There's a long version and a short version to this post...

SHORT- We had a royally crap time trying to sell our house, we were a military family, we reclocated (eventually). THE END.

If you want the long version get yourself a brew...or a gin.

If you've followed me for a while you'll perhaps know the 'fun' we've had. I'm going to break it into parts just so I know where I am and so you can tell me which part you fell asleep in.

PART 1- The Move

We brought our first home in 2015 (during being made redundant on maternity leave...ace timing) we managed and got ourselves onto the property ladder! We said goodbye to magnolia wood chip, mismatched carpets and black mould that military housing offered and got ourselves a 'cosy' 3 bedroom end of terrace.

We loved our first home (it was a 1930s project) but we soon grew out of it...to be honest it was probably too small to start with. After renovating we went to sell in 2017...it fell through twice and we ended up loosing the new house that we'd reserved and ££££'s because we'd paid for flooring to be laid...(watch out for that we were told by the developers it had to be added at the stage in hindsight we'd never do it again) our buyers pulled out the day before exchange- QUEUE LOTS OF GIN AND TEARS and the developers weren't the most pleasant to deal with after.

Anyway we did some more renovating and agreed to stay for a few more years (I declared every room had to be redone to make it feel like a new home alongside replacing the roof, windows etc). We finished the very last room in December 2018 and in April 2019 we were up for sale again. *not the few years we said it'd be (I'll explain in part 2).

I don't know if the above back story is really necessary but I feel like I need to explain so come 2019 when you hear how much gin was consumed you'll understand. Also if you're currently in a crap moving house situation because some buyers suck it'll hopefully make you feel better.

So we sold after just a few days and the lady buyer was super excited then after 6 weeks changed her mind and pulled out...back up for sale again. The same lady then came back after 3 days saying it was a mistake and that she wanted our house again...she gave us her word she wouldn't change her mind again but TEN DAYS LATER she pulled out. QUEUE THAT BOTTLE OF GIN. I CRIED A LOT. We lost yet another house and all I kept hearing was 'everything happens for a reason...what's meant to be won't pass you by....' I genuinely believe that but my god when you're stressed out you don't want to believe it or hear it. I just wanted to move...I didn't understand why everyone wanted our home but never stuck around to actually properly buy it!

Two weeks later we sold again...I told myself fifth buyer lucky and finally it pulled off. If you want to see genuine happiness there's a 'yay we exchanged' dance on my instagram highlights. The day I got the phone call about exchanging I was in Zara in Cambridge and I burst into tears...hysterical happy tears there may have even been a wail! HA! Safe to say I celebratory shopped and got a cheeky CONGRATS YOU'RE FINALLY MOVING MC DONALDS.

Goodbye First Home. Goodbye Suffolk. Goodbye Military Life.

PART 2- The Reason

As a military family we hadn't really moved around a lot, thankfully we always got fairly commutable postings. Originally we were both from Lincolnshire and when we got married I moved to Suffolk to be where B was based!

Every posting would bring the 'fear' of being sent the other side of the country but we were always very lucky we had over eight years in Suffolk and I was convinced we'd never leave, I loved our location and I honestly thought we'd stay there which is why we decided to buy a house (and I couldn't cope with anymore military housing decor...they are not like the films).

There was a lot of uncertainty about B's last posting and he eventually ended up being back at a base in Lincolnshire. We decided to stay in Suffolk because we wanted to keep the children settled and B would commute but after over four months of just seeing him twice a week we decided a move to Lincolnshire would be best for us as a family as it was actually more unsettling for the children despite him going away regularly. I'm not going to lie to you it was a harder decision than I made it sound...you should have seen our pros and cons list! 

For privacy I won't go into too much detail here but an opportunity came up for B to leave the military (queue another pros and cons list) and he did. I can't tell you how much I cried when he sent me a photo of him 'officially ticking that box' it wasn't sadness although I was a little it was pure relief knowing I'd never have to explain to our children again that daddy was going away or knowing I'd never have to stand on the doorstep knowing I'd not see him for months or if ever again. Military life was mostly amazing and I was always very proud but it has it's dark moments and those I won't miss. Anyway so that's why we're here and now we are living an ordinary civilian life and it's taken some adjusting but the children have settled amazingly and we're happy.

PART 3- The House.

Oh the house. We had a specific list of everything we wanted which meant we didn't have a huge list of places to view as I was specific on area too...as we were moving back to Lincolnshire I didn't want to be back in the same town as it would have felt like a step backwards to me but we needed to be close enough so the children could have relationships with family. Strangely that took some adjusting as for the last eight-ish years we'd been so used to being on our own in our own self sufficient bubble.

We'd always dreamt of a Georgian/Victorian style house but didn't think we'd get one within budget that would tick most boxes. I'd shown B this house on Rightmove and he wasn't that fussed but as we were travelling from Suffolk for viewings I booked one in so we could see it properly. I'm always the 'play it cool' one when we view houses but I was excited at just the front door. I squealed the majority of the way round...good job the agent left us to it! It is a DOER UPPER I knew there was a lot to do but it was manageable and liveable...the potential got me super excited...I knew where my Christmas tree would go and we were sold.

We viewed more houses that ticked every box but nothing could beat the high ceilings and features this one had...I was already in love and mentally saw us living there. We had lots of to-ing and fro-ing but we had our offer accepted and we were beyond happy. We'd lost so many sales/houses previously it was really hard to remain positive and plan whilst being realistic it could happen again.

There's been a long time without a mention of gin so here goes...someone put an offer in the day after we'd had ours accepted...(queue tears and gin again) we had to wait TWO days for a final decision and the seller picked us...I still sit here overwhelmed that it's ours and we're here...maybe that whole 'what's meant to be will be saying' worked in our favour...We were told he wanted to complete in 8 weeks and we made it happen, safe to say our solicitors were probably thrilled to be rid of me.

So here we are in our old doer upper and we're happy. I can't lie I do miss Suffolk but I love our home, I love that we're all together and I'm excited for our future.

If you made it through all 3 parts I owe you...thanks for reading darlings!

Hope that answers some of your questions!

With Love,

Charlotte X