Moving to the New Forest
Moving to the New Forest took us 9 months. When we conceived the idea back in November 2015 we had no idea of the pain the pregnancy of this change would take us through.
Was the joy at the end of the labour worth it? Read on find out.
We decided at the end of 2015 that there would be no more talk about moving away from London, to the New Forest. We should actually get off our asses and actually do something about it.
The Start
It started with a few calls. A number of estate agents came round to value what is now our ‘old’ house. When we had a good idea of how much would might get, we then started to see what that amount could get us in the New Forest.
More for your money is the answer. The ability to move from a 3 bed semi into a 4 bed detached in one of the prettiest places in the country, was too good an opportunity to pass up. With Max approaching 2, and the fear that if we didn’t do it soon, we may not do it for years, we decided to go for it.
Moving to the New Forest was not a decision we took lightly. Jobs, family, friends, nursery etc all had to be considered, but even after considering this, we decided the pros far outweighed the cons so we went for it.
If only everyone else in the proceedings were as keen as we were!! After an open house, we sold it within about 3 weeks. Not totally surprising as there does seem to be quite a high demand for houses in that area.
A month later we found a house, had an offer accepted, then got excited. Were we actually moving to the New Forest? The excitement didn’t last. Call after call, email after email it turned out there people in the chain weren’t quite as committed as we were.
Some 5 months later we were all ready to exchange. Yay we thought. The day before exchange our buyer pulled out. Turns out he bought the house next door and then had the cheek to offer us 15k less than their initial offer. Landlords!!
Back on the market it went, with a different agent. Another open house, another offer. We accepted, but our excitement curtailed for the time being.
It was back on.
Luckily, the house we offered on was still available and this time we had sold to a couple who were first time buyers. What could possibly go wrong, we thought?
As it turned out..nothing!! Apart from it seem to take an age, we exchanged on the 12th August, with a move date of the 19th. No funny games, no last minute derogatory offers. EXCHANGE!!!
We were moving to the New Forest. Then it was a panic to pack up, get a removal company, give notice on jobs, give notice on nursery, change address (which we are still doing), and the plethora of other things that go with it.
The day finally came. The 19th August 2016. It started with a trip to Wickes so I could buy a fitting which enabled me to disconnect the washer. Not ideal on the day of the move, and yes, I know I should have done this earlier blah blah, but the day before we were still washing clothes!!
Bought what I needed, which turned out to be wrong, but while there, this happened.
Not what we wanted at 7.45, with a 2 year old to get to nursery, the removal men turning up in 15 minutes, and a washing machine and dishwasher still plumbed in! Luckily, we had Grandad around, who was going to pick Max up from nursery and look after him for a few hours while we unloaded.
Grandad came and sat with the car waiting for the AA (I know, its just a flat tire, but today of all days, timing was of the essence!!). In the meantime, I dashed home with the wrong part for the washing machine.
I made it home, Suzanne was already talking to the removal men (who didn’t have the wardrobe hangers we were promised so we had to unpack the wardrobe too)
To cut a long story short, we managed to get everything unplumbed, and loaded, with just one problem. The removal guys asked us to remove the stair bannister so they could then get the wardrobe down the stairs. We did, and carried on cleaning.
As we neared the end, we realised that 3 hours ago they had loaded the hand rail on the lorry!! After a heated discussion, it was agreed they would return to the house later with the handrail and screw it back to the wall for the new owners.
It’s ok, they had to go back anyway, as they couldn’t fit everything on the lorry in the first place!!
So, there we have it.
A summary of our move:
- A sale that fell through a day before exchange
- 2 estate agents selling our house,
- endless people traipsing round our house while trying to keep it tidy with a toddler’s toys everywhere
- Problems unplumbing the washing machine
- Puncture when popping to the DIY store
- Buying the wrong part!
- Having to unpack wardrobes at the last minute
- Taking part of the house, the staircase bannister, to the new house when we shouldn’t
- Not getting everything on the van
My advice to anyone thinking of selling their house and moving. Do it.
But don’t believe a word estate agents say.
Or solicitors.
Or buyers.
They all tell you what you want to hear, and in our experience, it is all porky’s!!
Apart from that, moving to the New Forest was pretty straight forward!
Stay tuned for another post to see us actually make it to the New Forest, and some snaps of our new house (when all the boxes are unpacked!!)
Final photos. As a photographer I must apologies for these. They were all taken on the Phone, so not the best in quality!!
