Well, well, well, dear reader.
After the last couple of instalments, did you think we’d ever get there? What, with the Taylor Wimpey Sagas, losing out on the house we put an offer in on and adored, it felt like securing a house was an impossible feat.
Admittedly though, we were VERY early days in our actual search – our house hadn’t actually been on the market that long, and we were in the process of viewings, so we figured we were still in a relatively fortunate position. Were we close to our lucky break?
Let me pick up where I left off…
nEW kID ON THE bLOCK
7 days after we lost out to TWO possible homes with Taylor Wimpey, 3 days after we lost out on the home we offered on that we LOVED, we were doing our usual routine, working, scrolling on Rightmove, and arranging viewings, when I received a phone call.
I am somebody who never answers their phone because I can’t deal with sales calls, but with this whole selling and buying a house business, I have to answer because all the numbers I don’t recognize could be somebody important.
So I pick up a call, and this guy is like “Hiya, it’s Will from X developer” (I’m leaving the developer out until we complete as CBA with horror stories and people trying to put me off them LOL). I’m like … which one’s this?! Can’t remember at all, I’ve rung so many. My head was really fuzzy at this point.
He proceeds to tell me that he picked up the voicemail I’d sent previously enquiring about one of the houses on his development, one in the town we’ve had our eye on for a while – the town where we lost out on the Taylor Wimpey development I mentioned previously.
He explains that the building of the particular house I enquired about has been delayed due to COVID, so many of the people on the waiting list were waiting for so long that they have since found somewhere. Unlike Taylor Wimpey, this particular developer operates on a waiting list basis, and he is working his way through the list but is almost at the end of it. And if nobody takes it, the house I enquired about IS available.
I began to remember.
We had driven around this particular development and loved it, but I had left a half-hearted voicemail fully expecting the only 4-bed house showing on their website to be sold, and was merely going through a formality by calling to enquire. This is what happens – the houses stay on their website for a while even though they’re reserved, so I honestly didn’t think about it again after I left that voicemail.
But it was available.
And the guy was calling ME back.
Could it Be?!
I’m on the phone, and the guy is lovely, telling me all about the house, why it’s been delayed and basically what happens next if nobody else wants it. James was working from home this particular day and happened to come upstairs as I was on the phone, so I frantically waved to him to STOP and STAY right where he was. There could be POSITIVE news for a change! (and yes – dramatic much, “for a change” but let me tell you – the start to 2022 has honestly been the single biggest shit show imaginable, there has been a lot more going on than I’ve been sharing and it’s been pretty fucking rough. It felt like good news was very much overdue).
Will tells me that he is working his way through the remaining waiting list, but if nobody on the waiting list wants it he would be happy to consider us. He asked our position, I explained we have accepted an offer on our house and are frantically searching for one, and he was pleased with that. He said that he will know by the end of day tomorrow (Saturday) whether anybody is taking it, and if not, could we get to a show home on Sunday? We need to see a show home before we can realistically reserve a property.
RESERVE. A. PROPERTY.
RESERVE. A. PROPERTY!!!!!!!!
My head had fallen off by this point. I was like, “Will, can I just clarify what you mean. When you say RESERVE…” he was like “yeah, you visit the show home, if you want it, you pay £500 reservation fee and we start the ball rolling. It’s yours…”
I was beside myself.
Trying not to cry, hyperventilate, scream, cry some more, or pass out, I kept my cool and told Will I would wait eagerly for his call the following day. We had multiple viewings arranged on the Saturday but I advised him that he was my priority and that I would keep my phone on me at all times and wait for his call.
The Other Options
I feel like the viewings needs its own whole post, but I’ll keep it brief.
We had about 15 viewings booked for the following week, starting on this particular day (Saturday 12th March) with two of them. One of the houses was a real contender, it was a nice surprise and quite different to the images and virtual tour. It needed a bit of work but we got a good feel for it and were very much considering it if Will wasn’t to pull through.
The second viewing, I struggle to find the words to describe. The house was at the very top of our budget and there were minimal photos on Rightmove, all of which seemed pretty decent. Upon arrival at the house we realised we had been sold a complete LIE. The house was GRIM. It was at the top of our budget and needed around £50k spending on it just to make it habitable. The house was FILTHY, falling apart and there was slug juice and mouse droppings pretty much in every room as well as a very ominous stain on the living room carpet. I am someone who is very in-tune, and I swear the house felt SAD. Like even with all the money in the world spending on it, it felt SAD. And possibly haunted. Maybe by a really sad ghost.
We practically sprinted out of that second viewing and still awaiting a call from Will, we decided to have a drive over to the town – which was only about 15 minutes from the viewing we were at – and decided to have another look at Will’s development. We had already explored the house on offer and knew we wanted it.
The Dream
We drove around the development, telling ourselves not to get excited but simultaneously feeling a sense of hope, excitement and anticipation for Will’s call. Could this be our forever home? Could we really be this lucky?
As we drove onto the development, my phone rang and mid-scream I asked James to pull over next to a beautiful little pond. Surely the universe wouldn’t allow him to deliver bad news in such a tranquil setting?
We fully expected Will to tell us that somebody had taken the house.
I picked up the phone, not telling him we were around the corner from his office because I thought he might think we were a bit weird, when he told me that nobody had taken the house and if we wanted it, it could be ours, providing we got to the show home tomorrow.
I told him it would be our priority to be at the show home tomorrow, what time does it open? Can we go NOW? What happens after the show home if we like it? The deal was as he’d previously said; if we like it, we can call him, pay the £500 reservation fee and the house is ours. We would finalise it officially next week but it would show we’re interested and they would stop marketing it. It would stay on the website until we OFFICIALLY reserve it a week later, but it would mean that nobody else could view it or reserve it. The only show home for this particular house was on a different site, just over an hour away, but I told him I’d have gone to Scotland if it meant we had a shot at this home.
That night, we were ecstatic. And the next day, at 10am on the dot, off we went on the hour plus journey to visit the show home.
To be continued…
Reflect and Introspect 
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