So here’s the story that I’ve kept close to my breast for a bit…

As you may recall, we were gazundered by our buyer.  He had made offer X, which we accepted, and then just one week before we were meant to exchange contracts, he offered X minus £12,000 - supposedly due to the market.

We got mad and we put our flat back on the market, all hopeful that some lovely person would come in and offer us X again (which was already quite a low price).  Well…no one came.  Not a single viewing.  Not one.  Even after ads, and calls, and the works.  Dead. 

So we re-thought our position.  Could we afford to hold on and hope?   There were a few things we could do:

  1. Try to convince our buyer to go up and meet us half-way, but even if he doesn’t, still sell.
  2. Keep it on the market and hope for the best.
  3. Take it off the market and rent it out until the market went back up.
  4. Take it off the market and live here.

Number four wasn’t really what we wanted at all.  We really wanted that garden space.  Number three was a no-no as we knew that renters might just ruin the place…or at least not care for it in the same way we did.  So did we want to hold out?  If we sold at 15% less than we were expecting, could we get something similar in buying a house…at least 10% or so? 

We decided to try to bargain with our buyer.  They wouldn’t hardly budge, but did move up a couple of thousand.  And so yesterday, they put 10% down and signed the contract.  I think we’re moving out in 3 weeks into my in-laws house until we can move into a house of our own.

Now comes the search for our new place.  The negotiations, the haggling, etc.  Now WE are in the good place to be.  Let’s hope it all works out.