Monday, August 31, 2015

Negative Nellie Gets a Piece of Candy

Remember when I wrote about the house we are living in going up for sale? And I told you that we wouldn't need to move? Well unfortunately it's looking like we might have to. And that really sucks.

It seems that a potential buyer has made an offer with the caveat that we move out of the house by March 31, 2016. Technically, the our lease should super cede the sale but it sounds like if this sale doesn't go through then the bank will repossess the house and the bank can then force us to move out. Sounds like fun right? 

So for now the ball is in our court. We can tell the prospective owners to go pound sand (that's a nice way of putting it) and see what happens. Or, we can negotiate a scenario where we agree to move out. Are we better off moving out now or rolling the dice and seeing what happens in the future? That is the question. A question we will have to ask a lawyer, a lawyer that we don't have yet.

In the meantime, I found it humorous that our landlord had the cajones to even ask us if we'd be willing to move? Does she think that we are just so nice that we would be happy to uproot everything just to make her life easier? I almost want to send her the reply below, but of course I won't.


Dear ,
Thanks so much for your email on Saturday morning inquiring as to whether or not we'd be willing to move out of the house by the end of March. We enjoy getting emails on Saturday that allow us to spend the weekend in deep contemplation and thought about important matters concerning our lives and our future. 

We discussed the situation we have come to the conclusion that it would be our pleasure to accommodate the request of the potential new owner, we are here to help!

After some introspection, we remembered that we love spending time going around with a realtor to look at houses. We are giddy with excitement as we imagine viewing a lot of homes that smell heavily of cigarette smoke and pet waste. We have to remember to ask our realtor to show us homes that have kitchens and bathrooms that haven't been updated since 1987. We both graduated high school in the 80's and we like a home that reminds us of this renowned period in decorating history. 

In addition we love packing and unpacking boxes filled with all of our belongings. In fact, we were just chatting the other night and saying to each other that life is so boring now that everything is put away. Unpacking is like Christmas morning each time we open a box. We actually searched the garage to see if we could find any boxes that we somehow forgot to unpack, so we could unpack and have some fun, but sadly, there weren't any. It is also one of our great pleasures  to inventory everything that we own and then develop a system to make sure that none of our possessions are lost or damaged. We are getting so excited just thinking about all of this activity that we doubt that we can wait until March to get started.

And finally, I can't wait to personally work with my great partners at Multichoice, DSTV, Telkom, the UIF and the many other utilities and services so we can change over all of our services to our new home.  I've been looking for an excuse to drive over to Randburg and visit Multichoice and now I have one. I like to play a little game when I go to Multichoice and see if I can get the same set of answers and instructions from two different customer service agents. So far it's never happened but now I'll have more chances to try. I've also missed seeing my favorite DSTV technician. I will now have an excuse to invite him over to my new house to help me get my decoders working, it usually takes about five visits from him to get everything sorted but luckily for me he is super patient and is happy to come by at any time as long as I pay him 400 rand per visit. 

While we appreciate that you so generously gave us until Tuesday to make our decision, there really is nothing to consider when the choice is so clear. Let's get out the bubble wrap and the packing tape and light this candle!

Yours Sincerely, 
The Deeps

Ok, I feel better. 

On another note, tomorrow is Spring Day, the unofficial first day of spring in South Africa. Today the Diepsloot Combined School grade three students did some colouring, cutting and pasting to celebrate spring as part of their lesson. While they were told they could take their artwork home, some of the kids gave me their pictures and one little girl gave me a piece of candy. 




He said he didn't want his picture taken but clearly he didn't mind too much.
Cutting out the flowers 
Goofing around
Very thoughtful of her to give me her candy



6 comments:

  1. OMG that letter is hilarious! But would probably be wasted on her anyway because they probably wouldn't even notice to sarcasm. I so hope you get this resolved without having to move but it certainly doesn't look like it, does it. South African landlords are a bunch of jerks. I hate to say it as I pretty much have loved all the South Africans I've been in contact with over three years. Well, perhaps not the agents at Multichoice and Eskom. Somehow SA homeowners think they can totally jerk you around and change the story every few days. Next thing you know, they're not selling the house at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's nice to hear from someone who understands. While I know in the grand scheme of life moving is not such a big deal it is really hard when you are trying to make yourself at home in a new country and then suddenly you are unsettled all over again. At least I won't run out of blog material any time soon! :)

      Delete
    2. Haha - not running out of blog material = the #1 motivation for writing a blog in the first place. Hint: You'll never run out of it while in South Africa. Back in the U.S., perhaps, as the robots always work, trash always gets picked up, and the only crazy people seem to be my pest control guys.

      Delete
  2. Sorry to here that you will be on the move again! Look on the bright side - you can move to Lonehill! (or even and Magaliessig) and have me not too far away! Use the great app Property 24 when you start looking for a new home!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the tip about Property 24 and yes Lonehill is definitely at the top of our list :)

      Delete
  3. If service providers were as easy to deal with as in the states it wouldn't be nearly as bad.

    ReplyDelete

About Me

My photo
Hello and thank you for taking an interest in my blog. This blog tells the story of some big life changes. First, my husband and I have just moved to Geneva, Switzerland for a few months following a few years of living in Johannesburg, South Africa. The two places could not be more different. I'm excited to share our adventures, challenges and insights with you! My thoughts and opinions are my own.