Settlement - Finally!

Well tomorrow we finally settle on our new (old) property, some 3 months late. 

Going back 5 and a half months, I received a phone call from a real estate agent saying he had just signed up a new property he thought would suit our needs.  Yep, a real estate agent saying they had the perfect property for us - wow... never heard that before.  We had accepted the year was all but over. Anyway, this agent is a reasonable guy and I'd been in contact with him over a period of time so we thought it could be worth a quick look.  The property was to be shown only once pre christmas with an intended campaign in the new year leading up to an auction date late February. 

It turns out the property was being sold under power of attorney.  The old lady who owned the property had taken a turn and her daughters moved her into an aged care facility in November.  Kirst drove past the property, we googled it and inspected the property at the open (all of 15 minutes) and after a little bit of negotiating we signed the contract of sale mid December with a short settlement on 28 February.  We were looking for a long settlement but at a price we were very happy with, a short settlement was appealing enough to get the deal done.

All was going to plan until... (unfortunately for her), the old lady died in January whilst in care.  If that wasn't bad enough the settlement of the property couldn't be finalised as the power of attorney was no longer valid (thankfully the contract was) and the property rolled into her estate and needed to pass through probate.  Well, its now passed probate and tomorrow afternoon we should get the keys.  Only 3 months later than expected.

The delay has actually worked out pretty well for us largely because we were able to keep the money in our account - realistically delaying the need to draw a mortgage.  Plus allowed us additional time to work and rework on the plans for the new house build.

A quick update on the plans, we received an update of the site plans yesterday from Lynda our contract administrator.  Interesting enough, Lynda is the wife of our SC.  She seems knowledgeable and very accommodating emailing a copy to me, with a mobile contact number and per my request leaving a copy at reception of HQ for pick up. HQ is all of 10 minutes from home.  Anyway a few things are not quite right and we have raised a few questions but overall not too bad.

Until next time - after our preliminary contract meeting on Tuesday 31st May.

Cam