Under offer… almost sold
Next Wed arvo we are off to our Solicitor to sign the contract of sale on our house. I met with the “buyers” last Friday and negotiated the final details, before handing it over to the legal people this week. We have a price agreed and a date for the final settlement of 4 October. It turned out a longer settlement suited us both, we needed the time for our shed to be up and they didn’t want to move before the end of the school term. This means we really need to move out to Carwoola on 29/30 September! Get building Peter - we have a firm deadline now (that is all under control thanks to Hugh).
I didn’t blog about the offer before because the reality was still sinking in, and I guess I didnt want to jinx things.
All in all I am pretty happy with the way I managed things. Murphys law said that Hugh would be overseas when it all happened. But Hugh being on the other side of the world was surprisingly more positive than I thought because being in different time zones meant I was forced to be more considered in the decision making process, getting my ideas straight and summarised before we discussed things.
I also spent quite a lot of time discussing negotiations with our friend Christopher. My friend Michael at work was great on the advice too. It pays to have positive people who believe in you and are happy to spend time sharing their knowledge. I was not confident at the start but wanted to prove to myself I could do this.
I am very glad I followed my instinct. Overall I have managed to reduce our advertising costs to $600 for internet advertising, $40 for the newspaper and $80 for a Private sale sign. This is a hell of a lot cheaper than all of the “advertising packages” that the real estate agents were proposing (starting price $1,200 most round $2-3K. Then there is the commission part, its been pretty good knowing that I have saved us paying thousands of dollars. Someone asked me what I was going to spend my commission on. Hummm I hear that it might be good to invest in land at Carwoola.
And the best bit is … now I can stop cleaning and tidying up like a mad woman for a little while.
What I have learnt in the last few weeks:
I can research and learn about things that I never understood before.
Im not afraid to ask hard questions of total strangers.
Im not afraid to ask for help from my friends when Im lacking in confidence.
Homestyling exists (google it) and does help people imagine their stuff in your space.
I quite like living in a decluttered house.
Flowers are cheap at Aldi for when the house is being shown.
I like having flowers and will still just get them for no particular reason in the future.
You can get a for sale sign made in 12 hours for $80
Some people believe in you whatever you are doing and celebrate your wins, others never will.
Cats calm you down a lot when you are stressed.
My mother loves me so much that she minds not only my child but my kitten, for sleepovers!