The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Well our tenant has vacated!

Two days before the bailiff was due to turn up, our tenant decided to move out. It really must have been in the dead of night and by teleportation as we had various spies watching the property and no one saw him and his furniture leave.

Thankfully he didn't trash the place but did leave a huge brown patch in the middle of the lawn where some say he had a bonfire and others that it was his teleporting launch pad...

Anyway we are thrilled and so is our buyer. In fact she was so thrilled that she decided to metamorphosise from dear sweet old lady to the negotiator. We did sort of expect it but felt we might be able to negotiator a bit but she was having none of it.

Either we reduce the price by antoher 8% on top of the 5% that we had already given her or she wasn't going to buy. We felt totally in a corner and she knew it. We did feel it was a bit of a mean game especially when when she started her case with "I don't normally agree with people who try and reduce the price at the last minute BUT........"

At the end of the day though we just want to move on. There are others in much worse situations than us and at least we have a house to sell. So onwards and upwards from now on.

As for our family move to France, that has not been on the back burner by any means. We now have 2 out of 3 of our kids definitely enrolled in schools in Limoux. Sam our eldest wants to attend a Lyvee in Carcassonne as opposed to Limoux and so it is a bit more complicated. The forms are all filled out though and now we are just waiting for a response.

The other big issue is finding somewhere more permanent to live in Limoux. We have somewhere to live for the first 2 weeks but that runs out the day before school starts. I can imagine the kids ringing us up from the bus stop and saying "And do we have a home to go to mum?"

We can't believe how incredibly difficult it is to find a long term let in Limoux. We are not asking for much - 4 bedrooms, garage and small garden, full stop. That has just proved impossible so we are now down to 3 bedrooms, garage and patio. However that is also proving impossible. Anything that comes on the market that is vaguely possible is gone within the hour. There is definitely a market in and around Limoux for properties bigger than a 2 bedroom apartment - anyone looking for a business?

Luckily we have friends in Limoux who have been fantastic at visiting possible places and asking around for us - thanks Tricia and Chris!

Next time: Will we ever find a house to rent in Limoux?