The Goldilocks HOUSE

Finding the perfect home as newlyweds was never going to be easy – but time was running out

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Falling in love – that had been the easy bit, now Tess looked back.

She and Gus were a whirlwind romance if you had to pick a category (and it seemed that both their families were keen to assign a label).

They had married in the registered office – just a quiet do because they wanted it that way – then set about the practical stuff of uniting their lives.

In essence, this meant deciding where they’d live together. Tess had thought it’d be a cinch. They each had a small flat on opposite sides of town, so agreed they’d sell up, combine their finances and find a ‘forever house’.

The subsequent house search reminded Tess, a shade too late, of how stressful it was buying a property. Before meeting Gus, she’d been in her little flat eight comfortable and uneventful years, all of it upended as she and Gus set out on their quest.

‘Same for him, I suppose,’ said her friend Julie, when Tess was having a moan between house inspections. ‘And it’s a good way to discover the nuts and bolts of each other. How many places have you seen so far?’

Tess replied guardedly, ‘Well, we’ve seen about 25 – but only from the outside.’

‘Isn’t that what a computer search is for?’ wondered Julie, though not unkindly. ‘You find possible ones to go and view?’