Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

Oh Shandy I am so very sorry for your dilemma, at least your dog is trying to make you laugh with his bark each time you squeeze the vinegar bottle! You are getting lots of good advise on here, I really wish you luck in getting your home sorted.

Well the snow is thick on our shed base this morning, we were set to construct today, but can't do it in the snow! Hope my new plants are ok, wonder if I should have covered them last night, didn't get in till late so forgot.

if plants get iced overnight, spray them with cold water. If possible, move them into shade rather than quickly defrosting in sun

I am sitting in my living room and the sun is blazing in, no need for heating because it is cosy warm, same in my kitchen. Our family home was bigger with 1/3 acre garden in a lovely village but the orientation was poor NNW all along the back of the house, the side with the most important rooms,the biggest windows and the patio, the house was dark and cold for much of the year. Orientation never crossed my mind in 1983, when we saw the big white painted detached house with a lovely frontage. We stayed for 33 years in that village in south wales

I have had south facing twice, second time was the eco house with solar shading via verandahs and a heat sink concrete floor and a heat sink wall behind the pellet stove. That house worked well, I moved from there because there were no shops or facilities and one local bus 3 times a day. Greal neighbours and a great community, would not compensate if I was ever unable to drive

Lessons were learnt, downstairs rooms here have good windows on east and west and a small window on either north or south. East/west is much the best orientation here, my neighbours have south/north and the low sun all through winter is partially blocked in their downstairs rooms. There is a downside to east/west and that is blazing hot summers, there is no cool area in which to hide away in my modern house, which is so well insulated that it holds the heat. My garden gets full sun from dawn to dusk, hence me planting a shady canopy of small trees at the far corner, so I can at least sit in the shade outside

I decided I wanted east/west when I went house hunting, I took a compass with me

Thank you Karmalady re my plants, think I'll tuck some bubble wrap round them tonight as its said to be -3.
Made me laugh re the compass, I did the same thing, but not sure if I got it out or not, just asked the EA.

I took a compass to my viewings too, it is nice to have sun in the garden. The bungalow garden faces west and gets the sun from around noon. What I have only just noticed is that an area of the garden also gets morning sun from the east through the side passage. Might try my tomatoes there this year, they didn't ripen last year and I had to bring them in.

I must admit that taking a compass when I was viewing never occurred to me. However, I am very grateful that this flat has very large windows with the living room patio ones and my bedroom facing South West, and the kitchen, 2nd bedroom and dining part of living room are all facing East. The sun pours in for most of the day and the flat is gloriously warm from this. Indeed, this morning, it was so very warm in my bedroom that I was not sure what to wear and asked Alexa temperature outside and was astonished that it was just one degree.

I have just had my heating on for the last 3) minutes but have now turned it off as it is getting far too warm for me.

I know that people used to be interested in which way gardens faced, but never thought about the actual properties. Someone refused one of the flats here, as except for the patio doors and balcony, all the other room windows faced north. At the time I thought it strange, but can now see more reason behind this.

Shandy I really do sympathise with you regarding the floor. However, I agree with Karmalady, that this should have shown up in your full survey report. Your surveyor is desperately trying to be helpful now as I am sure he knows he could be up for negligence claim from you. Do hope you can get it sorted and you can then move on and start to enjoy your bungalow. New roof, new floor,- almost new build!!!!

Tomorrow I have to go for my fourth jab - foolishly, I arranged this and THEN asked my daughter for a lift there and back - only to be told that she and hubbie are both in Oxford tomorrow with one of their children. So, it will be taxis for me!!!

The sunshine has been brilliant here, and a little warm when actually in it. But it is bitterly cold out. Went on bus to my U3A book club this afternoon. Had my gloves on again, having put them away once this year.!!!

Hello everyone, sorry for delay with my update on my posts around 18th March, you have all been so wonderfully helpful and supportive.
The buyer's builders came with the buyer and looked at everything on the surveyor's list, who by the way agreed with the amount she had offered us.
Then she lowered her offer by £10,000 because her buyer had reduced his offer by £10,000 and she had accepted it.
So she hasn't the funds for all the work she wants to do in my house, new radiators, worktops, that sort of thing.
Anyway we said no to her new offer so she is not continuing.
Our estate agent, was very good and told her on my instructions that our agreed price already included the need for any improvements,
Thanks again everyone you gave me confidence to 'stick to my guns' and we will market again after a short break.

Ah so sorry Nana3, it is so stressful.

After my survey the buyer was chipping the price down by huge amounts quoted by his surveyor. I pulled out of the sale and left the estate agent and went to auction. Unfortunately for me he offered most at the auction, and I had to accept, freedom from the worry of the renovation of the station and the possibility of prosecution was priceless.

I meant to say I misread the surveyor's email yesterday - he had said he would 'try' to visit at the end of the day. He didn't come, I did stay in all afternoon.

Well Done Nana for sticking with your price. The first young couple who wanted to purchase my house, went along and arranged for mortgage survey,. Then they suddenly changed their minds and pulled out - saying the reason was that although the house was lovely, it would mean they would not be able to carry out any re-build, etc straight away!!!

