What an interesting weekend

As I mentioned on Friday, we were waiting for a formal offer to be made on our house.

It was supposed to be made at around 4pm so I made sure my diary was free for the latter part of Friday afternoon.

At 4pm - nothing! Diddly-squat, so I waited, checking through my e-mails, conscious of the fact that I needed to pick junior up from nursery before 5:30.

Then, at about 4:20pm, we got the call.

The chap from Halifax estates pipes up with something on the lines of ‘well, we have an offer and its a little lower then we were expecting’.

My stomach sunk to the floor when he confirms that the offer will be £12,000 under the asking price.

Prior to taking today’s call, myself and the missus had agreed the minimum we would accept, in fact we’d agreed and stuck to this figure from the day we were awarded our Visa’s and it’s formed a pretty key part of our ‘plan’ I.e. If we don’t get this much for the house we don’t move.

With this key point in mind, the declined the offer.

The chap from the Halifax remained upbeat saying he thought it was just a ’shot across the bow’ to test the water. He also asked what the minimum figure we would accept for the property, which I told him.

I also give him an idea of what kind of figure we would accept. Most importantly I told him not to disclose any of these figures to the buyer.

He confirmed that he would go back to the buyer and advise we were looking for something nearer the asking price and happy with this, he went on his merry way.

It was about 4:25pm by this point; I hung around for another 25 minutes without another update. At 4:50pm I tried to call the branch.

Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring…no answer (very often the case with this branch).

So, off to pick junior up from nursery, 5:20 still no updates so back on the phone again…

Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring, ring…you get the idea….

The buggers had gone home for the night and I was livid.

To me this is basic customer service. I couldn’t believe that they had decided to go home for the night without giving us a formal update. Even if the update was that there was no update, this would be better then nothing.

What was the buyers reaction to our decline? Were they going to make another offer? Had they decided it was out of their price range?

Who knows, we didn’t and after over 24 hours of emotion and anticipation there was nothing we could do until the branch opened on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came. One of our son’s nursery chums had a birthday party at one of these wacky warehouse type places so we were all out of the door on the way to ‘Geronimos’ at about 9:45am

Shoes off and away he went with all of his little buddies. Time for a cuppa and a call back into the Halifax.
The chap who I had spoken to the previous night was on the phone but thankfully became available just a few seconds after his colleague answered our call.

He came on the phone… So what’s happened?

‘Hello sir, well we tried to call the buyer to advise that her initial offer had been declined but were unable to get in contact with her. We’ll be giving her a call later today’.

Phew! OK, the service was still crap (he could have phoned me on Friday night to let me know this) but not being able to contact the buyer was a reasonable enough reason for things not to have progressed at the kind of pace that we wanted to on Friday night. At least the buyer hadn’t been scared off!

Another plus point was the Halifax chap also confirmed that the buyer had referred to her initial offer as being a ‘provisional offer’ which indicated she might have a little more cash to come.

Relatively content with the update, I let the Halifax chap go on his way and I updated the missus.

Time went on, the kids played (I never knew a three year old could sweat so much) and hotdogs/chicken nuggets were eaten.

Back home for Saturday brunch (Sausage sarnies) and back to the waiting game.

Then, at 2:28pm on Saturday the 29th of July we got the call. It was a revised offer! More importantly it was at the bottom of the range that we’ve always said we’d accept!

Now lets just take a few seconds out here. When we planned to sell the house we always had the original asking price at one end of our scale and the lowest price we’d accept if desperate at the other.

Between these two prices would be multiple reductions over a period of weeks to enable those who had shown an interest but couldn’t afford the full asking price to have renewed interest at a slightly lower price.

Only if we were still here at Christmas would we make the final reduction to the lowest possible price we’d accept.

Since putting this faultless plan into action, we’d noticed that the housing market wasn’t as buoyant as we’d expected. Offers that had been made previously were massively under the minimum we’d ever consider selling for.

So here we were, still with a house being advertised at the same price it was advertised for on day one. With a house that hadn’t been re-advertised at one of our incremental reductions.

Here we were at the end of July with an offer we originally said we would only consider if we were still here at Christmas.

What did we do? We bloody bit their hand off, that’s what!

At the end of the day, if we were selling our house for millions then the difference in the top of our range and the bottom could be into the tens of thousands.

