Don't know how I missed this thread. But Yipeee I am thrilled for you and Dave H. Everything will come through right for you and even if you do have to live in a trailer you could always have a big fat gypsy wedding and make some cash back that way

Oh H, just read through all this and I'm chuffed to bits for you, I am also a tad envious as I think we will still be here in a years time, we had what I considered a good offer, £22k less than the asking price but thought we could recoup that on whatever we buy, but Clive wasn't having any of it

After all you've been through lately you deserve a break, I truly hope it all works out for you and you end up with the place of your dreams xxx

Lol at you there Bev!!! Thanks Sheree, and good luck with yours, been a long time for both of us hasn't it!

Well, I have good news and then I have not so good news!

Dave drove around the area for an hour, the further South he went into Hastings, the more he thought about cancelling the viewing, he hated it, he said it was like being in the back of Brighton, but then once he got back into that road, and the further North he went towards our Caravan Park, the more impressed he got, he said it's like a little community in that road, it's actually right in the St. Helen's Park woods, set aside from the hustle and bustle of the town areas, and as he sat outside the house in the car, he only saw one person with a dog walking up the road, and only saw one car (the road goes nowhere really, except into the woods at the top), and he said you could hear a pin drop and it was 12 mid-day!

When he went inside, he said it was like going back in a time warp into one of my mum and dad's houses, everything was the same, even the bladdy dining room table was the same, let alone that Louis bedroom furniture. Everything was absolutely immaculate, and although the bathrooms and kitchen were also in a time warp, except for the en-suite which was right up to date, it was all like it was brand, spanking new!

This bungalow is actually set back from that road, on it's own little private road, alongside 3 others, and the island that separates these, right opposite at the front, has a bit of garden and huge trees (coz it's woodland remember) and you own that part too which has to be maintained, one bloke he said has even put some decking and chairs on his lol!

I looked through the pictures he had taken, everything, but everything is just right up our street, so I rang the agent, and she said before putting in an offer I MUST go and see it myself. The lady was so nice with Dave that she said she would travel all the way up there again tomorrow just to let me have a look. If we end up buying it, I know I shall feel right at home coz it'll be like living back at mum and dad's only with my furniture in it and a tad smaller!!

Now for the bad news. The lady told Dave that some Italian woman had been round and absolutely loved it, so she wanted to bring her son there this afternoon to make sure it would be suitable for her coz she's old. So here we go, we want it for £240K, perhaps we'll go to £250K, but if this woman wants it to, then it could go up to the £275K that it says on the details, and you can forget that £225 that it starts at on those details, that's just a dangling carrot, which I will definitely not be doing (don't do gazumping, no matter how much we want it!). We can't possibly risk taking even a small mortgage on what with Dave not having a proper job like lol! I told him, if we buy it and we join the resident's association (which is run by the old bloke next door), with all those big, posh houses up that street, he'd have plenty of work, coz I'd talk them all into it (grind them down!!!).

So, here we are, going back there tomorrow at 2pm (no nanny nap for me tomorrow then!), we don't know whether that woman has offered her bid, and even if she has, the vendor won't have accepted it, because she knows we are a better option with our cash sale. The thing is, we won't be a better option when she knows just how much we're prepared to pay though! If it's meant to be, then I suppose it will,and hopefully, that woman's son managed to put her off it, coz it's all very hilly around there (again!), even the house goes up a slope and the back garden is in 3 tiers with a 10ft fence at the back, soooooo private!

It's all so very spooky, the name of the road (Mine), the Spanish theme, that big arched window (all that mum had in her apartment in Mallorca), all the furniture that could have all been hers, even the single beds with that double Louis headboard is JUST what my mum and dad had in their time. The fact that the other side of those woods at the top is my park where I keep the static van, I could walk to it, the beach only 10 mins away, and all the local supermarkets shops, but you wouldn't know it from the road itself. The fact that it's a small replica of a big house my parents had, my mum's favourite house of all time, and they ended up in a fight to get that back in the 80's. She told Dave that when her mum and dad drove up to this house years ago to buy it, they didn't have an appointment, they just saw the for sale board, they sat outside and her dad said "that's our house", so he went straight down to the agents to put down a deposit without even looking inside lol! That's just what my parents did with that similar one of theirs! It's just so spooky! I'm sure my bladdy mother has got a hand in this, she knows it's for me, and if she has, then it'll be ours by Monday!!!!

Finger's crossed then......

Fingers crossed it all goes well Helena.

I wouldn't take too much notice of 'the other buyer' at the moment. Not saying she doesn't exist, but agents have a knack of coming up with another interested party when they think they've got you on the hook .

It sounds wonderful! I will keep everything crossed that you get it. I'd consider going for it myself if we didn't have work to think about.

Trouble is Chris, this was the vendor that told Dave she was coming back this afternoon with her son and when I rang the agents, she confirmed it She also said not to worry too much coz the Italians never were any good at "making their mind up" lol!

Thanks Lucky, it's a little steal is this, and I want it bad!

Fingers crossed for you! X

Thanks for the update H - As people have said above you really shouldn't let other buyers come into the equation, decide what it's what it's worth to you, offer 5% or 10% less and be prepared to move up to your original 'what it's worth to you' figure, and then like our joint advisor has said tell 'em 'take it or leave it'

It might take nerves of steel, and you might loose it 'tho I've a hunch you won't, and even if you do I'm willing to put a cyber fiver on there being another one very similar in the area.

Have to say twice with two different properties the ' take it or leave it' has worked.