No idea how they got on after that, but I can remember saying, that, back in the past, we wee just too pleased to get a property - and then very slowly carried out alterations over the years.

Anyway, for me, they, and the next would-be purchasers pulling out did well by me (although very traumatic at the time), as my eventual purchasers paid a higher price than either of those two AND the flat I wanted fell by ten grand.

So, give yourself a short time off - not too long, Easter is just about the best time to market a property - and start if off again. You could well look back on this experience with relief.

Been for my 4th Covid jab this morning - taxi there and back, as my daughter and her family are both taking one of their children to a Uni open day. I am taking it easy now - although have just been going through my kitchen cupboards and thrown out packages marked 2010-2016 (why on earth did I bring those with me when I moved??

we are proud of you nana, excellent for standing firm. I wouldn`t be surprised if the buyer came back to you at your price. Some buyers carry on the process until the day of exchange and last minute offer less, that will not happen to you if your buyer comes back. You have been tested and passed

shandy, so very disappointing. It would not have hurt him to spend a little time at your house after work

Painting was finished yesterday and I have had an awful lot of sorting to do today, I have to take a break from time to time. I am doing the last of the crafts right now, there was so much overspill, I shoved things into any old place. I am trying to be methodical, labelling as I go. Doing my knitting stuff now and very much hoping to free a little bit of space. I am realising today that I will have no need to get more yarn, fibre or fabric for the next ten years at least. Upside is that my crafting has been inflation-proofed and I don`t feel at all guilty at all the endorphins I had over the last couple of years of buying

My brother and sister in law finally exchanged today ,get the keys on Thursday. ?

It's a good week for happy news Whiff! Very pleased for them, I hope you can go and visit them soon.

My aunt on the IOW has just had a £603 water bill. Luckily she rang to enquire - seems the waterboard were working outside a month or so ago and there is a leak.

Gosh I am feeling tired, did have a slight bit of sneezing but that could be tree pollen. A nice colourful rug arrived today, to brighten up my sewing room, it was only £35 in all from rugs direct. It was a good buy

I think I am tired because of the after effects of the decorating, six months of mess, I am finished tidying now but need to work on myself, I think it took it out of me and when my body says rest, then I need to rest.

No major jobs here for the forseeable, decorating cost me a lot, once I added it up, probably what I would have put by for a whole years house maintenance.

oh that is very good news whiff

I'm tired too karmalady, I'm starting to wonder if I could be anaemic. I do sleep now and have stopped waking up several times in the night, but yawn when I wake. I know I snore but don't think I have sleep apnoea.

Glad you liked the rug, my son collected a colourful Ikea rug for me last autumn. When the roof came off I rolled it up and moved it into the bathroom, just in time before the ceiling came down.

4th Covid Jab (Moderna) did have the effect of making my extremely tired for 48 hours. On the Sunday afternoon, I thought I would try to clear my head by trundling along to Curry's to see (in the flesh, so as to speak), the fridge/freezer I have planned to purchase for my new kitchen.

Fortunate I did, as I thought I might just as well order it now and arrange delivery for four weeks time (the week prior to kitchen being done). It is out of stock, so I am now on a waiting list for it - but should get it in good time. Had I left it until the last minute I would have had a disappointment.,

The pedestrian area along the busy main road is below that road area, with a steep grass verge to separate it. On my way home, I must have started to doze off on my scooter, and woke with alarm as the scooter, with me on it, veered up that grass slope at a dangerous angle. Gave me quite a fright and kept my eyes wide open for the rest of the journey home!!!

When my new kitchen is done I will have a lot of machines to dispose off. As most of them were only purchased after my move, I will try to sell them off. This afternoon, I have given the lovely combi microwave/oven a very thorough clean. I am having to have a new one as this is free-standing, and I really do not want to use valuable worktop space for one, so the new one will be fitted in either below or above the actual fan oven. I will also have a worktop oven to sell, along with a larder 'fridge and an under-the-counter freezer, plus several other kitchen 'gadgets', that I purchased when I first moved, used two or three times, and am not going to give room to in the new kitchen. All will go down to my garage to give me time to advertise them. Must be more disciplined with myself at kitchen gadgets!!!!

Had a strange day today as I woke (as usual) at 3 am, but could not get back to sleep, so gave up and got up before 5 am. Went to my u3a group, and had a good sleep this afternoon in my chair, but have woken myself up with that deep clean of the microwave.

Whiff such good news, another happy ending. Good luck to them for their move.

Franbern that incident sent a shiver down my back, it was so close, I am glad you were ok, even if shaken

Today I read the thread about period dramas and realised that I had not watched any of my dvds for a very long time, since before moving. Reason being that it was tricky to connect my main tv to the dvd player. I dived into it today, doing a simple connection, tv programmes at one time came through the dvd player., not needed now Easy today, once I found the correct cables. HDMI tv to dvd player and a straightforward tv ariel to wall connection.My dvd player will run a dvd now, once I set the input on tv to hdmi 2 as I used socket 2 on the tv

I have so many nice dvds like allo allo, cranford, onedin line plus many others that were collected when they were given away with a weekend newspaper. Many a time, all I want is some simple slow mo something to watch while knitting.

