It's finally happening!!!!

After over a year of planning and then waiting forever to sell our home, it looks like we are finally getting ready to move.

With hardly any viewings and no offers on our home from June, we have just been made an offer this week and working through to confirm everything is in order to proceed.

With first landing before Dec 25th, we had already booked out flight tickets for a hot XMas holiday but looks like we will be going for good instead. So we have roughly 5 weeks to complete the sale, pack up and move out. Luckily we dont have to worry much after landing as my brother and cousins are there to help us set things up

A lot of anxiety and nerves from this week with so much to do. Hopefully once we start packing up it will begin to sink in.

Our movers are waiting and bank accounts have been opened. Time to now close down our life in the UK

Cheers

KnK

After over a year of planning and then waiting forever to sell our home, it looks like we are finally getting ready to move.

With hardly any viewings and no offers on our home from June, we have just been made an offer this week and working through to confirm everything is in order to proceed.

 

With first landing before Dec 25th, we had already booked out flight tickets for a hot XMas holiday but looks like we will be going for good instead. So we have roughly 5 weeks to complete the sale, pack up and move out. Luckily we dont have to worry much after landing as my brother and cousins are there to help us set things up

 

A lot of anxiety and nerves from this week with so much to do. Hopefully once we start packing up it will begin to sink in.

Our movers are waiting and bank accounts have been opened. Time to now close down our life in the UK

 

Cheers

KnK

Exciting but rather stressful time for you. All the very best. :smile:

That is wonderful news, congratulations. Good luck with the move.

Great news christmas in the sun Stressful but very exciting good luck with the move

Good luck mate. Make sure people don't buy you heaps of stuff for Christmas that you feel obliged to take. That's what happened to us.

Good luck mate. Make sure people don't buy you heaps of stuff for Christmas that you feel obliged to take. That's what happened to us.

Ditto,container gone and two tea chests of Christmas presents had to be air frieghted! Plus leaving presents!

Similar happened on our return - a Fremantle Dockers football amongst other things had to be sent by Australia Post

Best thing to do is have a Christmas/Leaving party before your shippers and get anything people wish to give you then!

We are still waiting for our buyer to get the mortgage sorted. Offer made late evening the day before and now just waiting for the mortgage to be confirmed before we go full steam ahead. And oh, put down our papers of course

But every minute is painful as we wait for the offer and sale to get 'real', can feel that migrane coming!!

KnK

Good for you, we have had our house sale fall through twice! now it has sold again but in a chain we are all sorted but the person buying my purchasers house hasn't gien their four weeks notice on their rental yet and we have to be in aussie 14 Dec! may have to go byself and hubby follow not the best start. Que sera sera.

Best of luck with the Big Move Ken

B

Remember the feeling well 6 years ago now for us a real roller coaster ride of emotions

during that time. Good luck on your new life.

Good Luck!

Sometimes it will come down to the wire. Ours didnt look like the sale would complete in time, so left the keys with the in laws. Got the phone call that completion had happened just as we pulled into the car park at Heathrow....

Well, offer made late Tue evening and the buyer is still sorting the small mortgage out so the estate agent has not sent the letters to solicitors to start the process. Not a good start and if we sort by Monday then its exactly 5 weeks before we fly out on Dec 16th.

If not completion, then at the very least I want the contracts exchanged, after that it can complete whenever. Our movers are now planned for Dec 14th as we only need a little less than half a container

We dont feel at ease yet, especially as nothing has officially even started this week!

KnK

Further update from me

Buyer's bank has approved the slightly additional loan however it's now gone to the underwriter so another 2 days max to get through. The agent has a concern because buyer recently changed jobs and is asking 28% rather than 25% LTV. Yes, it's really small but the agent is being careful because once we proceed, we have to spend money on closing shop which he doesnt want us to

We are in a better position than last Friday but hell this wait is really getting to us now!

KnK

Right then,

Original buyer dragging their feet. But today we got another offer who are quite serious as they know the place, have friends and very keen. Plus there is one more viewing on the weekend.

After a lot of thinking we have decided to fly out for good in Dec. If our luck is that bad that the 2 offers we have falls through then we have kept enough aside to cover mortgage and bills till June 2017, agent to have POA to sell. Worse case if it doesnt sell by June then we come back or think of some other option.

