Oaktreehouse's Blog

Another Twist In The Story

oaktreehouse — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:40:59 +0000

If you have been keeping up with the blog you will know that I trying to sell my 2 bed flat (Details below). You will also know that I had an offer from a chap that we will call Jack. Subsequently I found out from Matt the estate agent that the Jack had had an offer accepted on a flat in the same street. The flat is in need of renovation but the purchase was progressing nicely, survey complete and mortgage approved. While all the time Jack continues to tell me he intends to purchase mine but his mortgage company are dragging their feet, it’s be ongoing for 7 weeks. The offer from Jack is a private offer via www.tepilo.com.

But now there is another twist. A week or so before Christmas a lady called Stella who also lives in my street viewed my flat and made a ridiculously low offer which I rejected. Her story being that she was looking for a flat for her son and was a cash buyer. She had seen the other flat but was put off because the previous owner had died there. Earlier this week I was getting some feedback from the estate agent about a viewing on my flat but this time I spoke with Darren and he was keen to mention that he had sold a similar flat in my street and that it was a low offer as the place needs renovation and the buyer was a cash buyer who lived locally purchasing the flat for her son. Sound familiar.

I should mention that I have continued to market my flat and continue to chase up Jack fortnightly, just in case.

Please pass the details onto anyone you know looking to purchase a flat. Ideal rental with good transport links to Heathrow and 5 minute drive to Whitton mainline station for Waterloo, with free street parking in the area, and a short reliable bus ride to Twickenham Station or Hounslow East underground station. Keen to sell and sensible offers will be seriously considered.

http://www.tepilo.com/property/6524/redfern_ave_twickenham_tw4/

One year on

oaktreehouse — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:07:42 +0000

And there is still snow on the ground.

Tomorrow (21.12.10) it will be a year since the frame of my house went up.

Since then it has a roof, first fix electrics, electricity, gas, windows & doors. … not a lot to show for a years work !

http://oaktreehouse.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/hit-it-with-a-hammer/

If anyone does want the guided tour over the Christmas break please get in touch

Better still if someone wants to buy my flat http://www.tepilo.com/property/6524/redfern_ave_twickenham_tw4/

I am lost for words. The flat is back on the market

oaktreehouse — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:45:29 +0000

Well at least lost for a word that I can publish here…

Let me explain the full story

Back in the late spring a young couple came to look at my flat, the agent said they had the deposit and an agreement in principle for the mortgage, they didn’t need a station and they had friends who lived locally. They sounded like absolutely ideal buyers, then after the viewing they made a good offer which I accepted. They began the process of getting a full mortgage approval and our solicitors swapped details etc. 3 weeks later they pulled out as they felt moving and having a baby at the same time wasn’t practical for them. You might question why were they looking if she was 7 months pregnant but from what I know now I am not surprised

6 months later…

The same couple contact me via www.tepilo.com (agent free internet private sales) They would like to view my property again as they are now ready to move and this is the area they want to live in and they are keen to make an offer. Excellent news.

They came to view the flat and we talked a bit about a property over the road that they have also viewed. They advise me that they had made a very low offer and not heard from the agent but as there was a sold board up they assumed the vendor had accepted a higher offer. They called me a few days later to make an offer on my flat, we negotiated a bit and I accepted their offer. They said with a baby they thought my flat that was the best option for them as the other flat needed alot of work including the installation of central heating.

Here is where it gets interesting. I instructed my solicitor and asked them for the details of their solicitor along with an offer in writing subject to approval of their mortgage. They did not reply to my email but when I phoned they said the mortgage would take 7 weeks to be processed. This seemed a long time to me and also to ace Mortgage Advisor Mary Warring, but still not much I could do but keep onto them.

I left it at that for a couple of weeks, then began texting them for updates after the third text wasn’t replied to I gave them a call. They confirmed the mortgage was being processed but they didn’t know why it was going to take so long but they did confirm they still wanted to purchase the flat. That’s really all I wanted to know and was something I thought I made clear in my text messages.

I advised them that I would continue to market it via an agent just in case there was a problem with the mortgage approval and they accepted this and understood that should another offer come along they may lose out. I thought they didn’t seem as keen as you think a first time buyer might be and when I asked who the lender was they didn’t seem to know, but he did say he wanted to get the mortgage approved this side of Christmas.

The following day…

I have a new agent value and subsequently market the flat. I make the new agent aware that there is an offer on the table, and tell him that he might remember them as they placed an offer on the flat over the road. It transpires the agent only had the one offer, which was accepted and the purchase is well underway. The agent calls me back a couple of hours later to say the mortgage is approved, the survey is complete and the sale appears to be going through.