It is extremely windy today, thank goodness also sunny. I am expecting a meat delivery soon, will vac pack and it will be fine in my freezer for a long time. No work otherwise, apart from the usual bed making, en suite and kitchen cleaning. I have made a big effort, thank you shandy re flylady, to leave my kitchen unit sparkling before I go to bed. What a difference it makes to the psyche

Better sleep last night, ate my black chocolate and had my coffee by 10am. Caffeine takes 8 hours to disappear and every little helps

Blimey Franbern, someone is definitely looking over you! Glad you woke before you tipped over, I know scooters are very heavy. I went to Slimming World once and a girl came on her scooter - as I was driving away I saw her on it, then she stopped and looked distressed. Battery was flat. I stopped and offered her a lift, not realising how heavy the scooter was. She got in the car and I heaved it into the back of my car, with difficulty! I then had to drag it up her extra long garden path when I got to her house.

I'm just back from a sleety/hailing beach, I do feel for the newly born lambs out there. No shelter in a lot of the fields here and we have horribly high winds again.

Every noise on the roof makes me feel anxious, I think it will take a while to get over the roof incident.

My friend's house is going on the market soon, I wonder who I'll get as a new neighbour. Her house is across the road and is going on at about £250K, garage and big garden, it will go very quickly as this is a great location. Wish I had a garage.

Have a good day all

Shandy that was very kind of you to help that person with the scooter. THe heaviest part of most scooters are the battery (or batteries inthe largest). Removing these makes the rest of the scooter much lighter. Fodable pavement scooters that are designed to go into cars, then break into three easy parts, to lift easily into a car.

Also, all scooters have a switch that can make them free-wheel. She should have told you this, before you dragged it along the path.

I keep my scooter in my garage, and always have it plugged in when not in use, so that I know there is no danger of me ever having a run-down battery.

Morning all. Thanks Franbern, yes I think the battery did leak a bit as I had to put it on its side.

Sunny today, and my 65th birthday. I used to do a 'birthday table' for the kids to wake up to, haven't even got a table here! One more long year to wait for my State Pension.

My son is coming tonight for tea, no idea what to make, I think I might go to M&S and splash out on a curry.

Have a good day everyone

Happy birthday shandy

everything nasty should well be over by the time you get your state pension. This time next year, you will be able to truly relax and feel safe and snug

I am thinking ahead, need to get spf 50 sunscreen for my face, now ordered. 3 grasses came yesterday, planted. Chocolate and coffee done and dusted for today. It is dull, cold and damp here. I think today is going to be worked in hops, a bit here and a bit there. I saw some keto vegan `meat`balls being made on youtube yesterday. Loved the sound of them and I have all the ingredients. Will make to freeze later

I am gathering some bits together for the taxman, I shall be doing my own tax from now as I have reached simplicity ie pension and savings interest, nothing else. Two accounts with only a few p interest, not worth the effort, except one is my feeder account to steady my current account. Yorks building society and shawbrook are the best I have for interest, both increasing interest promptly

Many Happy and Healthy returns of the day Shandy.
I was still working at the hospital when I celebrated my 65th birthday. Took in a whole load of cream cakes for the team.

Then HR contacted me to say that I needed to be cleared by Occy Health to continue working there!!!! As I was doing an office job, that caused no problem. Occy Health just needed to ensure that I was not lifting heavy items, etc. as an 'old' employee.

My goodness!!! that was a long time ago!!!

My DVD is set up very similar to that of Karmalady - One connection to HDMI 2 on tv. other wire to leccie socket. Like others, I have loads of DVD's but no time to watch any of them. I use my Humax to record programmes I want to watch and never have enough time to keep up with those.

Off to my kitchen fitters this afternoon ( Son in law driving me) to finalise arrangements ready for work to commence on 9th May.

Our building insurance is due for renewal, we use a really good broker. He rang me yesterday with a whole lot of new questions that insurance companies are asking. None were a problem, but some are rather intrusive (eg: how many of our flat owners are retired).

Was very windy here yesterday and a very cold wind. Sun was lovely, but wind chill factor....!!!!!!!!! I attended the Talent Show at the school whee my daughter works, yesterday evening and then we went our for a nice pub meal.

I received a message saying that my Fridge/Freezer is now ready for delivery - that was much speedier than I expected. I have arranged it for the end of this month, will have this put into my dining area, then can empty out my existing fridge and small freezer, get them thoroughly cleaned and taken down to my garage before they come in to do the kitchen. Then the new F/F will be available for the fitters just to move into the kitchen when the work is completed.

Many happy returns of the day Shandy, go on splash out a bit and get some lovely liquid refreshment while you are in Marks! ??????

Thanks for the good wishes all, I've been getting lots of nice texts too, just dreading one of them will be cancelling my flight!

Just back from M&S and I went at the wrong time, it was 'marking down the prices' time and people were jostling.

Birthday cakes are very expensive aren't they! I would have made one in the past, but everything is everywhere. I've got two lovely strawberry tarts, and I bought my son a sticky toffee pudding to take home for tomorrow.