Atleast this way we stop hanging about, take the pause button off our lives and get on with it. We just handed in our papers today and now begin packing. Oh, first, I will drink like a fish tonight to finally have that real celebration of us making the move!!!!!!

Thanks for your support guys

KnK

 

Atleast this way we stop hanging about, take the pause button off our lives and get on with it. We just handed in our papers today and now begin packing. Oh, first, I will drink like a fish tonight to finally have that real celebration of us making the move!!!!!!

 

Thanks for your support guys

KnK

Too right Knk; there will always be curveballs but I like your batting.

Get in there with the party, go large and enjoy.

B

Too right Knk; there will always be curveballs but I like your batting.

 

Get in there with the party, go large and enjoy.

 

B

Thanks Beaty,

We have a back up plan for our back up if things really go bad. And it's fine if f the house doesnt sell by May, atleast we still have a home to return to after a 6 month break in Australia. Just need to approach it with a different view and have fun :-)

Cheers!!!!!

First weekend complete knowing for sure we are moving. Now started to look for essentials we must take from here as it isnt available there. I had seen a thread quite some time back about what we should take from the UK but dont seem to find it any more.

We are cutting down but we are also clear it will be sensible to take some floor/table lamps (hardly any of decent quality for the prices in Aus), a decent vacuum cleaner, some kitchen items that we have already and an old styled, leather relaxing chair for me and something similar for the missus.

If anyone can point me to that thread or any others then I can start going through what else we may be better off taking from here

Thanks

KnK

First weekend complete knowing for sure we are moving. Now started to look for essentials we must take from here as it isnt available there. I had seen a thread quite some time back about what we should take from the UK but dont seem to find it any more.

 

We are cutting down but we are also clear it will be sensible to take some floor/table lamps (hardly any of decent quality for the prices in Aus), a decent vacuum cleaner, some kitchen items that we have already and an old styled, leather relaxing chair for me and something similar for the missus.

 

If anyone can point me to that thread or any others then I can start going through what else we may be better off taking from here

 

Thanks

KnK

If you don't plan to ship your entire contents then whittle it down to what you want to take, what you need to take and what you don't really want to replace the other end. If your fridge, TV and so on are all reasonably new, I'd say ship them. If they are old, probably replace once there.

FWIW I always say to bring bedding (especially if you plan to ship your beds) as its bloody expensive here for decent stuff, just get the sizes that match up with the slightly different Aus sizing, towels also are worth shipping as again, silly prices here. Curtains I don't think are worth shipping as more often than not Aus windows are way bigger all round than UK windows and curtains made for a small bedroom window in a UK house are no use here.

Now is the time to have a good sort out, car boot, donate to charity shops and generally streamline and de clutter before you ship. I was pretty ruthless and we only shipped a large Movecubes worth of stuff plus a few boxes.

If you don't plan to ship your entire contents then whittle it down to what you want to take, what you need to take and what you don't really want to replace the other end. If your fridge, TV and so on are all reasonably new, I'd say ship them. If they are old, probably replace once there.

 

FWIW I always say to bring bedding (especially if you plan to ship your beds) as its bloody expensive here for decent stuff, just get the sizes that match up with the slightly different Aus sizing, towels also are worth shipping as again, silly prices here. Curtains I don't think are worth shipping as more often than not Aus windows are way bigger all round than UK windows and curtains made for a small bedroom window in a UK house are no use here.

 

Now is the time to have a good sort out, car boot, donate to charity shops and generally streamline and de clutter before you ship. I was pretty ruthless and we only shipped a large Movecubes worth of stuff plus a few boxes.

Thanks for the heads up

We are taking half a container as we are only shipping our living room and kitchen. We dont plan to take our bed frames but thought of taking mattresses, got stuck because of the different sizes. Maybe best to look into it and take it with us. Agree that some prices are really bonkers out there. Fridge, dish washer are integrated so not bothering with that, old washing machine so good bye to that too. Already decided to leave the curtains for the reasons you stated.

As our home is only 3 years old, we spent a decent chunk in couple of sofas, nice coffee/console/side tables, a dining table, some lounge chairs etc....so that's what we are taking along with us. Plus as we both love cooking, our kitchen is quite sizeable with an eclectic collection of plates and cooking dishes, and together with clothes, jackets, shoes, some other bits and bobs, we just about fill half a container. We still have some space which is why we are having a quick re-think of what else we need to take from here. Big yes to towels, we will buy and carry what we have.

