Patience is a Virtue

I truly thought I was a patient person, but waiting for our house to sell is proving me wrong. After quite an influx of viewers in the first few weeks it has all gone quiet.  We don’t live in a horrible house. Honest, why would we?  I also feel the photos in the sales brochure do it justice, they show that it is all lovely and tidy.  So why are all these people who want to move to Penkridge (apparently it is a sought after location) not viewing our house?

OK we live on a main road, which is not to everyone’s taste, but the accesses to the centre, the train station and to all roads and motorways are great. There is even a small airfield nearby so it is dead easy to access the world!  Maybe a bit over the top, but if you happen to own a plane or other small aircraft, it is actually true.

And yes, we have a small garden, but that is why we bought it. We can’t be the only people in the world who do not want to be a slave to the plants or lawn.  Don’t get me wrong, we have lots of plants, but they tend to take care of themselves apart from a bit of a trim every year.  We even have herbs, rhubarb and garlic in pots, our mini allotment, I like to call it.  The garden is big enough to have a number of people round for a barbecue or get-together, so it is not exactly tiny.

Just after my last post, we had a meeting with the estate agent selling our house. He said he has looked at what is selling in the area and noticed that similar houses priced slightly cheaper, are selling a lot more quickly than ours. So with that in mind we changed our “selling strategy” to an offers over a lower price instead of an asking price where people usually offer under. This was in the hope the lower price will attract more viewers.

Guess what?

Three weeks later and nothing, not a sniff, absolute silence. So it looks like this new “selling strategy” is not working.  At least we did have people viewing every week before, but it has gone so quiet now, it’s ridiculous.  I blame Brexit, everyone else does for things not going their way, so it must be that.  So following further discussions, it is now back to the normal asking price strategy.

So maybe I don’t know the reason for lack of viewings, but what I do know is that I am impatient.  When I really think about how I work and live, maybe I was always impatient, but just didn’t realise.  I get annoyed with myself if I do not grasp something straightaway, I think I remember something like this mentioned in a school report once. I get annoyed if people don’t understand something I get right away.  Also if anyone is on the phone to me and the line keeps breaking up, I really get annoyed. Can you tell this has just happened to me? So may be it has always been there and most of the time these events were short-lived so I just didn’t realise.  But this house sale is going on for far too long, 11 weeks now, that is nearly three months!! Is that actually a long time for a house to sell?  Who knows?

Anyway, other news. I think I need to start being a bit busier, actually earn some money and maybe communicate with people during the day, so I have decided to go freelance. I have desktop publishing skills, I am organised and quite a detail person, so I should really use these skills. The companies I was employed by actually paid me regularly every month, whether busy or quiet. So there really should be others that will pay me when they need me, without the burden of costs for permanent staff.  Here’s hoping!

So I am getting into the marketing frame of mind. Contacting previous colleagues, and have announced myself on LinkedIn in the hope I can start working for myself and earn some money.   This is in the hope that I could do this type of work remotely, when we eventually move to Calabria. Keeping the dream alive.

Now I know I’m impatient, I will probably get annoyed or upset if I don’t get a job straightaway. But, I will just breathe and tell myself it will happen, just like I am trying to do now with the house sale. No doubt I will laugh at this sometime in the future, whatever the future holds.

On that note, I wish you well and thanks for reading.

Above: A view to the sea from Pianopoli, Calabria. Green is a calming colour so maybe staring at this will help me.