Things always happen for a reason

Fate played it's part, as it always does. As I stated at the end of my last post, we are great believers in fate and that things happen for a reason. We didn't get 'the house'. We were the second highest bidders but he highest bid was quite significantly higher... We knew that would happen. It was the sort of place that would be priceless if you have enough money that it doesn't matter what you throw at it. For what the house was on paper, the asking price was reflective of it's run down condition and the physical size based on the other houses on the market at the time. I.e a 3 bed detatched with a good garden and parking. What made it priceless was lack of direct neighbours, the size and diversity of the gardens, the annex space, the proximity of an excellent Ofsted rated school and the superb views. I guess the other situation issues (landfill and future asphalt plant) are subjectively annoying depending on how and who looks at it.

For us, the house wasn't priceless. We only had so much money so what we offered was what we had (or hadn't but I'll come onto that). We bid well over the guide price and for the amount of work needed there, the house wasn't worth anything more to us.

However, to get the call saying that our best still wasn't good enough was pretty demoralising. They made us wait nearly a whole agonising week for a decision after the bid deadline. The emotions we went through in that week varied from excitement to frustration to boredem and even to ambivalence. Whilst waiting, we were still frantically searching Rightmove for more properties as we knew it was likely we wouldn't get it. When that call did come the main worry was well what the hell else shall we buy... There was nothing we wanted.

As to whether that was because there was truly nothing out there or if it was because the house we had bid on was a barrier to letting us consider anything else, I don't really know. But having to start the search all over again was excruciating. We heard on the Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon we had regathered our thoughts and started formulating an action plan.

Living in North Bristol and travelling back to Devon every time we wanted to view a house was an absolute pain. It's not just a nip out for an hour, it's carting a toddler and a baby an hour and a half home. Therefore we both said that we wanted to get round as many places as we could in 1 day and if we couldn't find anything then then maybe we need to rethink what we were doing. We managed to find another 9 places to go see; a newbuild plot of 2 houses not ready until April next year, 4 bungalows which we would have extended/renovated, 2 old cottages and an estate house. So quite a varied bag. We travelled down the Friday afternoon and went to see the building plot/show home, stayed at my parents house for the night then saw the other 7 on the Saturday.

What we wanted was to fall in love with something at it be an easy decision. The reality is that that would never have happened. Life isn't that easy and grown up decisions don't just happen like that. Not when your talking changing your whole life and spending an awful lot of money.

The first place we saw was an old cottage on the outskirts of Tiverton. It was up a private drive and had a nice sloping garden and pleasant outlook over trees. The cottage itself was quaint enough but needed a bit of reworking and generally felt like old cottages do... A bit of a money pit!

Next was the estate house. To be fair, for an estate house it was actually really nice, very smart both outside and in, the garden wasn't particularly overlooked but was on the small side. It was on the higher end of the budget but was definitely one to consider.

The place I liked most on paper was a run down 3 bed bungalow which wouldn't have been habitable in its current state.. the reason I liked it was the it was in the same village and road to the first one, just in the actual village rather than on the outskirts. So had all the benefits like being close to the school etc. The plot looked good with lots of parking and still a lovely view. But in reality the garden was tiny and very overlooked. There was likely future building in the area too, so the view could have quickly disappeared. It was too much work and not enough of the check list ticked off.

After viewing this one, we drove past the house we first fell in love with. It only sold 4 days previously but there was already 3 cars parked outside. One was a Lamborghini and another a Maserati... So the people who brought it were obviously so minted that we never had a chance.. so you know what, they are welcome to it! I actually didn't feel anything, I think after the initial disappointment my heart had moved on.

One of the houses that was least interesting on paper was actually one of the ones we seriously thought about offering on. A 4 bed bungalow less than 10mins away from my parents. It was lovely and spacious, with a good sized garden and backed onto a field. It was down the end of a busy narrow lane of terrace houses but once on the plot, felt really secluded. However the road seriously put us off and then found out the field behind the house was for sale... How long until that ends up being an housing estate... No thank you!!

Next on the list was another 3 bed bungalow, again only 10mins away from my parents, in a little village just off the A38 with good links to the motorway for Scott and less than 10mins from the nearest hospital for me. The bungalow itself was very underwhelming but was surrounded by other houses and bungalows which had been extended so getting planning permission would have been easy. It also had decent enough parking, an ok sized garden and a pretty view. But we would have had to start work pretty much straight away to make it anything like what we wanted. We agonised over this place as the location made a lot of sense. However, with a bit of research into the area we quickly realised that it had absolutely nothing to offer us as a family. No parks, no preschool or school, no easy walks accessible from the house. I would have had to put the kids in the car every time we wanted to leave the house. The 2 pubs get good reviews but we're not really pub people... Upon realising this we very quickly lost interest.

