Miracles do happen! Two weeks ago, we shared an update telling you that the completion of the purchase was near. With the twists and turns of the last 16 months, however, we didn’t dare believe it until we had the keys in our hands! Still, on Friday the 22nd of November we traveled to Gouveia with our big admin box of ‘more life admin than needed’ (just to be sure), and met the estate agent, seller representative and notary at the Camara Municipal (CM, town hall), a meeting that ended in us receiving the keys in exchange for ‘some’ money…
Signing of the deed
At 14.00hr we were expected at the CM Notary office to sign the deed and, if all was well, finally receive the keys to the new home. Just before the appointment we drove past the house just to see if it was still there. Would be a bit of a shame if we’d pay and sign on the dotted line, only to find out afterwards we bought a ruin… Luckily, the house was indeed still there in all its glory, and we made our way to the CM. The estate agent was already waiting there for us, well on time, and soon after the sellers’ representative also arrived so we could all go in together.
It was a tiny office with a big reception desk, and… then the chaos began. It all looked like it was very ad hoc, yet there was structure to it. They told us. The first 15 minutes were spent in the entry hall filling out forms, putting down signatures and loitering a bit; most admin was on the sellers’ side.
After those 15 minutes, we were led into ‘The Room’ where the signing took place. We went through all the documents again, and of course there was something missing/not correct. Stress. They kept saying ‘calma calma’, but how can we be completely ‘calma’ if there has always been something weird that meant it couldn’t go through?
Still, after some back and forth, and an endless in-detail reading of the deed (as it should be), we were asked if we wanted to hand over the cheque, and then we were given the keys in return. A few tax payments later we were outside with the keys and deed to our new home. The estate agent offered to go for a cup of coffee after, but we just wanted to try out the new keys and have a look!
Trying out the keys: first impressions
When we bought our first house in 2013, when we turned the keys and opened the door, we were met with the blaring alarm of which we were not told the code. Luckily this time, no such shenanigans unfolded.
For the first time in 16 months we got to go inside, and have a closer look at what was waiting for us. I have to be honest, it was a bit of a shock, overwhelming almost. The only time we saw the inside was when it was still full of stuff, and a lot of things were hidden, like the terrible paint job, the pre-historic electrics, and the fact that the wooden floor lies directly on the concrete with no support layer or insulation whatsoever.
What also hit us was the smell. Not a damp or mouldy smell, but one of a house being left completely closed off from fresh air for the better part of 2 years, probably even longer. It’s something that will clear eventually, but we’ll have to really air it out, and eventually just start living in it to inhabit it with our own smells. Our current home smells mouldy and damp after even one day. This is, we have to tell ourselves, a HUGE improvement…!
The house was also, indeed, as promised, completely empty. They took the cooker, the dishwasher, the wood burner in the living room, and also the boiler. Electricity was also shut off. So we did our first round of tours for ourselves and family with darkness closing in on us and the torches on our phones.
By that time, it was around 17.00hr. There was no point in us spending the night there (or in a hotel). But… we would still have time to rent and pick up a van so we could just…, well, start moving our stuff over for the next two days. So, that’s what we did. We got in the car, booked a van on our phone, went to the airport and picked up a MASSIVE Volkswagen L3H2. But not before, of course, we had our first homebrew on the balcony…
Move it, move it! Day 1:
We had prepared a lot of things to be moved already, so in the morning it was ‘just’ the matter of packing up the van. As soon as we got up, we started with loading all the boxes and everything that was ready into the van. It took us roughly 4 hours to make sure everything was secure, and we got as much into the van as we possibly could.
The first load was mostly items that fit neatly into the van. Square things like boxes, bookcases, crates, etc, and we filled it all up with a variety of items. Our 3D Van Tetris skills are still quite up to scratch!
We drove without issue to the house, but we already knew that we’d have to cut away quite a few tree branches that are alongside the driveway. For the car it was just about OK, but for such a large van, especially a rental van, we weren’t going to chance it. The last things we put in the van were the big garden cutters and a little step so we could reach, and spent the first 15 minutes clearing the path for the van. As soon as that was done, though, we parked the van and undid 4 hours of packing up within 1.5 hours. Most of it going to the first floor.
Knackered we drove back, and ordered a pizza that arrived cold because the first Uber driver ditched the order just before he got there. Apparently hard work DOESN’T pay off…!
Move it, move it! Day 2:
But wait, there was more. A whole van load more. This time, we focused on all the crappy weird shaped stuff that was already standing around ready to be loaded up. Or mostly ready. I will not mention the garden furniture that did not fit through the back door in one piece that took way more time than it should have to disassemble…
The second load took us almost as much time as the first one to load up, but we did start an hour earlier, so this time we set off around 12.00. At least we had a shorter unloading time to look forward to as there were fewer boxes and mostly big ticket items. What we did not realise was how bad the storm was that was raging across the country, including over our new home.
Not only did it make our adventure with the big cabinets up the stairs quite interesting. It had also blown away two of the big panels of the roof of one of the outbuildings. Like. Really? It has been solid there for AT LEAST 2 YEARS, and we have the keys for two days and a storm starts breaking things, typical!
The unloading though was mostly swift, and there were a lot of items that could go in the basement area, so that saved us a lot of time hauling things up the stairs. It also left us time for finally getting ourselves a floorplan sorted!
Sizing it up
Our first favourite tool is now already our laser measuring tool. It saved us SO MUCH TIME. I had already done some pre-work on the way home on Saturday in the van. The drawing of the floorplan with the right shapes, doors and windows based on what we knew was ready to fill out. And then, on Sunday, we only had to walk through the house and size it all up and put the numbers next to it so we would have a more accurate idea of what we were dealing with.
An empty home is always really difficult to gauge in terms of workable space. And the same goes for a cluttered home. When we did the viewing, it was REALLY cluttered, so we had never really had the chance to really make sense of the actual space! But, now we have, and we’re pleased to say it is all rather great. A great thing about the house is that all the corners are square, the floor is flat, and there is consistency across the board in terms of window heights and door sizes, this makes planning a lot easier! We’ve not always had that in other homes.
Next steps
Tomorrow we are driving back to the house. We’re not bringing (a lot of) new things (just what fits in the car). We are just going to move all the things we moved to the first floor to the attic. This is so we’re having as much clear space as possible to do the following:
- Clean as much as we can without having warm water and electricity
- Measure what we need to put the boiler we bought yesterday in place
- Put an emergency/SOS cover of white paint over the walls, especially the ones that have differently painted areas that were behind furniture. There is a really big wall like that in the living room, for example. There would be a lot of arguments to not invest in that kind of work. But, as we will be living in it for at least a few months before we start the work, we want to spend the 18 euros and a few hours to at least make it look and feel at least somewhat normal.
We’ll also take some better pictures of the situation inside so you can get an idea of what we’re dealing with for the next update! And… we’re making some films with the GoPro, and are thinking of putting some stuff on YouTube as well to share with family and friends who all live in the Netherlands and in the UK. But, we’ll probably keep filming a bit and use the Christmas break to put together the first video(s). So stay tuned for that as well! And we’ll be trying these persimmons too if they’re still on the tree!
On y va!
So pleased you’ve finally got the keys Gaby. The best things in life are worth waiting for! Fingers crossed everything now goes to plan without any further hiccups.