First couple of weeks in June ..... Ohh and did we mention a new home

Friday 5th we were back to Peppa’s for supper with Chris and Claire, I did desert, Peppa did chilli and rice and Claire quesadillas, again it was a lovely night, we had a good laugh and put the world to rights.

Saturday we did some shopping, then I made dessert to take to Sally’s house warming party, we also had a house to see at 4 o clock, it was lovely, right location, huge garden, perfect location, but just not big enough for us and our visitors, it has potential for an extension, and we would still have room for a pool and a garden, but until we sell we couldn’t afford an extension or a pool. We are seeing another one on Tuesday at 4, we will see what happens with that one, it’s got 5 beds already and sounds to have enough space, but we need to have a look inside to see if the layout suits us, I am also not 100% sure about the location, but at the moment it would appear to tick 95% of the boxes, so fingers crossed. That evening was Sally and Nics house warming party, they have had one built and it is BEAUTIFUL, 5 beds, 3 living areas and a study, it would be perfect for us. I am really pleased for them, envious too as I would love to build and we will one day. It was a great party, usual crew and a couple of others we haven’t seen for a while so it was good to catch up with them.

Sunday was shopping again, one of the butchers in Mornington is doing some specials on chicken breasts, we then went and had a look at some furniture shops, when we do move we are going to need some other bits of furniture, so this was just to give us an idea of who sold what and who is likely to have the best deals. We also called at the video shop and rented 3 movies for that night.

Monday was a public holiday for the Queen’s birthday, we had promised Tom an office chair for the study so we had a drive into Frankston, and had a look round for one there, but ended up back in Mornington at Office Works.

Then it was back to work, we were meant to be seeing a house on Tuesday evening, but that viewing was cancelled, we than had 3 to see on Thursday evening, the same one as Tuesday cancelled again, personally I think it’s an omen, the house wasn’t exactly what we wanted, nor in the right location. The first one we saw wasn’t right either, and really needed some work, but the second one, well its perfect, it’s not very big at all, but has 4 bedrooms, the potential for a 5th, 2 living areas and is a nice single story on a big block and only 4 years old. It’s not cheap, but nothing is when you live this close to the beach and on the Peninsular.

Friday morning I dropped Jason in Mornington to go to the estate agent to make an offer, my job was cancelled so I was able to go too, perhaps this is a positive omen, so we paid our $500.00 initial deposit and signed a legally binding sale contract. We then had to wait until the estate agent saw the vendors at 5 o clock to see if they would accept our offer. The house is on the market at $630,000+, we offered $635,000, the agent was very good, he said that usually the first offer is the best one, but that ours is just “shy” of what they were wanting.

Hopefully the agent will point out all the houses who have had to reduce their prices recently because they haven’t sold, and get them to just accept the bit extra they were wanting. We told him about the house on Avery Court, the asking price was $650,000, we put in a verbal offer of $625,000, they told us they would accept $635,000, we told them not from us as the house needed too much work, after a few days they rang back and said they would accept our $625,000, but by then we had changed our minds, that house is still on the market and has been reduced to $600,000, so you see being clever and greedy doesn’t always pay off.

Well Friday evening came and went and no call from the EA. Jason was having a night out at our local TAB, has to be seen to be believed, but it’s within walking distance of Pep and Owens, with Owen and Mic and I had a few hours with Peppa, speculating what they might say about our offer and putting the world to rights.

Saturday we were awake early, waiting for the phone to ring, it eventually did about 10.15, it was a very long wait, the estate agent said that he hadn’t seen them Friday evening, but only that morning and they would let us know later that day. So what to do to kill the time . . . . I had been invited to go on a horse riding vineyard tour and also just a lunch and a wine tasting with another group of friends, I had declined both earlier in the week as I didn’t want to miss any new open houses, I suppose I could have un-declined one of the invites but wanted to be with Jason when he received the call. So we went to a land auction, it wa land I had been watching, over 2000 squares, but too far out for Jason to travel to the CBD. I have always wanted to go to an auction, it was just like you see on TV, nothing interesting, just cold stood on the block of land they were selling. It was funny though waiting for the first bid, it seemed like ages, anyhow the land eventually went for $390,000, bidding started at $340,000, definitely a good buy. We will be watching with interest what house they build.

