Kipper Tie

Well what an eventful few days on the property ladder, and I don't mean just Silver Cres. lets start there though!!

So far you will remember that since I put the house on the market there have been two mortage interest rate hikes, a sub-prime mortgage crisis in the States highlighting the Northern Rock exposure, and a subsequent financial market nervousness which has affected house prices and shares. Couple that with the two properties next to mine going on the market for less that I am asking, the plumbing springing a leak, and the toilet seat breaking, and all in all its been a fretful selling process. Can it get worse?

Well, kind of. Last week Transco scheduled to replace the gas in the Crescent, and Thursday was my day. What they do is replace the main under the pavement, and then feed a new pipe into your house through the old pipe. Sound plan if the old pipe can be navigated, but, and you are all ahead of me here I can tell, mine had a 90 degree turn in it so their draw string broke inside the old pipe and they could not get the new pipe out as it was wedged tight.

So, they are now digging the garden up as I speak, they need to install an external box for the meter, and lay new pipe under the front door and into the kitchen. Nightmare!!

Luckily nobody is schedule to view today, but on the plus side, the house next door but one is now under offer, so I am the last man standing so to speak. They are getting divorced so needed to sell fairly quickly so their price was a bit below mine, a situation I was happy with, although my agent may not have been.

Elsewhere on the property ladder our youngest daughter took ownership of her new flat in Birkenhead on Friday, and she and her Brummie boyfriend have been working to get it habitable. Big sister, mum and his family have been doing most of the painting and decorating. I need a bit of isolation when I do DIY, a fact well known to her, so I will get the snagging list and can go and do it at my leisure!!

Her sis is also quite chuffed at the moment as it seems she is about to move into a new rental property in Jesmond in the centre of Newcastle. Jesmond is know as a shrine to the Virgin Mary, where apparently an apperation was seen many hundreds of years ago and a church has stood on the spot ever since. The Liverpool Catholic Mothers will be over in a shot to visit!! She is moving in with a work colleague and leaving the countrified environment of Yarm for the bright lights of the City, Whey Aye Man! Bryan Ferry used to live in Jesmond, not many people know that.

It will be the end of an era as her current house mate is moving in with her boyfriend, so both girls are embarking on a new life challenge.......surely mine can't be too far behind?