Starting the process of moving back to Sheffield

The hardest part about any move is finding somewhere to live. When we decided to move abroad we did what most people do and went on viewing trips organised by an overseas agent.

I’m not sure that this facility is available for people moving to the UK. I suppose it’s because we knew the area we wanted to be in and could use local agents we didn’t need to look into relocation agencies for people coming to the UK, but it did occur to me that if a Spanish couple were wanting to move to England, are there agencies that sort out viewing trips?

Having discussed the idea of moving back, we needed to know the practicalities of finding somewhere to rent, and the only way we could do that was for one of us to come back and spend time looking.

And so, on the 22nd of May, I found myself on a flight back to Manchester Airport on an open ended ticket, only to return once I had checked it all out but knowing I needed to be back for the 5^th June, as I didn’t want to spend my birthday away from Neil and the boys. I had a maximum of 2 weeks. I’ve always worked well with deadlines.

I was fortunate to be staying with good friends who have internet access for me to use, as I knew I would be trawling websites looking for rental properties. We had our tick list and although fairly short, there was one item that would cause 80% of the rental market to be unsuitable.

Our wish list:

Detached

Pets allowed

Secure garden

Pleasant outlook

3 bedrooms (one to use as a study)

The majority of agents will have a standard clause which states no smokers, no pets!

And so, more than 80% of properties which ticked all our other boxes were unavailable to us because of our precious pups.

Not ones to flinch from a challenge, Neil and I started a 2 pronged attack on the internet property portals. He would Skype me links to houses he liked the look of and, I would be Skyping him with the same links at the same time.

The first few hours were discouraging. Many of the properties were already under offer or let but eventually I started to get a few viewings booked. I decided I needed to challenge the agents a little and so I started to ask them to go back to the landlords and ask this question:

Will you allow 2 small, well behaved dogs IF I agreed to pay an increased bond and have all the carpets professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy?

Suddenly, I had more properties to view – some Landlords were happy to take dogs on that basis, so it was worth asking the question.

The first few days viewings were very reminiscent of our viewing trips in Spain, seeing properties I definitely couldn’t see us living in, not anything we could live in.

By the end of the week one I hadn’t seen anything that was suitable, and only one I could possibly see us compromising massively on, but would allow us to move back and continue to look for something more suitable.

Finally, I got phone calls back from agents who had been trying to make viewings for me on 4 houses. I could see all of them on Saturday, a day I also decided to visit the local Butterfly House with my friends and their grandson.

I could fit it all in, with a bit of careful planning.

So, Saturday morning 10am, I drove up to look at the first house. It was only half a mile away from where we used to live so I knew the area was good for us. Initial kerb appeal was good. Not overlooked, on the edge of a development overlooking farm land.

And so, I entered the house feeling positive only to be let down when I went through the kitchen door – it was tiny. Now, Neil and I like a large kitchen with lots of work space and room to move around each other – and this was the complete opposite. The rest of the house was perfect, even the garden was perfect for the dogs, oh why did the kitchen have to be so small?

As I left, I thought I had found our new home and hoped that Neil would be okay with the small kitchen, but after a week of looking at totally unsuitable properties it was a relief to find one that met most of our wish list.

My next stop was the Butterfly House. I remember when this opened many years ago, it was little more than a glorified green house but it had a lot of free flying butterflies and an ant colony that used a wire bridge over a walkway and you could watch them all taking bits of leaves back to the colony, that always stuck in my mind.

Well, over the years, it’s grown up and it well worth a visit. Here’s the link.

http://www.butterflyhouse.co.uk