2 years ago - to this very date - Alun and I were struggling. Big time. We had put an offer in on a house we both really, really liked. The house was small but had a lot of promise and was on a big plot of land that invited change for the better. We were both so excited at first, but within 2 or 3 days of signing the contract, things had all gone to poo.
The sellers had 'changed their minds', changed the contract and were bullying us.
What followed was months of heartache and confusion. Alun and I didn't know which way was up anymore. We were being jipped every way we turned and there didn't seem to be a way out. It was a horrible, dark, sad, scary, disappointing time and I hope we never 'go there' again.
But here's the good that came from it:
Alun uncharacteristically fell apart. He is a strong, kind, generous, intelligent man but these guys pushed so hard and so forcefully that Al was undone.
BUT THAT'S WHERE I STEPPED UP.
Surprising Alun and myself, I found out what I'm made of - and it's some damn tough stuff. I got us a new kick-ass lawyer, fought the sellers on everything they wanted to get away with and eventually (omg it took nearly everything we had to do it) got the House Sale legally terminated so that we were free of that HUGE burden.
Al and I are a team - no matter what. When hard times came at us (and boy, did they!) we don't turn on each other, we hold fast together! And that's pretty awesome.
Now here we are 2 exact years later - and our offer on a beautiful home has once again been accepted.
This time, we ran it by our Lawyer FIRST before signing the contract. Once Maurice was satisfied with things, THEN we moved forward. We're dealing with different Real Estate agents this time - from a company that seems a lot more honest and transparent than that last lot of idiots. We are going to pick our own Settlement Agents and have our own Mortgage Broker - one invested in our best interests and not in making a good commission. Instead of paying $15,000.00 (ARGGHHHH) as a 'we're interested' deposit on the house, we only put down $5000.00 - which is backed up by a legal guarantee from the Real Estate Company - to be returned within 5 working days if anything were to go wrong. We also set our own conditions when it came to the Contract - making sure everything was above board and ENSURING we could MOVE IN to the home and that there would be no surprises or changes in the contract.
This feels so much better, you guys.
SO. MUCH. BETTER.
This home is smaller, older and about $100K (omg) more expensive...but this sale has had God's peace, blessing and favour all over it from day one. When we attended the 2nd viewing last week, Alun was nervous. You could see doubt and fear on his suddenly pale face. When Alun is scared, he stops talking (Funny, because I do the opposite) and on our short walk from the car to the front door of the house, Al didn't say a word.
He did, however - look up.
And he saw a Dragon on the roof.
As a Welshman, that meant the entire world to him.
Worry disappeared from his face and his gorgeous, bright smile lit up immediately. Alun pointed to it and laughed - "Janet! It's a sign!"
And I guess it was...because less than 24 hours after we'd put in our offer, we were accepted.
God is giving us another chance.
This is a leap of faith because:
* It costs so much more this time. It is going to literally cost us everything we've got to own this home.
* It's a smaller house so we're going to have to give away a lot of what we've bought over the years because it simply won't fit inside.
* I only have 5 more days of work left...then nothing. We are literally trusting in God for our finance for this house because until I get a job (God willing it isn't long - I've been applying for jobs like a mad thing in the last 8 weeks), the payments are squarely on Alun's shoulders. That's a lot of pressure for just one person.
So we don't know what's going to happen in the future with this house. We don't know if we can afford it! We don't know how to move from where we're renting right now to a home we will eventually own.
Did I also tell you that Al and I are GOING AWAY ON HOLIDAY in a few weeks? When really, we should be moving house???
Yep.
Makes me smile because I think that's something Alun and I do as a team - we do nothing or WE DO EVERYTHING. There doesn't seem to be an in-between.
So we have less than 3 weeks to get everything together.
We have less than 3 weeks to get our Finances together for our new home, to sort out the deposit, to meet with the building inspector and get the house properly looked at to ensure the infrastructure is sound, less than 3 weeks to go through everything we own, throw out rubbish (Al says we have to be "ruthless" as we both like to keep everything), give away nice things that just won't fit in our home, and pack the things we are taking with us, less than 3 weeks to move it all into the new place, to get new keys fitted, to sort out transport (how will I get to personal training now???), and in all of that, we'll also need to organise travel insurance, change our Aussie dollars to Thai baht...and go away to Phuket together for a week.
