France: Selling the house

It started with a fence post….

We’ve been gearing up for our move in terms of decluttering, attacking the attic and generally selling or donating things we don’t want to take with us. But also getting the house (and garden) sale-ready.

One garden item we knew needed addressing was the fence post in our neighbour’s garden that we’d attached our washing line to. Over the years, the weight of wet washing has made the post lean over, so we wanted to talk to our neighbour about us sorting out a fix.

Not only did she say she would sort it herself, she also said she was interested in buying the house!

Valuations and timelines

We’d already approached two agents to get a valuation, but also to see which one we wanted to go with. Both recommended the same sale price, which was right where we wanted it.

Of the two we’d pretty much decided on DOMVS as they sold the house to us, and were really tenacious in chasing up and down the chain to get things moving. They were also really good with advice on when to go to the market to fit with a completion within our timeline.

But now, with our neighbour in the picture, it looked like that could change

Flying solo

So let’s be rational about this….

Risks

• by bypassing an agent we narrow the field of buyers to just one
• if it falls through then we have to start from scratch and miss our timeline
• we miss out on the potential to get offers above the starting price
• her house isn’t on the market yet and doesn’t have any offers
• if things go wrong it could sour a friendship

But, on the other hand….

Rewards

• it sounds wet, but it would be great to sell to someone you actually like (we grew to hate our buyer in Oxford)
• she is really keen, as her and her partner now both need to work from home, and their house is a bit small to do that and host visitors
• she’s all agreed on price with no haggling
• we could wait for weeks with no takers and risk our timeline anyway
• given the uncertainty of when we’d get a place to rent in France, and when our visa will come through, someone who can be flexible could be a real asset
• not to be all about the money, but we’d save £10k in agent’s fees

So, we had an honest conversation about all this and pretty much set her some ‘homework’ of getting on the market, a mortgage sorted and an offer by the time we were planning to sign with DOMVS.

Then we felt bad the next morning and worked out we could probably push back the date to go on the market. And respond she did! The next day an estate agent was round, she’d booked time off to finish last touches to her place and gave us an assurance she can meet the timeline.

So, we’re gonna do it!

Other stuff we need to do

Now that the never-ending rainstorm that is Dorset decided to take a break and give us some sunshine, Rachel has been tackling the garden.

Working on the principle that when in full bloom it’s one of the house’s assets, a whole programme of weeding and planting had been organised. Well, there’s nothing more sad than an empty veg bed (or six of them).

We finally decided that maybe needing to kick the garage door to open every time we use it wasn’t a great selling point, so we’ve had carpenters round to sort out a new one being fitted.

And if we ever get past the COVID breakout amongst electricians we may finally get one round to certify the wiring, fix a few loose ends and replace a duff extractor fan.