Conclusion: The guy is a ROTTER… please feel free to insert more appropriate language that I would not wish to use on this blog site

It’s quite unbelievable that anyone would string along a second vendor when they have progressed so far with an alternative property. Especially as if mine does not sell these people will be living across the road. I fail to see any advantage in not pulling out of the agreement on my flat once the survey has been carried out on the other property.

I am pretty sure the last owner of the flat over the road died there, maybe it will turn out to be haunted….

It’s been a while…

oaktreehouse — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:34:16 +0000

Yes it’s been a while and that’s because nothing has happened to the build since the windows where installed, except that the faulty seal and damaged hinge on the bi fold doors have been fixed. It took the chaps less than five minutes to replace the hinge with a new one and the seal just needed to be untrapped from the glass.

Everything now depends on selling my flat which you can see at www.tepilo.com just search TW4 5LZ or try this link http://www.tepilo.com/property/6524/redfern_ave_twickenham_tw4/

And in answer to the question everyone asks, there is no advantage to renting it because it’s the equity in the property that will finance the remainder of the build. In hindsight I should have marketed the flat from day one and if it had sold quickly looked to rent somewhere or get a caravan on site.

The Garden

I am already thinking about the garden and have decided to set my self a challenge of creating a garden for free or at least all the plants for free. So now is a good time to start collecting seed and to take hardwood cuttings of shrubs (for those new to the Blog I am a Garden Designer). I am pretty good at acquirng the cuttings I am not so good at caring for them afterwards. I don’t have a greenhouse but I do have a Mum with green fingers and a greenhouse.

So far I have the following items

A Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) a birthday gift. Its has to go near the front door for the winter scent

A ornamental pear – Left over from the show garden at Hampton Court in 2007

Schizostylis (kaffir lily) the bulbs just popped out of the ground as I was weeding at clients – Honest guv.

Skimmia – Grown from seed – Well done Mum

Acer (purple leaves) – Unwanted by a client, currently growing in my own garden

I am also planning to take a semi containerised Maple that was a gift from my friends Dad when he relocated back to Wales. It’s in a container that it is the ground I doubt much of the container is left now.

Oh yeah and I have a huge Oak tree that came with the plot, there is also a nice Pittosporum that I have managed to save on the site.

Any donations gratefully received. Maybe I should start a wish list

The largest area of garden is at the front and it’s mostly underneath the large Oak it also faces north so it’s very shady but not to dry it seems. The rear garden is 9m wide (across the back of the house) but only about 2.5m long from the wall of the house to the neighbours fence at the rear but it faces south. It’s most likely to be decked for 2 reasons one there are so many left over timber joists it will be a good way to utilise them and two the foundations of the house sit about 20cm above the soil building the soil back up would be costly, time consuming and more importantly it would breach the damp proof course. So most plants will be in containers or raised beds, I also like to make a small pond/water feature and need somewhere for Elsie, my Lily Sawtell sculpture http://www.lilysawtell.com/

That’s all for now folks, I will try not to leave it so long next time.

Water Tight

oaktreehouse — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:11:51 +0000

Just had a call to say the Windnows and doors are complete. I went last night to have a look where they had got to but for security they looked the front door and I couldn’t get in. Slightly ironic as for the last 6 months its been completely open. They seemed almost complete last night they just had a few handles to fit as far as I could see. Well done Eco-Redwood windows. They arrived yesterday at 8.30am after travelling from Barnsley that morning and installed 2 French doors, 1 front door with side window, 3 windows and a set of bi-fold doors. Its now 9.00am the following day, they are just putting the protective film on and then they will be gone.

I have windows and doors

oaktreehouse — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:17:19 +0000

Just about to go to see the Windows and doors, I expect all of them except the bi-folds which take a bit longer to install will be in by now.

I left site at 9.30 this morning and they pretty much had two windows fitted. I passed by at 11.30 to take some pictures and they put all the windows, the back door and were just finishing the patio doors on the gallery, leaving just the front door and the bi-folds for the main living room.

I am looking forward to getting up on the gallery floor and looking out across the field from the balcony, the opening has been closed off by a blue taupaulin sheet for the last 6 months or so. I only hope they have not got all the doors in and locked them as I will be locked out !

The Polish Truck Driver

oaktreehouse — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:04:56 +0000

Well that was quite a morning, when the doors and windows did get to the right location the driver had no means of unloading them. No only could he not unload them he couldn’t communicate anything to me as he didn’t speak a word of English. I can only assume the transport company thought there would be builders on site to help unload, the driver didn’t even have a pallet truck to move them onto a tail lift.

