Sold. Again.

I didn't tell you.

When I was going up to Loughborough last Monday, to buy the new used car, our English estate agent phoned to say our house sale was in danger. Not the best news, when I'd just negotiated an extra two grand on the already considerable overdraft, on the strength that all would be repaid on the 21st. Of this month.

To be fair, it wasn't our buyer that was the problem, but our buyer's buyer.

They pulled out just before exchanging contracts, a week before we're all supposed to hand round huge virtual bags of money, and they don't have to pay a penny! If we'd booked our international movers, it would have cost us two grand. Not to move. Absolument ridicule!

What's wrong with a 10% deposit up front to show how serious you are about buying a house, which is forfeit if you pull out? Isn't a verbal agreement to buy still a contract?

Don't ask me.

I clearly don't know.

On Wednesday, the sale was off and we had to put the house back on.

On Thursday, instead of packing for France, we spent a mad half day tidying, so the estate agent could take some interior photos. Last time, they didn't need them, as the house was sold on the first viewing. Twice. (The friend our buyer brought wanted to buy it, too. It's a nice house.)

On Friday, there were a few viewings. One of which turned into a second viewing. Then an offer. Full asking price. No chain.

Ta-da.

An hour later, our estate agent phoned.

Not to tell us that all was going ahead smooth as you like, but to say that our old buyer had also sold her house. Again. And her buyer could also match our now-fixed(ish) deadline of July 25th. Of this year.

Now, our old buyer absolutely LOVED this house. She wanted it before she even set foot in the door. Coincidence watchers will really enjoy the fact that she was talking to someone coming out of her yoga class and it went something like this:

Our Buyer (OB): (EXCITED) I'm buying a house near Brighton College.

Yoga Woman (YW): Not on [NAME OF ROAD]?

OB: (SHORT PAUSE) Yes.

YW: Not [NUMBER OF HOUSE]?

OB: (PAUSE, UNCERTAIN) Yes.

It turned out Yoga Woman lived in this house in the 80s. She loved it too. So did the people we bought it from. So do we. Our Old Buyer just had to have this house.

So we sold it to her. Again.