Did we finally sell our house in the UK?

No we didn't.

For the past month (5 weeks actually) our tenant has not budged. He doesn't answer his phone, ignores emails, ignores letters and we are all hugely frustrated - 'WE' being us the Tod family, the letting agent, the estate agent and mostly our buyer who is patiently waiting in the wings for which we are eternally grateful.

We swing from moments of anger and frustration to moments of pity and sadness for our tenant. For the past 5 years he has been a model tenant. Paid his rent on time, kept the house immaculate and been amenable and obliging.

So what has gone wrong?.... Nobody really knows but whatever it is, it is not doing any of us any good. Oops another nail bites the dust.

Anyway we are still on a high regarding our family move to Limoux. Everyday we think about it, discuss it and dream about the new things we are going to experience and the new life we are going to be part of. Our flights are booked for 18th August (Stansted - Carcassonne) and basically we have our new life sorted till the 1st September.

Then what?..... Panic maybe!

In the first 2 weeks of our arrival in Limoux, we will have to sort out a long term let, buy a car, settle the kids into their new schools (3 schools for 3 kids), buy housey stuff and also try and have a bit of a holiday. Mind you maybe it will all seem like a holiday...well not sure the kids will think the same way.

In the meantime back here in Hanoi, we have just had a long weekend to celebrate the fall of Saigon in 1975. We made the most of it and flew down the coast to a wonderful place called Phan Thiet. My dad and Bill's parents have also been there whilst they visited us and we have always had a really good time..

We had a lovely surprise when we got to our hotel the Blue Ocean, as not only did we have a sea view villa but it also came with its own poool - we were totally gobsmacked and felt very special!

I found 3 cowrie shells (always my mission when we are on a beach), Sam discovered the thrills of kite boarding, Douglas discovered he looks cool in board shorts, Ellie discovered that she could easily eat the largest red snapper in the restaurant and Bill and I, well we just managed to relax and to not think about our house .... sort of.

I blame it on the free Internet in the hotel which is not good when you want to switch off.





So by the time I next write....

* hopefully the legal process will have run it's course and our tenant will be out of our house
* hopefully our buyer will be in there with her paint brushes and
* hopefully the exchange rates will move in our favour.

You gotta have hope :-)

Nicole

Exchange Contracts or Exchange Rates?

This morning we were hoping to exchange contracts with our buyer for the sale of our UK house…..

This morning though, there is panic all round. Well I am panicking even if Bill remains calm. Apparently the buyer went round to see the house yesterday which was vacated at the weekend by our tenant, only to find that he is still there, furniture and all.

She was not happy and neither are we. Funnily enough just 2 days ago I had sent a letter to our letting agent telling them how wonderful they had been at keeping us informed abut everything and being so organized and efficient. Hmmmm. Let's just hope it's a minor blip and that there is a very plausible explanation.

The other thing to worry about though is the Sterling-Euro exchange rate. Everyday we see our money falling further and further. Sometimes we feel lucky in at least we have some money to exchange and at least we have sold (???) our house and other times we just reach out for the gin. What to do and what not to do? Any clairvoyants are welcome to make contact.

Apart from those SMALL worries, we are still avidly looking at property websites and dreaming about the house we are going to build in Limoux and the gite we are going to rent out and the garden full off fruit trees, orchids, vegetables and chickens. Not sure they will all get along. Because of our dwindling budget, the gite has now shrunk from 4 bedrooms to 2. But that's OK though as I never wanted to wash all those sheets anyway.

We were talking to some Vietnamese friends last weekend about house buying and comparing notes. Imagine that there were no estate agents and that you discovered a house was for sale by gossiping with your neighbours or whilst buying tomatoes in the market. Imagine that you discussed the price round the kitchen table or round the mat on the floor whilst drinking green tea or maybe a whisky if you are a man. Imagine not asking how many thousands it will cost but rather how many Taels of gold (1 Tael equals approx 37.5gm). Then imagine rushing round your family and friends to see who might be able to lend you a tael here or a tael there. Imagine that you are not really buying or bidding on the house but what you are buying is the land the house sits on. Then when it's yours you are going to knock the house down and build a house for yourself even if it looks exactly like what you just bulldozed down. Maybe you will add an extra floor though and have 5 one roomed floors instead of 4.

Since we have been living here in Hanoi (for 7 years with a year break in the middle), we have never known what it is like to not have a building site within 500m of our house. If there is land, it will be built upon. If you buy a house, you knock it down and build another. Basically land here is like gold dust (!) but building labour and materials costs little in comparison.

I wish buying land in France could be that much fun. "Excusez-moi. How many baguettes do you want for this field and yes another glass of wine would be lovely."

So for the moment we are in limbo but hopefully by the time I next put finger to keyboard, I will have lots of good news.

Next time: Did we dare to exchange our Sterling to Euros?….Assuming our house sale went through.

We Sold Our House - another step forward

Six months on the market, 3 offers, 3 disappointments, 3 price drops and we finally sold our house. Thank you Mrs Toucan.

It's funny as thrilled as we are to have sold the house, we do feel rather flat about it. We ended up giving it away, well we feel like that, as we had to take a 15 % price drop. Basically we needed to sell and our buyer knew . But what really swung it was that she is a cash buyer and in rented accommodation. Our estate agents reckons 2 months and it will all be signed, sealed and delivered.

However it does mean we can get on. Get on with planning, looking, researching, reading and just generally getting excited about our family move to France. We now know what our budget is and although less than we had originally planned, at least we know.

In 2 weeks (exactly) Bill and I are off to France for our weeks reckie in Limoux. We can hardly contain our excitement. People always say you should visit your prospective new home in all seasons, well you can't get more grim than February can you? Even Vietnam is grim. The cold front is sweeping across from China and we are having the coldest winter in Hanoi for the past 20 years.

Nest week is the Chinese New Year of the rat. I am a rat!! Does that mean luck? I hope so and I promise to share some of it with you who are reading this.

Nicole

Next time: Is Limoux as beautiful in the cold and grey?