With our little home the difference in the top and bottom of the range was into the thousands and we’ve had enough hanging around now. The buyer was also a first time buyer (with a lot of financial assistance from her folks) so no chain = more control over when we need to vacate.

So we accepted their offer with a smile and toasted our new buyers with a glass of champers that very night.

There are still a few more hurdles that we need to get over before we can fully relax. The buyer needs to get a mortgage sorted and then we need to exchange contracts.

Once contracts are exchanged then we can fully relax and I can hand my notice in at work.

Oh yes. I’m sure the Halifax disclosed to the buyer the minimum figure we’d accept just so they could get the sale. Nothing to prove this but just a thought!

Anyway, mustn’t dwell on this. Things are finally starting to happen again so bring it on.

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Another House Offer on the cards

Well, its been over a month since we had the first formal, and highly disappointing offer on our house.

We had a chap come to look at the house this week, he brought his daughters with him and I have a feeling that the purchase will be for his daughter/s rather then for himself.

He confirmed that they don’t have a property to sell which is really good for us as it reduces the chain. I think the fact that we’re also not in a chain would be viewed as a good thing.

Anyway, we hope that the offer will be formalised at some point today so we’ll see!

In other house related news, we paid to add our house via The Little House Company last weekend.

For £135 (basic package starts at £89) You can upload your property details and they’ll distribute the details across a network of over 350 property related websites including such sites as Fish4 and Homesandproperties.co.uk.

The big sell for TLHC is the fact that if you sell via this service its classed as a ‘private sale’ so no commission is payable on the final sale of the house.

We made this decision as we wanted to increase the exposure we can give our property as much as we possibly can. If the most recent offer falls through we’ll also be making our Estate Agent (Halifax) aware that we are also marketing the property privately.

Perhaps this competition may help push them to pull their finger out! Unlikely but you never know.

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Assurances of Support - Income Threshold Raised

The base level of assessable income for individuals providing an Assurance of Support has been increased to A$40,000 from the 1st of July 2006.

This is a significant increase from the previous base figure of A$33,361, and (so far as we know) applies to all visa applicants requiring an Assurance of Support where the AoS has not yet been finalised.

In other words, individuals who are providing an Assurance of Support that has not yet been finalised will be required to demonstrate assessable income for the last two income tax years computed with reference to this higher base figure.

Where an individual cannot meet the new income test it may be necessary to seek another Assurer whose income can be combined with the original Assurer to satisfy the Assurance of Support income requirements - up to 3 people can combine their income to provide a joint AoS.

Source : GoMatilda.com

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Ooh What a Scorcher

Phew! Its been really warm this last week. What’s that I hear you say, warm, in the UK, as in sunny?? Yup!

Damn warm in fact. The newspapers have been running their annual - Ooh, what a scorcher features for the last few days but today looks like it’s going to be the hottest day of the year, perhaps even the hottest day of the century with temperatures topping the 35 degree C mark (Approx 95 Degrees Fahrenheit - Click the thumbnail for today’s UK weather map).

One thing the hot weather really brings home is how brill it is. Yes, its sticky at night but in Australia you can make sure you live somewhere with the correct technology (i.e. Air Conditioning) to help counteract these really hot times.

More importantly, is great to wake up on the morning to have the Sun on your back. Its even better to finish work and know you can pop out in the garden for an hour or two to catch the last of the WARM sunshine whilst enjoying a glass of wine or two or a nice barbeque like we did last night.

In the UK, a hot sunny week gets the press into a frenzy. In Australia it’s a way of life and its this way of life which is one of the big draws for this family.

Still have to sell the damn house (feels like I’ve been saying that for ages now) but we will get there!

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Latest Australia Visa Processing Times

Latest Processing times for July:

As advised on the DIMA website processing of an application will usually commence within seven (7) working days of its receipt by the department.

This means that an application is receipted, acknowledged and a file number is allocated.

Once this has occurred a case officer is appointed to assess each application as soon as possible, however, the ASPC receives a large number of applications and you will not be contacted immediately. Applications lodged on the dates shown below are currently being allocated to case officers for further processing.

