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Will we ever get to France?


ali-cat

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Our buyer is messing us about so much at the moment - I just had to get this off my chest!  Aaaaggghhhhh!!

He told us his house was sold & he could move anytime - now we have discovered that he has only JUST got the deeds to his own house & his solicitor hasn't yet drawn up the contract for the sale of his house. [:@] We were supposed to sign contracts at the end of May & move at the end of June - the dates keep getting pushed back further & further. 

We asked for at least 3 weeks between signing & completion date, as there is so much to organise (selling car, arranging flights for us & the cats, informing dhss, furniture removals & part-deliveries .....  the list goes on!!).  Does this seem unreasonable - as he can't seem to grasp how necessary this time is, to us?!! 

We feel as if we are in limbo - either sitting by the phone waiting for word or ringing the estate agent/solicitor to see if anythings changed.  It's really getting me down. [:(]

Well,  I guess I just wanted to vent some frustration (sorry, folks) - just hope he gets his diget removed very soon & things start moving (including us!!).

 

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Your stress is really obvious, I remember similar feelings....doctors advice, take a chill pill and wash it down with a litre of Chablis.....you can't change what is going to happen, channel the energy into positive stuff and not into beating yourself up!

Chris

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I really empathise Ali.  It must be like living in limbo land.  Take heart, things only run smoothly for the very few. All of a sudden everything will fall into place and you will be off living your dream [:D]
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Ali - similar delays happened to us.  We too were a bit frantic.  In the end, as Pip said, it all worked out fine.

Try not to worry, even if things get delayed a bit again.  I'm sure you will be here very soon.

Happy packing !

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And remember that a house sale may be frustrating, irritating and lead you to believe all buyers are downright liars... but generally, none of these things are life-threatening, the move will happen and a month either way may feel like a disaster... but it won't be. You could always arrange for one of you to stay behind to tie up loose ends like selling the car. There's a way around everything, it just may not be the "way" you originally envisaged and it may be a more creative way than you originally envisaged. [:)]

(... says Ms Smug here who sold by auction... [:-))])

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[quote user="catalpa"]

(... says Ms Smug here who sold by auction... [:-))])

[/quote]

 

We've been wondering about going down this route, as a way of avoiding delays and being secure in our plans. How did you find it? Did you have an unusual property? I hesitate to ask whether you got more or less than you hoped for, but were you pleased with the end result? Do share your experiences.

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We actually agreed to sell the car on Tuesday night & she's being picked up on Saturday (sniff, sobb).  Love the car & will hate to see her go (sniff, sobb, again!).  But it's all for a good cause - as long as the guy dosen't arrive for her during the England match!!!!

My wee car!!

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e332/Livingstone_Mark/AlfaSquier002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

(Didn't mean for the photo to be soooooo big - but don't know how to make it smaller!!)

 

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KathyC:

It's only a realistic route if you have a property that is unusual, desirable and isn't straightforward to value in that there are not many - or any - local properties against which to benchmark it. The house must be immaculate before it goes on the market, the marketing and viewing period is 4 - 6 weeks. We did all our own viewings - 20 different people over 5 weeks with some coming back an additional 3 or 4 times with various family members. No one had a survey done pre-auction and we know 5 couples / families were intending to bid on the night. The marketing is absolutely key to achieving a good price so find yourself a good agent with a track record of auction sales achieving more than the guide price - providing the guide prices were realistic and not pitched artificially low.We got 20% over the guide price by going the auction route and I do not believe that a conventional sale would have delivered that increase even if we'd had a best bids by situation.

If you go the auction route, I guarantee the 5 minutes of bidding will probably be the most intense of your life so practice a "calm and serene" expression in the mirror in advance. Or drink half a bottle of wine immediately beforehand.

If you want more info - how we went about it, guide price vs reserve price, what needs to be in place beforehand, PM me so we don't further hijack Ali's thread. [:$]

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Ali, I love your GTV.  Is it the 3 litre version?  That will be my next car.  Anyway when you finally get to France you will look back at the headache and laugh.  As Bruce Springsteen said, when we look back all this will seem funny.  Keep us informed.
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[quote]As Bruce Springsteen said, when we look back all this will seem funny.  Keep us informed.[/quote]

Name dropper ! When did he tell you that ? Twinks said it was her he

said it to and she is the better singer out of you

two.....................

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Right! Ali I am so delighted for you angel - see it all worked out, I bet you're so excited.  Can we now stop talking about cars and football and all be real girls again?

 I'm going to start a party thread in the lounge.  There will be a theme and everyone's invited but you have to dress up!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wish you well with your hunt ali, we had a great time hunting for ours , I booked 2 solid weeks of estate agents and private sellers, some really nice people and some down right greasy ones. we saw 46 houses and ended up buying the 2nd house we saw with the first estate agent on the first day, oh for the power of hindsight, we could of spent the rest of the 2 weeks shopping pahhh..........but it was the best 2 weeks i have ever had, we had so much fun. only 7 weeks till we get our keys . fingers crossed as long as all the problems our estate agent keeps telling us about (thens tells us not to worry he will sort it) (why tell us in the first place)sort them selves out.

have you sorted out internet access for your rental house so you can keep us all imformed ?[:)]

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The owners (& a lovely couple they are!!) have set the internet access up for us - so we should be on-line as soon as we arrive.  I'll reappear with a post entitled "The Cat is Back"!!  Any comments, of a derogatory nature, regarding the title or referring it to me, will be dealt with, severely!!  [:-))]
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[quote user="KatieKopyKat"]Pads and Ali, with cats and dogs.  What are are you going to Pads?[/quote]

Sorry dont understand  What am i going to.............?

mind you i have just woken up after a night shift

 

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Ah

We are going to Pradelles Cabardes which is in the Montage Noir, somewhere north of Carcassonne. Its a loverly village next to a lake. and I cant wait....................I have a big picture on the wall giving me the will power to do all the overtime im doing at the moment to save up for all the things i want to bye for the house when im out there, but its so hard, still at least its night shifts so i can wear my i pod with all my teach your self french cds on. only 7 weeks( im sure i have been saying that for weeks)

take care[:D]

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