Margie's den of wonders...: May 2007

I have been bad at posting of late (thanks for the hijack Cameron) because I have been keeping a secret for 3 months. Darren and I have bought a house.

Now some of you will be thinking: "Why should that be a secret" or "What took so long" well welcome to English realestate 101! For those of you tuning in to this saga (my family have been hearing - the whispered discussions of this house purchase for some time) the English estate market is nothing like what we have at home. Here is a lovely wikipedia description of what we have been living with and why we have told no one about our purchase:

"When the owner accepts the offer on a property, the buyer will usually not yet have commissioned a building survey nor will the buyer have yet had the opportunity to perform recommended legal checks. The offer to purchase is made "subject to contract" and thus, until written contracts are exchanged either party can pull out at any time. It can take as long as 10-12 weeks for formalities to be completed, and if the seller is tempted by a higher offer during this period it leaves the buyer disappointed and out-of-pocket." link.

So my husband has made me do something that is nie on impossible for me: keep things to myself!

In the current market (which is insanely competitive) on can loose the house they have had an offer accepted on up until the last minute...so stress is not the word for the feelings in our little family!

So now the good news: we get keys on June 8, 2007! We will be living in splendour within a month!

Here are some illustrative pictures to give you a sense of just why we were so anxious to get this place and why it generally rocks!