Saturday, April 18, 2009

SOLD!

Hi all,

Big Hi to Grandpa in Helsinki, hope you are having a great time!



As you might deduce from the title, we sold our current house. I can't believe it, it went unconditional last night, We sold in 8 DAYS, for the amount we wanted and with a 90 day settlement. We put it on the market because a house across the road was on for nearly 7 weeks before selling (fairly similar type house) and we thought that it might take that long to sell.

Ummmm, No, on the market Friday morning, inspection Saturday, inspection Thursday before Easter and then sold on the Saturday. Can you tell I am still in shock that it has all happened so fast?

So we have to be out by 9 July, I really hope PD is finished by then. I am getting less confident, the painter was supposed to start Easter week, then straight after Easter and still no appearance your worship! Now we are told the tiler is supposed to start on the 22nd. Well, we live in hope!!!

So since the last blog update there has been some action:
- The caesar stone bench tops have been installed = Good


- They forgot we are having an under bench mount sink so they did not put it in before fixing the bench top to the cupboards = Bad
- More back filling of our retaining walls = Good

- Only on one side of the block= Bad
- More washing of bricks so no more green bricks = Good

Um, and that would be about it. So for most of the last two weeks, zip, nada, nothing. So, no we have not paid the fix invoice yet. It's being insepcted Monday and we'll know where we are then.

Our CSC says we should be ok, she thinks, but they will not budge from 11 August, so we all may be sleeping in a row of sleepy bags on my father in law's lounge room floor if it goes past 8 July!!! Our SS had handovers on Thursday and Friday this week, so hopefully that means that he can concentrate on getting our house up to scratch and moving again.

News on the decorating the new house list:

We had decided on red ironwood floating floor. Our carpet store got in a box of the red ironwood for us to look at, so we could see exactly what we are getting. We thought a bit strange because we had chosen from a sample in the shop. As we are getting over 110sqm, which adds up to a bit, Neil wanted us to see a larger area and feel comfortable with it. So he ordered the packs and asked for one to be sent on approval. Well we went in last weekend and yuk, the pack was almost a honey brown colour instead of the red/pink of the sample. I know timber oxidises and darkens, but I am not waiting for 10 years to get the colours I thought I was getting from the sample they supplied. After lengthy discussions, we decided to look at a jarrah floor. Fast forward to this weekend and our sample pack of Jarrah arrived today. It's gorgeous! So we have now massaged the budget to include this extra cost.


On a brighter note, we went and choose most of the lighting for the new house and put a deposit down on them. So that is another thing off the list. Anyone else finding that it is just toooo easy to spend bucket loads of money quite easily when "shopping for the new house" LOL
Getting our concreteing quotes this week, so more ambulance action could be required LOL

13 comments:

K AND T said...

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
You beauty!! :-)
What fantastic news, congratulations! You must be so pleased 1) to sell for a price you wanted and 2) NO MORE OPEN FOR INSPECTIONS!!!! Gotta love that.
I LOVE undermount sinks, can't wait to see yours.
Oh, and beautiful looking floor too!
Hope they get a wriggle on for you soon so you don't need to dust off those sleeping bags.
We're watching a new clock now, gone is Aug.11th...June 25th would be nice!
Again, big congratualtions. Champers all round! ;-)

Jo said...

Wow, fantastic news about selling! Congratulations. Selling and potentially having to organise something for a few weeks til handover is better than struggling to sell. Must be a weight off your mind!

I love the massaging the budget comment! Hahaha... mines been massaged to within an inch of its life! lol

The kitchen looks great, can't wait to see it completely finished off! What colour wil the splashback be?

Again, congratulations on the sale!

M&J said...

Congrats BB!!! So glad to hear the sale of the house was relatively quick and painless! So envious of your undermount sink... we wanted it but PD said "We don't do that". Guess we should have just chosen it like you did and they'd be none the wiser. Oh well. Can drool at yours for now :)

Floor looks lovely. M loves Jarrah too and we still might get Jarrah for the bottom floor.

Hels said...

Yay! for selling your house so quickly, can I ask which agent you went through? I hope we get as lucky when we sell ours *fingers crossed*.
The stone bench looks great too, I hope PD gets on with it all now so you can be in on or before 9th July.

~ Hels ~

would be home said...

Wow J, your current house must be gorgeous too. This was definitely a quick sale. Congratulations for getting the price that you wanted. Good on the carpet store to get a full box for you to check the colour. Glad you got something that you like better. I think Jarrah looks gorgeous.
Your stone benchtop looks really white and classy. Not long to go now...

NoShitSherlock said...

Hi j,
Congratulations on the superfast sale! You must have presented your house beautifully. Our SS says we should be done before July 3, so if that's the case, you should definitely be done in time. So start packin' 'cos it'll be here before you know it! Lol.
Your kitchen looks gorgeous! I love it! And the floor is going to look fantastic. Good work!