As of 18th July 2006 the Adelaide Skilled Processing Centre is allocating applications lodged on or before the following dates:

ONSHORE - paper based applications: 8 March 2006 (all applications)
ONSHORE- e-lodged (online) applications: 10 March 2006 (all applications)

SIR - paper based applications: 15 March 2006
SIR - e-lodged (online) applications: 1 May 2006

ONSHORE NEW ZEALAND APPLICATIONS: 22 November 2005

OFFSHORE APPLICATIONS (all paper based)
Priority Applications: In the range of 1 March to 8 March 2006
Non-Priority Applications: In the range of 28 November to 5 December 2005

Notes

Onshore: means that the visa being applied for can be granted while the applicant is in Australia.

e-lodged: applications lodged online have quicker processing times.

SIR visas: All applicants for a Skilled - Independent Regional [SIR] visa receive priority processing.

Offshore: means that the visa being applied for can only be granted when the applicant is outside of Australia.

If a visa application was made before the earliest relevant date as shown above and you have not been contacted by a case officer please contact the Adelaide Skilled Processing Centre at: adelaide.skilled.centre@immi.gov.au

Applications eligible for priority processing

1. Applicants whose nominated occupation is on the Migration Occuptations in Demand List (MODL)

2. For applicants whose nominated occupation is not on the MODL, applications for any of the following visas are given priority:

a) Skill Matching (Migrant) (Class BR) - Subclass 134 - Skill Matching
b) Skilled - Independent (Migrant) (Class BN) – Subclass 137 - Skilled - State/Territory-nominated Independent
c) Skilled - Australian-sponsored (Migrant) (Class BQ) - Subclass 139 - Skilled - Designated Area – Sponsored
d) Skilled - Independent Regional (Provisional) (Class UX) - Subclass 495 - Skilled - Independent Regional (Provisional)
e) Skilled New Zealand (Residence) visa class (Class DB) - Subclass 863 - Skilled - Onshore Regional-Sponsored New Zealand Citizen
f) Skilled — Australian-sponsored Overseas Student (Residence) (Class DE) - Subclass 882 - Skilled — Designated Area-sponsored Overseas Student

Eligibility for priority processing does not mean that any processing requirements can be waived.

Finalising Applications

Please note that the information provided above is not about the time it will take to process an application to completion. The time it is expected to take to process a General Skilled Migration visa application to completion is detailed in the department’s service standards. Service standards are specified for applications lodged with complete documentation. Individual cases may take longer than the service standard depending on the completeness and complexity of the case.

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House still for sale and sad goodbyes

Well, its been a while but thought it may be useful to post an update on what’s going on.

The house is still up for sale but alas, we have had no joy in flogging the property yet. Its been 8 weeks since we first assigned the Halifax as our agent and to be honest the service has been terrible.

I have never dealt with a more reactive company in my life, they don’t seem to do anything unless you actively chase them up. We have had a number of people who have looked slightly interested but then we have had no further feedback.

Phoning the Halifax branch has led to some feedback but that’s only after the staff have gone away (when asked) to collect the feedback which they should have proactively collected in the first place.

Just to add the icing on the cake, we’ve had members of staff crying down the phone because they are stressed. Its been crazy.

Anyway, we’ve got a few more days with the Halifax before our minimum contract period runs out. When it does we’ll be taking our business elsewhere whilst dropping the house price by a couple of percentage points to see if this improves the amount of interest shown.

When selling your property, one tip is to play on the lack of the chain your in. At the end of the day, when you sell your house your ready to move as you don’t need to find another property to buy (not in this country anyway!). Use this to your advantage, although we haven’t sold up yet, many viewers have commented on how good a thing this actually is as it enables potential buyers to be more flexible with moving dates.

In other news, we said our first goodbyes to two close members of our family last week. Holly and Chloe the Chinchillas went to their new home (An old boss and a good friend from work).

Were taking the cats with us to Australia but it wouldn’t be fair to take the ‘chins’. Being native to the Andes mountains in South America means that they may not have adapted to well to the 40 degree heat of Western Australia. We’ve had them for about 10 years now and it was sad to say goodbye. But we know they have gone to a good home (with another 5 Chinchillas!) So I’m confident that we have done the right thing.

On the plus side it means we don’t need to lug a big Chinchilla cage down the side of the house every time we show someone around the place
Hopefully my next update will be with more upbeat news!

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