At last, after putting the house up for sale in January
2012, and agreeing an offer at the end of September 2012, We have finally sold
the house!
On a very damp and rainy, but not cold, Friday 8 March we
moved out of our house and into a flat – stage 1 of downsizing to live on the
boat.
The house sale was a long drawn out affair, the sale chain
collapsed twice – the second time just days before exchange was due in
December!
We were lucky that the third time round the sale chain had
shortened to just three houses and all seemed to be going to schedule, but
again various hiccups at the last minute left us thinking that exchange which
had been due on 22 February was not going to happen! We were right – last minute
negotiations with the new buyers of the bottom house in the chain meant that
paperwork was not ready for that day.
We were told that everything would be sorted for Tuesday 26th,
so I went out flat hunting! As we were only looking to rent, I couldn’t start
looking until exchange was imminent!
Whilst out flat hunting on the 26th (anticipating
exchange that day) a phone call from the solicitor dashed our hopes as the
document signing by the bottom buyers wouldn’t be until too late in the day to
exchange!
With completion still set as 8 March, things were getting
tight to arrange a flat to move into, and we had to decide whether to move the
date and whether to put a deposit on the lovely flat I had just seen.
The letting agent was extremely understanding and helpful,
so not even knowing if the sale was definitely going to happen (well, we had
been let down so many times already), we bit the bullet and put a deposit down.
True to form, on Wednesday morning the solicitor rang to say
that cleared funds were not available from the bottom buyers, and they had to
wait for them to arrive, so the exchange might not happen until Friday! By this
stage we were pulling our hair out! Would we be able to move in to the flat
with only 1 weeks notice – or should we move completion yet again!
Just as total despair was setting in, at about 2pm our
solicitor rang to say the funds had cleared and exchange could go ahead and
were we still happy to complete on 8 March!
I almost screamed down the phone at the poor man! YES – just
get it done! At last, no turning back, no changing dates – oh god, just a lot
of organising and arranging to move. I phoned Gary at work and virtually yelled
down the phone before he had chance to say hello – ITS HAPPENED – WE HAVE
EXCHANGED!!!
So this is it, no more going slow on the boat build. We have
been so lucky that MGM have been so understanding, and although they have been
working on other boats at their yard, they have not had another new boat to
build, so ours can now be put into full time build.
So on Saturday 9 March, with the flat still in chaos and
boxes everywhere, we just had to visit MGM to see Muleless and discuss the way
forward with Martin.
We had visited on 9 February, but as the only change at that
point had been the bulkheads being in place, we hadn’t updated the blog – so here
are those pictures.
Bedroom – looking to stern and utility room.
Bedroom – looking to bow and bathroom.
Bathroom – looking to bow and galley.
Looking to stern saloon, dinette, and galley to bathroom.
This visit the windows had been fitted to make the boat
watertight in case the house sale had stalled again and we hadn’t had chance to
see them yet, so were really excited – and we weren’t disappointed.
We have chosen Caldwell double glazed windows and are very
pleased with them.
And a couple more pictures of the paint work.
Now we will be visiting the boat fortnightly – as such a lot
will be happening and so many decisions have to be made.
The plan is for Gary to retire from work and for us to move
onto the boat within 6 months, so keep checking back to see our progress.
