Election fever grips the capital

Mayor of London Boris Johnson

Monday 30 March 2015

13 degrees
Light drizzle followed by heavy drizzle

This made me laugh - although unlikely to have been by the Mayor himself, the wildly shaggy haired Boris Johnson, sadly lacking from Have I Got News for You since he decided to get serious.



So parliament has been dissolved, the General Election set for May 7th and everyone is looking very happy about it

David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Milliband

Ed seems to feel that his genitalia are under threat.  If you are looking for serious political analysis, by the way, you really are in the wrong place.  My analysis of the election will largely extend to amusing pictures and cock ups.

Lots of enquiries and everyone seems to want to come when we are on holiday.  OH takes the idea of moving the holiday very badly and starts waving hands in the air like angry sea anemone.  Say OK we will stick with it.  I cant be bothered with holidays.  I would rather stay here and do some gardening and writing and fiddle around with my crafting stuff but no, we have to spend hours in the car going somewhere hot, stay in a hotel which is stuffy and where I have to listen to him snoring all night, and drink and eat too much.  I usually feel exhausted when I get back, although it is good for clearing up the stress related eczema which is now all over my elbows and neck and driving me bonkers.

My Russians say they will be back to sign the reservation contract on the 14 April and the sellers have found a house in Murcia and, fortunately, they are speaking on Skype when I ring up so I manage to speak to them on broadcast.

Spend the morning trying to find property for the buyer who wanted to buy the house that the Russians have now agreed on, and they reject everything.  The problem is that when people fix on a house, they want to find something else which is identical, and it can take years before they let go.  This happened twice in 2013 and both sets of buyers are still looking.  As Del Boy (Fools and Horses) would say 'fortune favours the brave'.  If you love something, you just have to dive in and then figure out the rest later.  If you are not brave enough to dive in, then perhaps the time and the action are just not right for you.

Go swimming later on in the day and the pool is almost empty, apart from a really annoying woman who swims so fast on her lengths that I am absolutely breathless in trying to keep up with her.  Do my 30 lengths in record time.  She is still shooting up and down the pool like an automaton whilst I take a breather, sit in the bubbles and look at my stomach bouncing about.  I have been eating bread again and look six months pregnant with the two kilos gained right on my front.

A french client contacts me about a house which has just come back onto the market, after having been reserved for a period of six months, at the expiration of which it transpired the buyer couldnt get the loan.  She says she knows the house and loves it but could only afford to pay 90% of the asking price.   It is an expensive house and this represents rather a lot of money.  I ask her if she wants to come and see it again, and she says she will talk to her husband.  This property, a stunning water mill, I used to have on exclusive contract. I found a buyer almost immediately, at a sum thirty percent in excess of what is now being asked.  The seller dilly dallied at paying for the necessary reports and insisted on having their own notaire, with the result that the buyers who had waited a month to sign, had to return to the States.  By the time they got off the boat, they had changed their minds and now we are two years down the road and it is still not sold. A voir, as they say over here.

Watched the end of The Tempest and was surprised to find that I enjoyed it.  OH was in deep sleep.

Things are hotting up!

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Cold and showery 8 degrees

Had some trouble getting started today.  Looked through very long list of things to do and did not feel motivated at all.  Rain.  Looked through the window and told the weather to buck up or no one was going to buy holiday homes.  Put the calor gas fire on and the dog promptly came and blocked the heat.  Moved the dog.  Drank tea.  OH went down to the rental unit.  

The phone rang three times.  People were responding to the advert I had put out last night, asking for beautiful homes with gites and lots of land.  The budget was the honey.  The first respondent lived down in the mountains but it sounded promising, large land, lovely house (he sent pictures) and outbuildings and not too expensive.  He told me the name of the agency he was with and it turned out that they don't actually have any ads on their site. They must pass them on the various property portals.  I couldn't find his house on there either. Not much competition for me then!  Arranged to see him Friday.

The second caller had what he described as a remarkable house in a remarkable position. The price he wanted was also remarkable and his house would have to have its feet in the ocean to realise such a sum.  I said I would keep it on file.  May pass it onto my colleague and see if she can beat a more reasonable price out of him.

The third caller lived in a place so remote that his phone signal kept on cutting out and when I finally did manage to find the ad he had put out, it transpired that it was at least an hour from the nearest shops and my client's llamas would feel they were back in Peru, the mountains were so huge.  My clients live in the South East of the UK.  There is changing landscape and there is changing landscape, but this place would have been a change too far.

I ring some places we found on the Internet yesterday and book in a fabulous one for Sunday.  I am under the cosh to find something as the client arrives on Wednesday and the house he was going to buy is the one taken by my lovely Russian clients.

Towards midday I head down town and meet up with a colleague who shows me a house in centre of town.  It is very ugly from the outside but a complete delight once you are over the front door, with clean modern interior, double garage and enclosed garden.  I recognise the owner as she works on the tills in a local supermarket.  Her husband comes in during the visit and he is extraordinarily beautiful in a Michelangelo way.  He is followed by his two little angels.  They smile shyly and twirl their hair.  I say I will be back tomorrow. Unfortunately I may have OH in tow (;)  

I then take my colleague to a house which is up there with the most visited on my list. Constructed in the 1950's, it is of unlovely appearance and is over 250m2.  It is also divided into two separate apartments and has the most villainous wallpaper I have ever seen.  Dark in colour and wildly beflowered.  Heavy, head cracking, wooden light fittings complete the look.   We go around and my colleague is very enthusiastic and much better at re-imagining the interior than either myself or my many clients.  Make mental notes.

Back home and take the dog for a walk.  The rain has eased up and we are at the head of a very muddy lane, when the dog shoots off down it.  I tear after him and he completely ignores me for at least half a kilometre.  I am too breathless to shout at him and wave my brolly within an inch of his head in such a way that he realises that he has been very bad. He does it again within 15 minutes.   Get back home in very bad mood and tell OH I am not walking that stupid dog any more.

The owner of the house which my Russians are buying rings and says that there is only one house that is suitable for them and if they can't move quickly, they will lose it and then they may have to think twice about selling.  Following the on going nightmare that is the would be buyers and the house down town, I now know that she can't change her mind but I say nothing.  Promise to kick the notaries into shape with great rapidity.  Ring notary who says it is the other notary who is preparing the initial reservation contract.  Ask her to kick the other notaries butt.  The diagnostics guy rings and says the house may be in a flood zone. (it wasn't) and the owner prepares a long list of things to include in sale.  Either the Russians need to come back next week to sign, or they need to sign remotely.  The heat is on.  My neck starts to itch and I realise the eczema is back.  Oh the joys of estate agency.

I have another message on the phone relating to a house but the caller hasn't left their number so I have to ring through all the incoming numbers on the phone before I finally get to him.  It takes some time as some of them are pleased to hear from me and some have an axe to grind.  It turns out to be happenstance.  Yesterday, when I went to see the vast property with all the rooms, the owner had said that his neighbour was also selling, and had given me the name and the town.  I had then rang all four people of this name and found the seller who said she had it on exclusive contract with a friend and wasn't interested in selling with me.  The person who rang me today is an uncle and he is also thinking of selling his house in my nearby town.  Booked him in for Monday.  Must change answerphone message to insist people leave their telephone numbers.  I am not psychic.

Make chili and sort out the running order for tomorrow's visits.  Talk to two people who want to rent our little rental unit over the summer and get them booked in.  Feel very tired and hit the hay early.