Contract

So, various moving companies came and gave me their offers. There were huge difference in their presentations, price and attitude though.
What they all had in common of course is that they all seemed super desperate. Their methods of persuading me varied from giving me gifts, to trying to intimidate me to take a quick decision, to lure me into getting a much lower price if I decide NOW, asking me what other companies had said, asking which other companies I had invited, asking very private and unrelated questions to maybe find a weak spot I guess, and telling me that if I picked other companies my stuff would disappear because other companies apparently steal their clients' things, etc. One company actually got real scary, and their estimate visit turned into a meeting with a very creepy vibe. I had to actually tell them to take it easy.
Anyway, after the day was done and I had gotten all the gifts and endured all their psychological probing, I decided to go with the cheapest one. Incidentally, that company's representative was the only one who had managed to keep a cool and very nice attitude. He was straight forward, actually negotiated the price based on related things, like if I disassemble my IKEA furniture myself, rather than asking them to do so, he would lower his price. Maybe he was calm because he already knew his price was better than the others.
It was 16% cheaper than the company with second lowest price, so at night I called him up and lied that another company (gave the name of the second cheapest company) had offered exactly the same price as his, and after a bit of thinking he gave me his final price which was even lower. Hooray. So now moving company is decided.

On Sunday we went to sign the house contracts. It turned out they had actually printed out and stamped the wrong version (it has been revised many times during the last week) and had to print out the latest proper one, which we went through and stamped and signed. However, the agents stamp was missing on this one, so they would send me the contract after stamping it.
Right in the middle of the contract reading, which took over an hour, we had a small earthquake and everyone stopped and looked up at each other nodding. Poetic.

The seller turned out to be a very nice gentleman in his maybe late 50s. He said he and the wife would move to Tokyo since his kids were now grown up. He explained a bit about the garden and what he had planted there (my favorite was blueberries, yielding several kilos every year), I got to ask a bit about the neighborhood and he also said he would leave all the garden machinery and tools in the tool shed (including a mini-tractor, and an electric grass cutter) because he has no use for them where he is going. He also explained some of the interior issues, such as a small gap above the bathroom door which he had taped to cover.

Anyway, now the contracts are signed, the big prepayment has taken place and we have exactly 4 weeks to moving day. Time to prepare all the junk in between.

Next step is to actually go and buy the forest plots (To pay it in full and receive the official registration papers). For the house, the full payment and paper and key reception is end of the month. My bank account will be extremely empty after that.