Anatomy of a sale

Today I bought a house. Being greedy, it was actually my second in Fez, but that's a different story.

Having found this one quite some time I go, I nearly lost it to one of several people who are queuing up each week to buy into the ancient medina of Fez. You have heard of fly-drive holidays, but the new phenomenon here is the FLY-BUY holiday as Ryanair brings in 3 planeloads of passengers per week, many of whom have been motivated to visit and search for a house by recent newspaper property articles and television programmes.

After living in the medina for several months straight and looking at an estimated 250+ houses throughout this year, my eye is a little better trained and I think I have developed a good understanding of what I like in a Dar Beldiya (Traditional House), but seeing a lot of houses can also induce Purchase Paralysis - the inability to make a decision due to the feeling that there might be something even better hiding behind the next alleyway, the next studded wooden doorway....

Luckily, I was snapped out of my indecision by a timely telephone call from our resident renovation guru alerting me to the imminent competition and the simple realisation that I would be very unhappy if I lost the house to someone else was enough to spur me into action and all was then concluded in little more than 12 hours;

Yesterday:

9pm - Visited house to establish selling price with the owner. Told him I would think about it

11pm - Received timely call and decided to go ahead

11:30pm - Paid 2nd visit and agreed to buy, fixing another appointment for the next morning

Today:

10am - Returned to the house with the Adoul (local notary equivalent) who checked the owners documents and drew up the sale contract. We agreed to a 4 month period for them to find a new house and move out and I handed over a cheque for almost 25 percent of the final purchase price.

We both signed and the house is legally mine.

The Adoul keeps hold of the house deeds until the 31st March when the final act of sale is signed, keys are handed over and the rest of the money is paid.

Sounds easy ? In a way it is, but caveat emptor - the real action is not in the buying but in the long, complex and expensive process of restoration, a side of the coin that is easily underestimated especially when we are talking about a city that has changed little in over 1000 years !