sort of place we want together and that has narrowed down properties considerably! So it’s been a real waiting game to find properties that fit the bill.
Recently we thought we found two contenders. However, one had the tiniest garden. I think previous owners must have sold land at the back as there are newer houses behind. DP wants a decent garden and although I’m not that bothered, this garden really was small compared to the house (house not huge, but decent size)
Next house would have been a strong contender, but it had absolutely no parking. It’s a village location so both cars are needed especially as I still work.
We are viewing a house Saturday with a garden and parking, and it’s in the village where we are now. It’s perfect. So, fingers crossed! It’s a bit out of our price range but DP thinks it’s doable (he’d put in more than me)
We arrived for the open house viewing this Saturday morning, only to find we were a week early
DP had heard ‘Saturday’ but hadn’t looked at what Saturday in the confirmation email
I am already on Pinterest looking at interior ideas. But at the same time, trying to not get my hopes up.

I like the look of those shandy, I put their site into my bookmarks. It is like my foodstash, I need to get through what I have first but I passed the site info to ds and dd.