God help us.
The sellers had 'changed their minds', changed the contract and were bullying us.
What followed was months of heartache and confusion. Alun and I didn't know which way was up anymore. We were being jipped every way we turned and there didn't seem to be a way out. It was a horrible, dark, sad, scary, disappointing time and I hope we never 'go there' again.
But here's the good that came from it:
Alun uncharacteristically fell apart. He is a strong, kind, generous, intelligent man but these guys pushed so hard and so forcefully that Al was undone.
BUT THAT'S WHERE I STEPPED UP.
Surprising Alun and myself, I found out what I'm made of - and it's some damn tough stuff. I got us a new kick-ass lawyer, fought the sellers on everything they wanted to get away with and eventually (omg it took nearly everything we had to do it) got the House Sale legally terminated so that we were free of that HUGE burden.
Al and I are a team - no matter what. When hard times came at us (and boy, did they!) we don't turn on each other, we hold fast together! And that's pretty awesome.
Now here we are 2 exact years later - and our offer on a beautiful home has once again been accepted.
This time, we ran it by our Lawyer FIRST before signing the contract. Once Maurice was satisfied with things, THEN we moved forward. We're dealing with different Real Estate agents this time - from a company that seems a lot more honest and transparent than that last lot of idiots. We are going to pick our own Settlement Agents and have our own Mortgage Broker - one invested in our best interests and not in making a good commission. Instead of paying $15,000.00 (ARGGHHHH) as a 'we're interested' deposit on the house, we only put down $5000.00 - which is backed up by a legal guarantee from the Real Estate Company - to be returned within 5 working days if anything were to go wrong. We also set our own conditions when it came to the Contract - making sure everything was above board and ENSURING we could MOVE IN to the home and that there would be no surprises or changes in the contract.
This feels so much better, you guys.
SO. MUCH. BETTER.
This home is smaller, older and about $100K (omg) more expensive...but this sale has had God's peace, blessing and favour all over it from day one. When we attended the 2nd viewing last week, Alun was nervous. You could see doubt and fear on his suddenly pale face. When Alun is scared, he stops talking (Funny, because I do the opposite) and on our short walk from the car to the front door of the house, Al didn't say a word.
He did, however - look up.
And he saw a Dragon on the roof.
As a Welshman, that meant the entire world to him.
Worry disappeared from his face and his gorgeous, bright smile lit up immediately. Alun pointed to it and laughed - "Janet! It's a sign!"
And I guess it was...because less than 24 hours after we'd put in our offer, we were accepted.
God is giving us another chance.
This is a leap of faith because:
* It costs so much more this time. It is going to literally cost us everything we've got to own this home.
* It's a smaller house so we're going to have to give away a lot of what we've bought over the years because it simply won't fit inside.
* I only have 5 more days of work left...then nothing. We are literally trusting in God for our finance for this house because until I get a job (God willing it isn't long - I've been applying for jobs like a mad thing in the last 8 weeks), the payments are squarely on Alun's shoulders. That's a lot of pressure for just one person.
So we don't know what's going to happen in the future with this house. We don't know if we can afford it! We don't know how to move from where we're renting right now to a home we will eventually own.
Did I also tell you that Al and I are GOING AWAY ON HOLIDAY in a few weeks? When really, we should be moving house???
Yep.
Makes me smile because I think that's something Alun and I do as a team - we do nothing or WE DO EVERYTHING. There doesn't seem to be an in-between.
So we have less than 3 weeks to get everything together.
We have less than 3 weeks to get our Finances together for our new home, to sort out the deposit, to meet with the building inspector and get the house properly looked at to ensure the infrastructure is sound, less than 3 weeks to go through everything we own, throw out rubbish (Al says we have to be "ruthless" as we both like to keep everything), give away nice things that just won't fit in our home, and pack the things we are taking with us, less than 3 weeks to move it all into the new place, to get new keys fitted, to sort out transport (how will I get to personal training now???), and in all of that, we'll also need to organise travel insurance, change our Aussie dollars to Thai baht...and go away to Phuket together for a week.
God help us.
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