And No Longer Waiting

A massive (and very unexpected) day today. We are very excited.

We've had the little apartment on the market for over two weeks now, and hadn't heard peep from either of the two agents. This morning we got a call from one to ask if she could show somebody through, and she said she had a Swedish woman for the next day as well. The first purchaser found it too small for his liking, but was a very interesting man who we might try to catch up with some other time.

Shortly after the visit, we got another call asking if the Swede could come in the early afternoon. No problem. The apartment was super tidy, the floor polished and so on, as we have been making sure it can be viewed at short notice. At 1:30 she turned up with a friend in tow, and from the moment she walked in we could see she was enchanted.

We had to head off afterwards to argue a quote with an electrician, but an hour later we had a call from the agent. "We have an offer in, for your full asking price, is that OK?". Wow! We really couldn't believe it. Back to town, we counter-signed the offer and it all looks like it will go ahead.. Remarkable. Of course we wonder if the price was set too low, but it was way above what both the agents recommended. We had always thought we could command a premium for our location if the "right" person fell in love with it. That's what seems to have been what has happened. The purchaser and friend came around later on to show it to the friend's husband, and he also thought it lovely. So a happy buyer, and a very happy pair of sellers. Settlement is flexible and we can probably push it out to 3 months so the new place will be properly ready. Of course nothing is yet final.

Now all this could have been a problem based on the performance to date of our builder, however... he is right into the rebuild. He arrived on site on Monday morning, as promised - and as promised for the previous two Mondays as well. Only one man on Monday however, hacking out holes in the walls for the 6 new mezzanine beams. Just as well we went up, as he was cutting them out 20cm too high, and he had another wall set out wrong. That's why you have to be on site!

This morning saw a whole team on the job, the Bobcat hoisting beams way up to the 3rd floor, all dust and noise as it should be. By lunchtime all 6 beams were up in place for the mezzanine, just needing some mortar packed around them. By evening, all fully mortared in place. The French workers, once they get going, work very hard and efficiently.

On what seems a mundane note, we had our first decent walk on Sunday since getting back - doing the Hauts de Céret loop above the town. We are just early enough to get the tail end of spring flowers. It was very pleasant getting back out in the hills, something which we so enjoyed during our long winter stay of 2013/14.