Lexriel said...

Congratulation!!!!! You made it sounds so easy to sell a house haha..

Jarah is definitely the best one if you like dark red flooring colour!

Your kitchen looks good! Your house now looks more like a real house now! Well... it is a real house :P

You are reminding me of "shopping for new house"!!!! I hate it! I mean I love it, but don't like to spend the $$$. It's a headache! Haha...

Looking forward for more pictures!!! More pictures needed!

BelleBeau said...

Thanks for you good wishes all!

Yes K,
sooo happy the that inspections are over. Our agent certainly knew how to pitch to the market we were in. The price was good for this market but less than it was when we were weighing up whether to sell/build/buy established unfortunately, but my crystal ball was obviously on the blink then!

Hey Jo,
Yes we thought better to start now than be caught with two full mortgages for what could be months. The splashback is Enchantress which we are also using for feature walls.
I know about massaging for sure, I think it was more like trying to make sure it was not a cardiac arrest.

Hi M&J, glad to see that your place is moving too.

Yes, well, we wanted Jarrah in the first place but it was the most expensive wood in the range. Our carpet guy, Neil, has been great, he is giving us the upgrade to Jarrah at cost because of the issue.

I'm a bit worried about the sink, cause I don't think PD do them either now. Although it's in the new promo I believe?

Hi Hels, we're really happy with the bench top colour and the cupboard colour just waiting on the splashback. It's so hard to pick from little chips of colour!

HEY WBH,
glad to see you are back, so sorry for you that the PCI didn't happen but better they fix it all now! I do love the Jarrah, if we could not get, I was thinking about a similar colour to yours, looked great in your house.

Hi Mandy,
I'd like to think we presented it well. Though in truth, I have a fabulous kitchen which I am giving up. Falcon freestanding cooker with two overs, wok burner, warming plate, black stone everywhere, german taps etc. I really went to town when I renovated as we expected to be here for the next 20 years.
Just proves you never know what is around the corner.

I'd really love handover mid June. It's my "dream date" LOL I am dreading moving in school holidays. I'll have to farm out the kids!

Relle said...

Well done on the sale of your house must be a big relief in this current climate!
The flooring you have chosen looks great can't wait to see it installed.
I guess you're coming up to the really busy time where you run around and organise everything not included in the build.
Good luck for getting everything finished and moving in on time. Relle

Anonymous said...

What can I say that everyone else hasn't already said. I'm a bit belated with the YAY! OMG! WOW! CONGRATS! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!

I know you were stressing about the sale of the house. I was shocked to read your blog title this morning. Sensational!

Shopping for the house, hey?
Tell me about it! We're doing the same mortgage-basher at the moment. Lights, concreting, blinds, security. Argh! But it certainly beats picking render colours!

Here's hoping for a handover in July for you :)

Cheers
Liana

R&C's Brookvale 45 Home said...

BB, congrats on selling the house, 8 days thats was quick. Hopefully PD come to the party and finish your house to our allow you to have a smooth tranisiton.

Kitchen looks good and also the floorboards you are choosing. Looks like we are on the same page as we are doing the same things as you at the moment, getting quotes for concrete etc.

R&C

Toni said...

Congratulations on selling your crerent home. How quick was that? Fantastic news! So pleased it's all worked out, hope PD can get your new one finished in time. I think they usualy say 6 weeks from painting.

Oh your Jarrah floor will look lovely! One of the blogs had Jarrah down and it looked so good when I went over for a visit. That was nice of your flooring guy to get in a box for you.

Hope the painters turn up soon. Kitchen and bench tops look great. It's all coming together.

oh, lastly have to say that your house looks fantastic in real life! I was literally around the corner last Friday at a birthday party (gymnastics) so we took a drive to see it and also the lovely Cremorne next door :-) Your street has changed so much. Looks great. Love your porch too.

BelleBeau said...

Hey Lexriel, good to see your house moving. Too true, I am trying so hard to stick to the budget but things have gone up from the pricing I got 9 months ago.

Hi Relle, yes, an amazing relief!! Everyone we talk to has had their houses on for 6-8 weeks and nothing.

Hehehe Liana, I suppose the stress was showing a bit, huh?? A big weight off the shoulders but now I have to worry we'll be sleeping on a floor in Keysborough for a couple of weeks. Hope PD move the date from August to late June, that would be sensational!

R&C, it never ends does it? You get one thing sorted and there's the next one on the list and the never ending list vs the limited wallet is a bit of a problem..

Hi Toni, I'd be wrapt with 6 weeks from painting, if the bl@@dy painter started. He was supposed to be there Easter week, still a no show. Glad you like thehouse, it's turned out better than we hoped from the outside at least!

Cheers
J