The last cottage we saw was a bit of a wild card really. We first saw it on Rightmove when we did our first bout of viewings. Scott called to make a viewing but they decided to accept an offer from another party so we never got to see it. 2 days after we heard we hadn't got the bid house, it came back on the market. The previous buyers had pulled out after deciding the work commute to Exeter was too far (it wasn't that far). They hadn't even instructed solicitors. I had my reservations as it is the furthest away from Scott's work and isn't super close to any of the hospital's for me either. It's also 30mins away from my parents and 25mins away from Scott's. As nice as the place looked it didn't seem like the most logical choice and the (mainly downstairs) layout wasn't exactly what we had in mind.

When we got there, the first thing I thought was that the garden wasn't as big as it looked in the photos... But they never are, are they? Apart from that though, the place grew on me more and more as we made our way through the rooms. The downstairs has a large kitchen/dining area, a lounge and then the 'snug room' with stairs leading up to the first floor.  The upstairs then has 4 double bedrooms, an ensuite and a large family bathroom. The original part of the cottage is thought to be one of the oldest dwellings in the village and then the extension (which doubles the size of the cottage) was built 10 years ago. It is a perfect blend between traditional old cottage with its big fireplace, thick walls, exposed beams and wonky floors but with a bright, modern feel. There is also a double garage with office space above for Scott.

I know it sounds like I was pretty smitten straight from the off but that want really the case. I could tell Scott was really keen but I still felt pretty reserved. The garden was less than I hoped and wasn't completely sure about the downstairs layout. But most of all I was concerned about the distance from work for Scott and additionally it was equally distanced away from the 3 hospitals I could potentially work at.

After such a jam packed day our heads were completely spinning and I certainly wasn't upto any logical thinking, let alone coming to a full conclusion. To be honest after sleeping on it I was no further forward. We spent the whole of Sunday going over and over the pros and cons of all the places we saw. We had already written off the bungalow which we initially loved because of the access and the field for sale behind it. All of the others were compromises for one reason or another. At one point we had talked ourselves into buying the bungalow which would make commuting to work easier even though it was in need of complete renovation to make it suit us. Then the lack of family amenities made us see sense. We were then left with the estate house or the last cottage. I was still reluctant to commit to the cottage because of the distance however the estate house wasn't exactly in the best location either. When we did door to door distance comparisons there actually wasn't an awful lot in it. The estate house was on for a lot more money than the cottage and the more I thought about it, the more compromises seemed to be there. The garden was small and it was on a big estate. There would have been walks from the house but still a journey into town for preschools and schools.

Alternatively, the cottage is situated in a small, quiet village with a preschool just a couple of doors away and a primary school right over the road. Although there are other houses around, once inside the gate to the cottage, it feels very quiet and is not overlooked. Although the garden isn't exactly what I had in mind, it's still probably big enough to have chickens without them being too much of a pain and it has a little, ready to go, veg plot round the back of the garages. It is nice and flat and easy for the kids to kick a ball and play. The kitchen dining area isn't perfect either but there would be scope to build a dining room/sun room type extension on the side of the kitchen if we felt we needed it. It was also done to such a good standard that we could move straight in and not do anything at all if we wish!

Come the evening I think Scott had made up his mind but I was still struggling with the distance worries. It would be a 2hr commute each way for Scott every time he goes to the office. He shouldn't have to do it any more than once a week but that's still an awful long way! For me it's about 35-40mins to any of the hospitals. To begin with this felt too far but in reality, it's not an awful lot further than what I can travel now, bearing in mind Bristol traffic can take my 25min drive to a 50min drive very easily. The reality for me too is that I will only work bank to top up our income to begin with and my long term goal is to work on the community/stand alone midwifery unit in Tiverton which is only a short drive away.

Oscar woke me early the Monday morning and we had a good hour and and half or so to ourselves before Pippa and Scott got up. In this time I put my worries about the cottage aside and started to imagine myself actually living there. I started placing our furniture in its new environment and thinking about how we would use the space. The more I did this the more excited I got at the prospect of living there. By the time Scott came down I was confident that it was the right place to go for. He was very relieved as he had come to the same conclusion but was worried that I wouldn't be on board.

As soon as the decision was made the excitement kicked in and we didn't mess about. It was still like 8am and the estate agents didn't open until 9am. As soon as they did, Scott called and offered full asking price. The vendor was over the moon to get another offer so quick. He had to run it by his wife but the agent said it was basically a done deal. We didn't get full confirmation until the next day but they accepted!!

So now we are playing the waiting game again. We have done all our solicitors paperwork and have an appointment with the bank for the mortgage so there's nothing else we can do for now. It really was fate not getting the first house as it turned out the bank had miscalculated our decision in principle so wouldn't have lent us all the money they originally said they would. That would have been an embarrassing nightmare if we had got it.. As it goes the cottage was significantly less money so it didn't matter in the end but I can't say I'm particularly impressed with them. The people in our new house haven't yet found anywhere to live so we are waiting for them to find somewhere too. I really hope it doesn't take long and the chain isn't too crazy as we would really like to be in by Christmas! Moving home is such a long stressful process and I'm not known for my patience!!

Wish us luck on this new, exciting adventure! Hopefully I can update soon with more news!