But he did have a long pole to pin back the curtain sides of his truck so he was a Pole with a Pole.

Once he realised he was stuck with no means of unloading he went in to the sort of sulk that only a delivery drivers can. He walked about quite a lot, smoked a couple of fags, and mumbled to himslef like I have never heard before, he did make some slashing movements at the cling film stuff that they wrap these loads in and cut through a couple of the plastic straps, with a sharp kitchen knife, then he just looked at it shock his head and mumbled. At 9 o’clock when the offic opened I was able to speak to the suppliers, then handed my phone to the driver so he could speak to the polish speaker in the office. He was told he needed to unload and that I could help, he wasn’t having any off it and went into his cab to sulk a bit more and smoke a bit more. One more call to the office and they finally got him to let me help, the first window was fine for the bathroom but next came the back door and it was mega heavy, and I knew the front door would be even heavier there was no way I could lift it. So we went back to are respective vehicles where he sulked and smoked some more and I called Andras & David my landscapers to lend a hand. They had to drop tools on a job in Brentford and come to Hampton. To move the front door which is solid wood and comes in its frame with the side glass window panel in place Andras created a harness from some staps which they placed on their shoulders to give them extra help to lift it.

At least I know that the fitters who are coming tomorrow will speak English

The windows are here

oaktreehouse — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:54:00 +0000

There was a knock on door thisorning at 8 o’clock. Ah that will be a courier with my latest eBay purchase a vacuum cleaner for the build site. When I opened the door there was a tall man brandishing a piece of paper and pointing at my name and address. He spoke no English and just looked at me, then I noticed the address included the words Oaktree and I realised it’s my windows and they are at the wrong house. It took a while to explain to the Polish driver that they needed to go somewhere else. We got there in the end but there was no way I could explain it’s just a wooden site gate and nobody will be there. So I had to jump in the car and come to site to make sure he found it ok. When I got here he was walking the steet looking dazed and confussed. Not sure what he is doing now I can hear a lot of goings on in the lorry so I guess he is unloading but no sign of the windows coming out of the truck. Now he is having a smoke. I was about to have some breakfast when he arrived now I am starving.

Windows are coming

oaktreehouse — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:08:45 +0000

The window suppliers have confirmed that the windows and the window fitters will be on site on Tuesday. It will be great to take off the taurpalins that flap very loudly but have been stopping the worst of the weather for the last six months.

With lots of help from my college friend Petra we have moved all the spare wood from the dining room area. So for the first time today I have been able to walk around the whole kitchen and diner. This work was in preparation for erecting the scaffold tower so we could fit the insulation into the roof in the main double height void area but it came clear quite quickly that the tower I borrowed couldn’t be assembled to the height required without hitting the sloping roof, I am going to have to rethink this to find a solution to this one. Instead we moved our attention to the same job but up on the gallery where access isn’t an issue. We managed to get one of the sloping roof sections insulated and boarded over, the next ones should be quicker as I know how to do it.

A long awaited update

oaktreehouse — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:13:22 +0000

Hello everyone, it’s been a while since my last post but that’s because not much has changed. I still have no buyer for my 2 bed flat so I cannot progress the build. So if you know someone looking to but for themselves or as a rental property here are the details

http://www.tepilo.com/property/6524/redfern_ave_twickenham_tw4/

Just spent an hour on site waiting for a Kitchen Designer but he didn’t turn up. His loss really there is plenty of competition.

The groundwork company have finally re-dug the service trench for the water supply to the correct depth I just need Thames Water to come and inspect it before it can be filled in and the water connected.

As for the bits I can do myself like the insulation, and putting up the gutters I haven’t had time as work has been very busy. I thought of making a start on the roof insulation at the weekend but the though of having to wear protective clothing and a mask in this hot weather wasn’t very appealing but I did move some wood around again. There is still a (fair or fare ummm not sure) quite a bit of wood in the living space and it needs moving before I can put up the scaffold tower to do the high ceiling. I need to do it soon as my bricklayer has lent me his scaffold tower but he will want it back soon I am sure

The window suppliers should have confirmed their delivery and fitting schedule today but they did not call. The provisional date they gave me a couple of weeks ago was 14^th July but I have a feeling they are going to let me down.

I bought some of my furniture was back in the Christmas sales, I been putting of delivery for a couple of months now but I finally had to agree a delivery date. So today 2 bright red sofas have arrived and are being stored in my mum’s garage until the house is complete.