So we are moving home... after living with Megan (in her flat) for the past 18 months we have made the decision to sell up and move into a bigger place... a house.
Now... that's great news, obviously. However, as anyone who has ever been through the process will surely know, buying/selling houses is a minefield of pitfalls, heartbreaks and anger management sessions.
The first problem is marketing the property you are selling. Which agent do you use? Well, you have to consider the market you are selling to, the price range and the relative costs involved with different agents. We opted for Red Homes, who are an internet and paper advert only agent. They have no office, therefore overheads are low and they can offer a rate of 0.75%, which is great! Considering the flat is a first time buyer type property and a value of £127,500 is low, we thought internet (rightmove.co.uk) and the local paper would be enough.
That hasn't quite proven to be the case. We marketed the flat half way through January. Between then and now, two other flats in the same block have been on with two other agents (Underhill and Haart) and both sold... one of them sold the day it went on the market. Now, that seems to suggest we are in a popular location. Also, knowing that one of the flats that sold was in a right state and needed massive modernisation AND was £7000 more expensive... we rightly feel that we should have sold by now. So we are in the process of switching agents.
Second is finding the place you want. This has two main areas of contention. One is what both Megan and I want and how those two ideals don't marry up into a nice compromise most of the time. Megan wants a big garden (or decent garden) which must be south-facing to get the best of the sun. I want a nice kitchen and big lounge. So far we have found a handful of properties that fit both bills, but they've been snaffled up in the meantime cos we've not been able to make an offer. Or we have found properties that one or other of us are keen on, but can't make compromises on.
We are also seriously interested in a new build property in Crediton, which looks great. It is all fitted in a lovely contemporary style, great kitchen, big lounge, nice garden, garage, off road parking and up to 4 bedrooms (one of which would be my boys room of course). This would be target #1, except we really need an offer on the flat before we can make an offer on the new build.
So... it's now a two week countdown until we can switch agents and hope for a swift sale. Fingers and toes are firmly crossed.
