At the start of the year (as I’ve blogged before) we were in the sticky situation of owning 2 houses, but living in neither. They were the properties that Jane and I owned before we married, but been unable to sell due to the crappy housing market.
So we rented them both out and used the money we were making to rent a place big enough for our new little family. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but over the months we realised we were effectively stuck: reliant on the money we were making on the renting and never able to afford to buy a family house for ourselves.
So early this year we grasped the nettle and put both our places back on the market. Incredibly, almost miraculously, both our properties sold within days of being available. It took a while for all the necessary legal stuff to happen, but a couple of weeks ago Jane’s sale went through and we were finally houseless.
This is a great weight off my mind: it means no sudden out-of-the-blue demands for us (as landlords) to fix expensive faults in 2 properties. Getting a bill for a £600 heater you’re never even going to use can take the shine off Christmas a little.
So we’re houseless, but not homeless. We’re still living in rented accommodation, trying to stop Tom from destroying the place. The builders seem to be throwing up the house we’re moving into in next to no time. Unfortunately their legal people aren’t as nippy, they still haven’t sent our solicitor a contract yet.
But all things being well we should be moved in by the end of August. Hopefully before the little bundle of joy turns up, but that’s all a bit up in the air at the moment.
It does mean we can start properly planning though. The other day we met with the sales agent for the house and chose things like carpets and kitchen designs, we’re finally going to get that dishwasher that Jane’s mum promised us as a wedding present!
Speaking of kitchen stuff, the Fairy Hobmother from Appliances Online visited me and promised a £25 Amazon voucher if I gave them a plug. So consider them shamelessly plugged!
And speaking of appliances, our little Washing Machine Inspector turned two yesterday, and Jane wrote a really nice blog post about him.
