At the beginning of April, we received a call from a family who had been recommended by friends to us.  They had recently moved down from the north and were renting just outside Winchester but were keen to buy as quickly as possible.  They had looked for a few months on their own, however they didn’t know the area that well and were also frustrated at seeing all the good houses coming up as ‘sold’ on the internet before they had a chance to see them.  As they both had busy careers plus two young sons, they realised they definitely needed a helping hand and some guidance.  We advised on the best area’s to focus on and set about looking for a period property with further potential – like everybody else in Winchester!

Having spent years building excellent relationships with all the key agents, it was only a matter of days before we were tipped off about a brilliant opportunity in the highly sought after area of Orams Arbor.  Within a ten minute walk of town and the station, the Victorian house had been lovingly looked after by the current owners however it was one of the few unextended properties left in that road.  It also had the bonus of outstanding and uninterrupted views both front and back, plus off street parking.  The house was not due to come to the market until July, however the agent told the sellers that our clients would wait for them to find and were all cash so a deal was struck before anyone else got to see it.

A couple of weeks later the sellers found a lovely bungalow in the west country with no onward chain and it was all systems go.  Both sales progressed quickly and smoothly right up until the week of exchange and then we got the dreaded call from the agent at the top…

It turned out that the bungalow was jointly owned by parents and son, and the son was locked into a dispute over what he owed to the CSA who had put a second charge on the property – something none of us had come across in all our years in the business, even the solicitors were perplexed by it.  The most frustrating thing was that these sellers had left it to the last minute to be honest about this, by which time our clients had given notice to their landlord ( which they couldn’t rescind as she had already lined up a two year let ) and removals had been booked. Between us, we looked at all options to get things resolved however as often happens it came down to a matter of principals from the son so there was never going to be resolution. Luckily for our clients, the sellers of the Winchester house after much deliberation made the decision to rent despite having said they would be reluctant to do this from the outset, but as they had the house pretty much packed at that point up it felt like the right thing to do all round.

This week our clients finally moved in to their new home.  It hasn’t been an easy journey but we believe good things happen to good people and we got there in the end. To say they were excited and relieved would be an understatement…and we cannot wait to see the transformation of this beautiful house over the coming year.  We couldn’t have asked for nicer, more gracious and appreciative clients if we tried!

 

“Kate and Teresa were wonderful! They made the task of finding us a period home, in central Winchester, within budget and to suit our needs a reality when it had only been an improbable dream.

 

We had been doing our own search for several months before engaging their help, but were not getting the breakthroughs we needed as the houses we liked seemed to be consistency snapped up privately or off-market through agents. We also both work and so found the search incredibly time-consuming in addition to our office hours.

 

The Goosechase girls have longstanding relationships with estate agents locally which enabled them to get access to the houses we couldn’t reach. They listened well and understood our brief perfectly, only showing us houses which were within that. Once they had found our ideal house (it was off-market), they then skilfully guided us through the negotiation stage, all the while steadying our fears and knowledgeably answering our questions. The fact that Kate was an estate agent for years really helped as she provided the agent’s perspective and was able to empathise with their thinking, as well as ours, which led to greater understanding and served us as a huge advantage over most buyers off the street.

 

As things progressed, a vendor at the other of the chain almost scuppered the sale – stressful, since we had already given notice on our rental property. However, Kate’s regular communication with the various parties at this stage meant that we made it to finish line in the end – much to our delight and relief!

 

We really would not be in this house without Goosechase, on so many levels, and want to WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend and endorse them for their steadying hand, expertise, contacts, communication, accessibility and good humour throughout an otherwise tortuous and challenging process – thank you SO MUCH, Kate and Teresa!”