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Buy Monday

Mon Feb 28th

After a further stop off in Hamburg for we assume, more containers, our shipping container is now on its way to Montreal.  As of Monday 28th it's just off the tip of Cornwall.  Exciting!

Even more exciting in the latest house hunting news.  We saw two properties last week.  One that was essentially a tear down, a big project, but in a prime location and one that had fab views but was in town.  We were about to make an offer on the town one when a further property popped into the inbox on Friday... this time in Grandview Rd, the other side of Gibsons.  It was just up behind Bonniebrook Beach where we spent out first month on the Coast.

We both said to each other 'this is the one' before seeing it Sunday lunchtime and it was, very much so.  Monday lunchtime our offer was in and by the end of the working day contracts were exchanged.  A bit quicker than the UK!

A high stress day.  It is five years old, modern open-concept with high ceilings (unlike Eastcourt House),  spacious design with a bright first floor (main floor in UK terms) looking west towards Vancouver Island and SE back to Gibsons.

The property market process is so different here.  It can be faster and more decisive, but we've lost a few homes before and went into this one with a strategy to secure it.

Instead of bank transfers which lose at least cents on the pound for a SWIFT currency transfer, we have started using a currency moving specialist who offer a local credit card and essentially a local 'online' bank account.  The deposit transfer initiated last night had the deposit in the Sotheby's International Realty's trust account by 1530 today.  It would have been quicker but for our UK bank's temporary technical difficulties! 

We will complete at the end of March, but 'rent-back' the property to the sellers for two months while they find something on Van Island as a cash buyer.  The rent-back approach is becoming very common here given the pace of the market, and actually is quite a clever concept.  

Sunset from the lower deck

There is no through traffic and opposite the front of the house is a short cul-de-sac that will mean no build/developments in future.  A really quiet location and Mrs C gets to have a garden again, but of a manageable size this time!

Our brilliant realtor's husband helped build the house, so it was a particularly poignant deal for her.  Solicitors are instructed and the house-hunting pressures of the last few months are over.  Phew!

The big question now is do we have our container contents delivered to our rental, or held for a few more weeks and taken to the new house. No brainer really, why pay to move it again!

Mike's challenge will not be to sort out the many varied contents of our 'home in a box' but more importantly to find a home for his workshop tools and figure out how to get the right power configured for the voltage here!

We were due up in Whistler today for our last but one visit of the year, but house purchasing got in the way.  We are due to catch up with the son and GF of friends in the UK who are in Whistler this week. Said son has a sprained ankle but we will catch up with them for dinner and offer some ski-guiding while he gets back on both feet! It's been a wet few days here, so good snow up top.

In other news .....  Bath won!  That's three wins out of seventeen games this season.  They are still at the bottom of the Premiership and recently shed their attack coach.  Will they get off the bottom by the end of the season I wonder.  Thank goodness there is no relegation this year! 

England scraped an unconvincing win against Wales and there is no sign they will beat Ireland or France and why do the keep bringing Ben Youngs on at the end of the game to just kick the ball away!  I still don't get it.  










 


Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 2, 2022 at 1:05 AM

    Maddy: woohoo! The Cronks have arrived! Congratulations on the speedy house purchase. It sounds wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ChatsP&JMarch 5, 2022 at 9:46 AM

    Many congrats on your exciting house purchase from the Chatfields, really delighted that your patience and enthusiasm has paid off.
    Xxxxx

    ReplyDelete

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