You know whats coming with a topic title like that, dont you?
YES!!! The time has finally arrived!!! And what a whirlwind these past couple of weeks have been. I havent wanted to say anything just incase it didnt work out and believe me, it very nearly didnt. But things are on the home streach now and I feel JUST about comfortable enough to let you all know the good news.
Martin and I have handed in our resignations, we have reserved our tickets and the space for the cats, we are sending our change of address cards, he have found tenants for our house, and we expect to be moving on October 21st (My mom's birthday and 1 year to the day Martin had his interview in London)!!!!
After a truly devastating time trying to sell our house, which has been on the market since March, we basically lost all hope and decided that the 365 days away from the US mark was getting way too close for comfort. We put the house up for rent and left it on the market while we were looking for tenants.
The first two appointments to show people around the house as a rental didnt even happen. It was the same couple and they couldnt even be bothered to show... TWICE. Things were looking down.
The next viewing was done by the agent several days later (the first people to actually LOOK at the house) and the deal was done. They passed their credit check, signed the contracts, and handed in their notice to their current landlord the other day. They LOVE the house and have said to the agent that they might eventually like to buy it if it were up for sale. They so far have a 6 month contract though they hope to be long term tenants.
We dont know much else about them but will be meeting them very soon. They've even been round to measure up for curtains and wanted to know the length of the alcoves in one of the rooms so they could go and buy furniture! We're renting the house out furnished so we dont have to move or sell all of our stuff, but yet they still want to buy their own rather than us provide the basics for the bedrooms. I think thats a good sign!
Martin and I both handed in our notice a week ago. My last day is on the 24th of September and Martin gets out on 8th October!! We called BA to book the tickets today but all I could do was reserve them because they have to clear the request for the space the cats will take up in cargo before we can pay for the tickets. They said to call again on Saturday and pay for the tickets if the space was allocated.
The kitties have their wooden kennel (one kennel, two compartments, wire mesh divide so they cant fight) and they've already been sleeping in it! They've only had it since Tuesday! I think theyre saying "Hey Mom, its time to go! Lets go! Get my ticket! Come on come on! I have puppies to badger!" They go in on Saturday morning for their boosters.
The tenants want to move in on Oct 22 or 23. It will probably be 23. The rental income less the fee for the agent will be just enough to cover the mortage and insurance. We have EXTENSIVE debts that we'll still be responsible for but thats ok. Ive set aside some cash to get us through the first couple of jobless months. My parents have great Networking Skillz and should hopefully help us find jobs pretty quickly so we dont have to worry about paying for all our loans here.
We'll be staying with mom for a while - probably until we sell the house. Its a large 5 bed house with plenty of room for us all to live without stepping on eachothers toes. I just cant wait! I'll get to go and play golf and eat ice cream with my step-dad again! I'll actually be a 4 hour flight from my grandparents door to door rather than nigh on 20! I'LL GET TO VOTE - IN PERSON - IN THE GENERAL ELECTION!!
Renting wasnt exactly our first hope but the sale market has just plummetted for us sellers. Our current asking price would have left us 4k short of our deposit when we bought the place. Its better than nothing but our house has doubled in value which means it could have been a lot better! So when we decided to rent we knew the implications and because we just want (and need) to GO already it was a good option.
The funny (and nightmare) part of the story came on this Monday when just as I slipped a letter into the post box addressed to our estate agent asking them to stop marketing the house because it was nolonger for sale, Martin called me and said the estate agent had just called to arrange a viewing that night! We thought hell, they wont want it anyway so why not.
Of course as fate would have it, they LOVED IT. I dont mean they LOVED it - it was PERFECT. The next day the offered 2k bellow the asking price and we held out. They came back a bit later and offered the full asking price! Can you believe it! After all this damn time! And martin and I had already handed in our notice because we were, that day, on the verge of signing contracts with the tenants. It was that very monday they had been around to measure for curtains!
Martin and I mulled over the decision for ages. The couple that offered on the house had only just put their house on the market. They said the agent told them it would be a fast seller. I knew full well it was unlikely - we too were told our beautiful (gardenless) house would be a fast seller and 6 months later ... well. Lets just say I doubted they could sell their house fast enough for us. We had the light at the end of the tunnel in sight and it was very difficult to give that up, even if it was an offer for the full asking price.
We eventually turned the offer down and said we would enter into the rental contract which would last 6 months from the end of October. It would be on the market for sale the entire time and once they got closer to closing on their own house they were free to offer on ours if they still wanted it knowing full well what the next move in date would be. We know we may not find another offer like that in a very long time, but it was impossible for us to accept the offer and still go to the USA. The mortage would have to be paid as well as the debt and utilities etc, as well as our US expenses. The risk of squaters was a reality if we vacated the house. We couldnt stay either because if we did martin would surely loose his green card.
We're very happy with the rental agreement and it'll be really nice to keep an asset in the UK for a while. We just cant wait to move!!! The movers will probably come around Oct 15. Until then its a mad rush to get rid of stuff we dont want and tidy all our business up!
All I can say is...
FINALLY!!!
