Looking for a house

I was actually looking for a detached bungalow with a garage. 'Detached' and 'Bungalow' were the two main reasons for moving at all so they were more-or-less essential for the move to go ahead. As I was moving from a 3 bedroom semi-detatched, the garage was pretty-well essential as well - not for the car but as somewhere to store stuff that wouldn't fit in the bungalow.

I'd still have a lot of stuff I'd need to get rid of because it simply wouldn't fit, so I'd decided that I'd need at least 14 days between 'Exchange of Contracts' and 'Completion'. That is, the date on which all parties involved become legally bound to go through with the deal and the date on which we all actually move. Organising all the services (gas, water, telephone, ISP, etc), getting rid of the large unwanted items and hiring a removals firm all seemed to suggest 14 days minimum would be ideal. Even my solicitor's glossy brochure recommended at least 14 days. However, the best laid plans..... (more later).

Starting to view

The first Estate Agent I contacted were selling a reasonably priced bungalow that did need a bit of work doing. I phoned them first thing on the morning following the offer I'd had on my house. Seems it had been sold the week earlier. I pointed out that it was still shown as for sale on rightmove.co.uk and on their own website. The seller had wanted it to stay on the market (quite the normal practice it seems) but, never-the-less, it was sold. "OK, thanks anyway", said I and dialled the next Agent on my list.

To cut long story short, the same thing happened to all four bungalows I'd been keeping an eye on. The lesson here is that, although righmove.co.uk, the Agent's own website and the Agent's own shop window are all good indicators, the ONLY way to be certain that a property is still available is to phone up and ASK.... and even that isn't 100% certain!

July

It was now well into July and my buyer would be getting organized doing all the things he'd need to do. Mortgages, surveys and solicitors to arrange, and so on.

I also had to organize a solicitor and was undecided between a local firm or the Estate Agents' "in house" solicitors who, although based 50 miles or so away, did offer the advantage of being able to view the progress of my sale and purchase on line. To an internet-head such as myself, it was a foregone conclusion which one I'd choose! As it turned out, their "remoteness" meant my choice was a bit of a mistake.

Most of the daylight hours in July were spent driving up and down the area I was hoping to move to. I viewed several bungalows, none were what I really wanted but I was getting increasingly concerned that my buyer would lose patience and pull out. I was starting to look further afield and was even starting to look at semi-detatched houses - which made the move more or less pointless.

Despite a growing pessimism, I began to draw up a list of people and companies I'd need to contact - preferably before I moved. I was trying to find telephone contact numbers wherever possible, rather than relying on postal addresses. I think I finished with a list of 34 companies and government departments who I'd need to contact. Friends and relatives would be more or less the same as my "Christmas card list" so I could worry about them later.

A ray of hope

Just as I was beginning to despair at ever finding anywhere suitable (at least finding anything in time), one of the Estate Agents phoned late one evening to ask if I was still interested in a particular bungalow that they'd told me was sold as they were "still viewing". I arranged to view the following day but, as I was being shown round, it became apparent that the bungalow was in fact, sold. I left in a bit of a huff, to be honest as I was getting nowhere fast and had wasted another morning.

About a week later, they phoned again. The sale had fallen through and was I still interested? Well, I was and, despite my best efforts to put on a poker face, I arranged another viewing the same day. I put in an offer which was accepted and, at last, things were back on track and progressing smoothly....

... or so I thought ...