I have now come to understand why it is rated as one of life’s more stressful events - and I like to think I’m a fairly calm sort. We did the sensible thing and sold first...our purchaser wanted a 6 week entry date but we agreed an 8 week window. We hadn’t dared look as we didn’t want to emotionally invest until we were in a position to purchase. We found somewhere quite quickly. So tomorrow, 29th September was the agreed date for our sale & purchase.
The informal ‘OK’ we’d had from our potential lender turned into a massively protracted forensic analysis. It seems since the crash that this is the way, raking over the minutae of our finances - we’ve never defaulted on anything ever in nearly 30 years. This took so long that by the time funds were agreed the sellers home report had slipped past the 12 week validity and so another surveyors report had to be commissioned - a further weeks delay (and a total gravy train for surveyors).
By now it is Friday 22nd (one week to move) when we can sign the mortgage papers...Monday 25th concluding papers off to seal the purchase...and breathe...Organise removal, utility switch...and get packing...until...
Phonecall from our solicitor at 5:00pm 2 days ago “The house you are buying will now not be able to conclude until 31st October...”. The folks who are moving into ours on Friday won’t countenance the delay and threaten to sue for breach of contract and attendant expenses running to £10k+...so we start desperately check AirBnB, local hotels, rental companies, goods storage companies to avoid becoming homeless! A nightmare...until...
Our solicitor rings again...the elderly couple we are buying from have decided they will now give us vacant possession this Friday and go off on holiday until 31st October. A concluding letter comes through at 4:00pm yesterday...the coronary building subsides.
The removal company are packing boxes around me as I type (Not the Naim boxes...I don’t need more stress!) and hopefully we’ll be in our new place by mid-day tomorrow....A massive gin & tonic in hand!
Time to pack the modem so see you all on the other side.
G
Posted on: 01 October 2017 by Innocent Bystander
Congratulations on the move, Graeme. We've had quite stressful moments in both our last two moves, mostly associated with timing and especially solicitors. Now, thankfully, that has all faded into distant memory. One of the positives of moving house though is the opportunity to chuck out some stuff you don't really need. It's quite therapeutic too, I find.
I'm one that doesn't find it therapeutic! I find I accumulate stuff over time, partly because I have several hobbies, all of which have their required things, and partly because I have an inherent frugal streak (without which I wouldn't have been able to progress hobbies such as hifi), and have learnt that as soon as I throw away that thing I kept because I knew it would be useful, I suddenly find I need it and have to buy new' which is a waste of money. Other stuff I do get rid of readily, like most hifi gear when I upgrade, selling things on. But yes, inevitably when packing to move house I do try to be be more rigorous in sorting stuff to discard, and of course it is partly dependant on where the move is to (spare parts for something in the house can stay with thecold house!)
Posted on: 03 October 2017 by Don Atkinson
We've been here for 40 years but that move nearly did me in, it was so stressful. It had taken from February through to August to get alignment of a chain of sellers and buyers each with a mortgage and surveyor's reports etc.
Before that, I had moved more than 10 times in as many years.
OTOH daughter No 2 has moved three times in the past 15 years. Each time it was into a new-build house. Much less stressful !
Posted on: 03 October 2017 by DrMark
I have a very dear friend who spent most of his life in household moving as a profession; even worked for Beverly Hills Transfer for many years and moved some really big-name people (Mary Tyler Moore, Paul Lynd, even Liberace's glass piano) and he always said 2 things about moving. It is, quite literally, in the same stress level as divorce and even losing a loved one according to psychologists, and despite his great pride in being very good at what he did, he always joked that as far as the effect on possessions, "4 moves equals one house fire!"
I have moved more than I care to in the past 12 or so years (5 times with one from TX to NC, and yet am still looking to relocate again) and I hope you and yours get settled in and to the point of being glad you did it. As others have pointed out, music and ethanol can help get you there!
Posted on: 05 October 2017 by GraemeH
Last night we actually felt we could relax. The consequence of our half-baked removal ‘company’ (a personal recommendation) was that we didn’t get clear of our old place until 6:00pm. The folks moving in there arrived bang on 12:00 with an articulated lorry load to be offloaded by 2:00. This meant them bringing boxes in as ours were being shipped out.
Nasty letter from their solicitor on Monday morning claiming our company had lifted two of their boxes which contained stuff of great sentimental value and as we breached the vacant possession time we are liable. Frantic searching through our towers of boxes revealed nothing so we went round to the old house last night to protest innocence...only be told on the doorstep ‘oh...we found them..’
Sound of cork being prized from bottle shortly thereafter...never again!
And I’ve ordered a nice pair of Proac Tablette 10 (satin white) on Custom Design FS103 stands (Their recommendation) to calm the nerves...
G
Posted on: 05 October 2017 by Ardbeg10y
Nasty letter from their solicitor on Monday morning claiming our company had lifted two of their boxes which contained stuff of great sentimental value and as we breached the vacant possession time we are liable. Frantic searching through our towers of boxes revealed nothing so we went round to the old house last night to protest innocence...only be told on the doorstep ‘oh...we found them..’
Graeme, I've not jumped into this topic yet but have been reading your story with great interest. I've made the mistake to sell a house to a lawyer and at the moment the transaction was completed, the guy started to send legal letters. I'm someone who has grown up by trusting other people so it was quite difficult to me that the guy actually saw me as a legal entity or so. Not the slightest warm personal contact. Just letters and formal messages. We managed to get out of that ultimately by playing a kind of game.
But it was only recent that I realized that it was a quite stressful experience for me - but a much bigger problem for that other guy. How miserable is ones life if any kind of communication is going via a layer of lawyers. Imaging the couple to divorce / split up. They will drag each other to hell.
Poor them.
Be happy and blessed.
) to try first but i'll be interested in your thoughts once you've settled back down - enjoy your new home 