HOUSE HUNTING

HOUSE HUNTING

Okay, so you know the story about me selling houses? That was in my blog “HOUSE FOR SALE!”  Now for buying a house? The prospect of buying a house, blind, was a nightmare, believe me? It terrified me to the core. My other houses were bought with my X, who was, well still is, sighted! So whilst my Husband and I pondered on how on earth we were going to do this, he tried to reassure me we would be okay? Well thank God for our teen, as he helped out quite a lot, but he was at school most of the time,and as Hub was abroad loads, we had to fit in times when he was home, this clashed with teen at school, so we went on the train to our new town. A place we knew nothing about but one where we had to move to, as we needed to move somewhere we could become more independent, as where we lived, we were stuck in the wilds of that hunter  Willy.

Well, not quite in the wilds, but forty minutes from town and one bus an hour, as well as for Hub to travel to London, he had to take a taxi for forty minutes then over three hours on the train. We moved closer and there is a train station, just over fifteen minutes away. The busses are great here and there are a few shops we can get to. But we hunted the whole city, before moving here.

I can’t imagine what the sellers thought, when in walks two blind people with their dogs, and a child, acting like a little tour guide. Teen was so sweet describing everything he could see, but discretion wasn’t or isn’t, his forte and on one visit, he said in a loud voice,

“Oh no you don’t want this house; the walls are full of cracks.” Right in front of the sellers, then he would walk into a dated kitchen and make it quite obvious, that it was awful, hahahaha. One thing he did do, was to squeeze my arm if there were no questions to ask, why ask if not buying?

We gave the houses marks out of ten. We saw so many, nine in just one day.

Then we had to come on our own Hub and I got on the train, him with a Braille note taker and me with my Dictaphone. It was so hard, but you know when you walk in a house, that it has a good feeling or not. We shocked a taxi driver one day as when we got in his car; we began to talk to each other about what we had just seen.

We were cross with the estate agents, as we told them we could not see, we were to come from a distance by taxi’s and trains and please tell us if it would be worth our while, telling them our particular requirements for our house.

They all said the same, that they couldn’t tell us in case it interfered with the sale, I told them, we were not a normal case and needed a bit of their help. No, no help.

So when we got in the taxi, Hub turned to me and said,

“No way will they sell that house, not ever!” I agreed, starting to say what a funny shape the rooms were and how untidy it was and how they couldn’t be bothered to even tidy up for viewers to see? How the bathroom was so old and wall paper needed all renewing? Hub said

“Yes, and the electrics are the old style so that will need all doing, and it was riddled with damp!” Well the taxi driver said in an inquisitive an yet nervous voice, not wanting to be politically incorrect, hahaha, he does not know me?

“If you don’t mind me asking, you are both blind?” We said yes,

“Well how on earth do you know all of this, I mean how do you know room sizes?”

Well we can feel the room size. If it is small, it kind of closes in on us, so a long narrow room your voice throws and shoulders are hugged.

In a large square room, everything seems far away. In an empty room, one that doesn’t feel homely, your voice and footsteps, echo!

We know when there are high ceilings and low ones and we of course can smell foist or damp. My Hubby actually bent down to feel the sockets and knew by doing that, that they were modern or not. And you brush past walls to see what state the paper is in and you feel beneath your step if the floors seem spongy.

Oh, some of the bathrooms were just revolting. So grimy the dirt was awful, but you know, they were such deer houses, not like they were cheap and my Hub and I decided that with the recession, some poor people were forced out of their properties, so did not want to sell them, and could stay in them until they sold and others, were living in the houses as rental occupants until it sold, again, why would they want the house to sell? It would mean moving for them again.

So much stress we had with the bank and we had bought a house, but found out well down the buying track, that it had subsidence some years ago and our bank would not give us the money because of this. I am very pleased now that happened, as I would not have found my lovely house here and the wonderful Church friends and neighbours we have.

I miss my old home town so much it hurts but we have a bit of a life here, though still restricted, we can at least buy milk if  we run out and there is a lovely field for the dogs to run free, as well as the transport. So I really believe that we were meant to be here.

I came with the teen to view this house and my Brother in law came with us. On that day, we viewed six houses and picked this one. My Husband was in India at the time. I managed to get the house for a much lower price but we knew there was a bit to do to it, so needed all the money we could raise. I must admit, I was rather anxious, considering Hub knew nothing about it, but he trusted me bless him, and here we are, so the first time he saw the house,  was the day we moved in. You can imagine how I felt, s Hub walked through the door?

“God, was he going to like it? Our tastes were so different, I like a very modern house, with old fashioned accessories and Hub likes the old churchy kind of look, with lots of stained glass and huge rooms, with tall ceilings. He is class, me?

The house I picked is half and half. More my way, but I thought of Hub as far as where his piano would go, and I knew he liked different windows and some character. Our window in the sitting room is unusual and the landing is huge. The internal downstairs doors are lovely too. So we have spent a fortune on the house and will be paying it off forever, but it’s our home. Our very own.