Saturday 18 August 2007

Buying and selling

The whole process of selling one's house is so strenuous and takes as long as a pregnancy, or longer. We started back in January having made the decision to sell and here we are mid-way on the eighth month possibly moving towards solicitors and officialdom. Friends and acquaintances constantly assure me (as I have assured others!) that selling is one of life's most stressful events and each time I am told I hold a straight face, because I have heard it a hundred times already, and think of those last days before child birth when one is constantly asked "Isn't baby due now?".

The estate agents have been next to useless, we're on our second set of agents, and in the end our buyer has come as a result of a local leaflet drop. All my effort, and Mr Doris helping to tweak and design the wording, but no input at all from our estate agent. Someone who hadn't been on the look out for a new home has fallen in love with the place ... but sorting out his finances is taking a little longer than one would hope. In my heart I know everything will work out before too long, but it is scary. The thought of pounding the streets with the remaining leaflets I didn't post; or going back to the estate agents waiting for them to say "ner-ner-na-ner-ner yer back!", which they wouldn't, is just a little draining.

Add to this mix is that since the offer on our house we finally went looking at properties at our new destination. And found something. Small-ish but perfect and a fabulous price that we need. We are being brave and are holding off putting in an offer in case the sale of ours takes even longer. Which means their house is still on the market and available to anyone else. We can move in with family in order to cut the chain but I don't want to put in a offer and then keep them waiting. I've just calculated but our last property took six months to finalise the sale - and that was with a buyer already on board.

Someone close to me has also moved with umpteen things going wrong at the 5th, 7th, 10th, and 11th hours but they finally did it. I have had those traumas to live through as well. And....

...I was asked to follow up an Ebay bid for said person for an item they had been chasing after for a long time. They were going to be out at work at the time of the bids closing so it was in my hands, with their access details and a budget. Came the allotted time my heart is pounding out of my chest wall; my internet connection is playing silly buggers and I can't get the system to accept my one large bid. Boom, boom, boom, my heart rate was deafening. I was feeling sick and knew I was being relied on. If I lost the bidding then fair enough that would be understood but to not get the bid on at all was careless. With about 50 seconds to go the bid was accepted and was the winning bid. I kept clicking the refresh button as the seconds went down and numbers were churning all over the place and last scramble bids were placed but I still had the highest bid. Then seconds to go and bang. A bid that was just some £2 over mine was placed and the bidding ended and I lost.

Never again, I swear. The drama of running someone else's bid for an item on Ebay is just too much for my soul. Next thing will be putting in our offer for the house we want to purchase. Methinks I shall hand it over to Mr Doris and I'll hide under the cushions until it is all over.

8 comments:

Greg said...

Hiding under cushions is good. Can I also recommend "behind the sofa".

Fingers crossed that your moving trauma comes to an end soon

PinkCat said...

Doris just move across the pond and let your MIL sell your house. Totally stress free. lol

Aww I hope it all works out for you. Selling and buying is just a bloody nightmare. I feel for you.

If you need a holiday after all this is done then you can come to Phoenix for a break.

Hugs to you xx

P.S. The ebay thing is so wrong. lol

Jo said...

Aw hon...you'll get there. I can imgaine the stress on the house thing, and the irritation with Estate Agents who are mostly useless. Strangely, I do know one very very good one - he helped us get our current house when we put him in charge of negotiations. He's the only one I've ever trusted, and he's just been made redundant out of the blue :-(

And the eBay thing. Gawd...I have a house full of stuff I'd like to sell, and I know of people who bid and win and all that...But I just can't be doing with all the stress. I can just picture you losing that bid...poor you. But you did all that you could.

Elmer Quigley Gooseburger said...

The whole process of selling one's house is so strenuous and takes as long as a pregnancy, or longer.


At the risk of appearing to be something of a pedant, you have neglected here Ms Mash, to qualify or indeed quantify the above statement.

Are you referring here to the gestation period of an Ass or a Zebra (strangely, in both cases this is 365 days - and that is Earth days should you choose to ask)?

Or perhaps a chipmunk or a rabbit (at 31 and 33 days respectively)?

You could equally be referring to the gestation periods of the African Elephant - typically 660 days, or the Yapuk (a mere 13 days?).

Stressful? I once managed to sell my own house in only 4 hours.

The council were bloody livid when they found out, mind you...

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine how your patience is being tried. But I bet the buying part will be so much more pleasant than the selling part.
Geez, you had me so nervous reading the Ebay scenario. I don't blame you, I wouldn't do it either.

Jo said...

Hi hon...just sent you an email, but then thought maybe your email address has changed with the new blog etc?

Jo x

Doris said...

Steg
Thank you - very kind. Another experience to chalk up to life.

Britmum
Lovely to hear from you and thank you for the offer. You never know ... one day get this forlorn bunch of people from the UK turn up on your doorstep saying well you did offer us to stay LOL :-) I'd love to - it sounds like fun with the circus though not sure I could handle all the heat.

Josephine
I've had some very interesting interactions with Estate Agents. Good and bad. I'm OK about losing the Ebay bid - just found it all too stressful regardless of losing at the last minute. Just don't think I'd do that again for someone else. And yes - I did get your email! I've been out all day.

Elmer Quigley Gooseburger
Dearest EQ, You really are being quite pedantic in a challenging yet delightful way. I wouldn't mind locking pens with you .... would be kinda fun! ;-)

Jane
We have found the house we want to buy .... it would be nerve wracking to put it mildly if we didn't secure it but to do that we want to have secured our sale. It is all a bit much..... but wonderful when it all works out.

Chandira said...

Ah, good luck with it all!! Yes, I recommend letting husbands do all that. Thankfully last time we were in the great position of a) havieng a good friend as aour real estate agent, and b) not having to sell the place we were living in first. It is totally stressful!! But SOOO much fun when it's all over, and you get your offer accepted on the house you fell in love with.

Never been anywhere near Ebay. Not on your life..