Finding our place

Not short of character..

Having spent the summer living locally, we found the cottage just days before we left. We'd gone back to the internet to check over old searches, broaden our criteria and raise the price bar a bit to see if anything new came up. And there it was, a traditional cottage a mile or so outside the village. It had been on the market for some time but we'd missed it. Worth a drive-by but outside our budget. I think we knew it was 'ours' as soon as we got there.

We managed to find the keyholder the next day and persuaded the engineer to come and have a look with us. We took as many pictures as we could, talked to the auctioneer, checked the land registry and planning applications, consulted our friendly thatcher, and put in an offer - all in the space of three days.

...and what a view!

At this point all the time looking and the false-starts paid off. Having finance in place, knowing what to ask, and having good local contacts meant we could do things quickly when we needed to. Getting good advice also saved us a lot of money. No-one else had viewed it and we offered half the asking price. It wasn't enough but with patience and a bit of brinkmanship we reached a fair compromise. The sale process took forever...but that's another story.