Last month I told readers we had decided to sell our house but felt really torn about leaving the property we had lived in for the past 21 years – well, the good news is we have sold!
To begin with I contacted Scott McElhinney from Barfoot & Thompson Pukekohe asking him for a price evaluation should we decide to list. Scott said the market was hot so it was all on and, hot it was. In just two weeks we had sold!
I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the experience of having house hunters troop through our home as we tend to be really private people.
However, the crew at Barfoots was so good to deal with. Scott’s team was in contact every day checking that all was going well and ensuring the whole process ran smoothly.
The professional manner of all involved really impressed us.
I know that my Waiau Pa friends have always had that same relationship with Cherry Cooper from Barfoots Papakura, so much so that all of their selling and buying over the past 20 years has been through her with outstanding results.
Once sold, our next issue was, where to live? We are really difficult to please as we had no idea where or what we wanted to go expect that we were keen to remain in Franklin.
Luckily for us, Nicola, who is part of Scott’s team, was tenacious, showing us all manner of properties and emailing me as soon as something came up she thought we might like. With that kind of persistence she found the right place in just two weeks.
The new property has only an acre and a half of land with no paddocks or barn but a bigger house – did I say I was set to downsize?
While I had looked at several charming but smaller homes, I soon realised we had too much furniture that was special to me such as my grandmother’s piano and an antique pedal organ – not the sort of things that fit into a cottage.
One property we looked at was really small and as we walked around it we realised that after years of marriage, living in such a tiny space would probably see one of us killing the other.
As it is, all’s well that ends well and what a relief it will be when we move early in February.
Our new home is off Glenbrook Road, just five minutes from my Waiau Pa friends’ new property and about the same distance from our Pilates instructor, Jo. I must admit it will take me 15 minutes longer to get to our Botany office but that’s a small compromise – we really did need less land!
No paddocks mean we will be seeking a home for our sheep and Brian is now facing the difficult decision as to what to do about our mare? Compromise?
With all this happening, the thought of Christmas has been put on the back burner and we have told everyone no presents as they will be another thing to pack! But the worst is yet to come and that’s the move itself.
I have as much to move in the garden as I have in the house. But I have booked the girls from Home and Away to do the big clean once the furniture is out.
One job down, a million others to do!