What we have and not taking with us are : microwave, kettle, lawn mower, barbecue, bed frames, a standalone cabinet, an ikea single bed, some untreated wooden/cane furnishings : havent spent a lot on these and not sure if it's worth the hassle of packing and taking it there

Should we take pillows, maybe a nice floor rug or two as we love rugs, and anything else that we can't think of!

KnK

Well, offer made late Tue evening and the buyer is still sorting the small mortgage out so the estate agent has not sent the letters to solicitors to start the process. Not a good start and if we sort by Monday then its exactly 5 weeks before we fly out on Dec 16th.

 

If not completion, then at the very least I want the contracts exchanged, after that it can complete whenever. Our movers are now planned for Dec 14th as we only need a little less than half a container

 

We dont feel at ease yet, especially as nothing has officially even started this week!

 

KnK

Just another worry for you, sorry, if the deal isnt completed before you leave and your house is empty of furniture make sure you speak to your insurers and check that the house insurance is valid and also as we are coming into winter I would recommend getting the water system drained down and talk to a plumber as to whether to get the heating system needs to be drained.

Sorry to add to the stress.

Just another worry for you, sorry, if the deal isnt completed before you leave and your house is empty of furniture make sure you speak to your insurers and check that the house insurance is valid and also as we are coming into winter I would recommend getting the water system drained down and talk to a plumber as to whether to get the heating system needs to be drained.

Sorry to add to the stress.

Thanks for that. Already noted down the call to our insurers and will also speak to our usual boiler maintenance company. As the deal is expected to go through mid Jan, you are right that anything can happen. We do, however, plan to give our estate agents the power of attorney to sell and they have agreed to do a regular check of our home to ensure everything's working fine

Cheers

KnK

Thanks for that. Already noted down the call to our insurers and will also speak to our usual boiler maintenance company. As the deal is expected to go through mid Jan, you are right that anything can happen. We do, however, plan to give our estate agents the power of attorney to sell and they have agreed to do a regular check of our home to ensure everything's working fine

 

Cheers

KnK

Do get your boiler guy to advise you, estate agents may promise but who knows.

Thanks for that. Already noted down the call to our insurers and will also speak to our usual boiler maintenance company. As the deal is expected to go through mid Jan, you are right that anything can happen. We do, however, plan to give our estate agents the power of attorney to sell and they have agreed to do a regular check of our home to ensure everything's working fine

 

Cheers

KnK

Power of attorney really? That sounds risky - I hope you've taken your own legal advice on that. I have power of attorney for my dad and whilst I am legally required to act in his interests when it came to selling his house it was up to me to accept or decline an offer not him. Worst case scenario if this sale was to fall through would power of attorney give your estate agent the right to take any offer they considered 'in your best interest'?

I would be granting power of attorney to someone not going to benefit from the sale of my house to ensure my interests were protected. Is is really necessary at all? I sold my dad's house in England without ever having to go there.

Power of attorney really? That sounds risky - I hope you've taken your own legal advice on that. I have power of attorney for my dad and whilst I am legally required to act in his interests when it came to selling his house it was up to me to accept or decline an offer not him. Worst case scenario if this sale was to fall through would power of attorney give your estate agent the right to take any offer they considered 'in your best interest'?

 

I would be granting power of attorney to someone not going to benefit from the sale of my house to ensure my interests were protected. Is is really necessary at all? I sold my dad's house in England without ever having to go there.

Yes, I know its risky with a POA but I've had experience with it before. You can make the POA very specific so it could say sell this home for not less than X with these items included to only these type of buyers and only valid until this date

I am trying to avoid it as far as possible and is only a last min thing if needed. Solicitor has advised we should have enough time to sign the papers and hand over without the need for a POA, of course if the sale falls through then back to square 1

KnK

Do get your boiler guy to advise you, estate agents may promise but who knows.

Will be speaking to the maintenance company but we do trust the agent we are using, small family business been around for years and have done this for many families, coming very highly recommended. We avoided the usual big names, big offices, 100s of homes for sale agents for this very reason

KnK