It was then on to Bunnings, (B&Q), when Jason was trying to sort out the heating he had broken the loft hatch, so needed to look for a replacement. We then picked up some bits from Coles and back home, via Hayley and Pauls, we haven’t seen them for ages, it was lovely to have a quick catch up and we need to agree a date to see them soon, once home I cooked French onion soup and toad in the hole with balsamic onion gravy and mash, it was yummy.

By this time, we were pulling out hair out, I was ready to commit murder, if they are going to say no, just say it, please, and hurry up!!!! We eventually received a call from the estate agent who advised that they were still thinking about our offer ..... WHAT ????????????????, they can’t do this to us. He said that he felt it was positive that they still hadn’t rejected, but did say it was likely to be later on the Sunday when we heard from them, NOOOOOOO.

So we had a quiet Saturday night, the first one in a few weeks, to be honest it was lovely, we had a few glasses of wine and watched a movie before bed, but we didn’t sleep, well how could we.

Sunday we knew we would be up early, thankfully it was the Mornington Racecourse market so we wrapped ourselves up and headed over there for a wander in the winter sun, we had arranged to meet Peppa and Owen and had a lovely couple of hours, too lovely really as we got into sampling all the alcohol, not such a good idea for a Sunday morning, it was a little early perhaps. Peppa and I tried a strawberry liquor which was very like a strawberry baileys, it was delicious but at $22,00 for a small bottle a bit expensive, so we agreed to go halves and drink it that day between us. Not to be outdone Jason and Owen bought a white port, but it was more like a dessert wine than port it was lovely.

So having finished at the market we came home and packed up our Sunday lunch food and headed over to Peppa’s. We had a lovely, drunken, stressful afternoon waiting to hear from the ea while cooking and chatting and drinking. At 6 o clock, enough was enough, Jason rang the EA, if he could physically have got hold of him he would have killed him, he was furious. Apparently they were still deciding, but he hadn’t thought to give us a call and let us know, like he has said he would do.

Monday morning was up and to work as usual and still waiting to hear.

We decided that enough was enough and gave them until 6 that night then we would withdraw our offer, now this is where it got interesting.

The EA rang Jason at about 2 o clock and said they wanted $645,000, Jason wished them luck and said we would walk away and we were not prepared to pay this for that house, the EA backtracked and said that he thought they would accept $640,000, Jason had a real go at him and reminded him that he had said initially that we were not prepared to play games and that the initial offer was our one and only offer, the EA sweet talked him and Jason said he would speak to me and ring him back.

To be honest this is more or less a 100% mortgage so what is an extra $5,000 in the scheme of things, so we agreed, but Jason was very explicit that we would not be moving from this $640,000 price. The EA explained that the vendors were split in their decision, the man was happy to accept our $635,000 offer and but the woman was wanting more (typical really), Jason said that this was out final offer and they only had until 6 o clock that evening to decide or we would walk and withdraw our offer as were sick of being messed about.

The EA said he would ring back in 30 mins. Guess what ..... he didn’t, Jason had to ring him, the EA then announced that they wanted an extra $2.500, Jason lost it and I mean lost it, told him that they were all taking the p*ss. Our offer of $640,000 was on the table until 6 that evening, or we were withdrawing and walking away.

Jason and I had to call at the supermarket, milk, bread the usual bits, we got back just before 6, the kids all asked straight away if we had heard anything, just as each of them had done when they had come in from school.

At this point enough was enough, I calledthe kids together and told them that we had offered more money for the house, but the sellers wanted more and we couldn’t afford to go that extra, as I was telling them this Jason was typing a text to the EA telling them that we were officially withdrawing and would call into the office after 10 the next morning to pick up our deposit.

I was just finishing telling the kids and Jason about to press the send button and bang on 6 o clock the phone went, it was the EA, we had the house at $640,000 and he would be round that night to get everyone to sign the contracts.

After hugs, tears, Skype with mum and dad, and a few texts and calls, we signed contracts, so in approx 90 days we will move into this house and can’t wait :-

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=105804794&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=51156274&s=vic&snf=rbs&tm=1245162487