Took a little longer than I expected but I finally have sold my house.
Spose I did OK, I have only been trying 10 months. Guy next door has been over 3 years and he went with agents. about 4 of them so far. I reckon agents are crooks and liars as well as over paid for what they do so I did it myself. Saved about $30 in fees and spent almost $100 on my efforts.
I have to say I'm scared shitless looking for something else. Here in Sydney the property market has been on fire a few years now. they said the boom was over this year but that just means that the manical frenzy of the past few years has died down a bit to "Only" 89% Auction clearance rates last weekend.
Finding a nice place that is flat, has decent land size, a decent shed, a pool and room to breathe is Nigh impossible almost at any price. I have that right now, big land 30 Min from the city. The thing that's killing me is I'm on a main road and in a poor suburb that is getting chopped up and redeveloped with high density housing ( read shoeboxes) at a ridiculous rate. I can only begin to imagine the social problems that are going to reusly from this in 10, maybe 5 years time. People will be going nuts.
Fortunately my place ticks all the other boxes with land size, close to public transport, walking distance to 2 Shopping centres and in a redevelopment area.
I had an idea in mind of what i wanted, pretty much like I have here only NOT on a main road. Suffice to say I have had to lower my standards a LOT.
Found a place tonight I loved even though it is the complete and utter opposite to what I had in mind. I'd be prepared to change and adapt to a new lifestyle in this place but the Mrs shot me down in smoking flames.
It's classy, very affordable for us, big and roomy, well featured and not in the back of beyond from the city.
She won't even look at it though.
House listing is here:
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-green+valley-124061138There would be room for the engines and tools here even if there were no backyard. We only have 4 cars so there would be room with the 8 car garage the joint has.
Yeah the place is a bit over the top but it could be brought up a bit with some modern furnishings, curtains etc.
Can't believe she doesn't like this but then again she married me so I spose I shouldn't complain about her taste in things.
Saw another one that is out in the sticks but I think I could get to like the quiet life a bit more.
And what a shed this one has!!
This house is also very practical with a large 2nd home that would work well for my business and also when the chief cook and bottle washer and I have a non correlation of opinion. I'd be happy to sleep in the dog house in this place. Might be I just stay there!
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-camden-124035918I'm still wondering where we want to go though. This place is a good hour from the city and not that I go there a lot, just would be a massive change. I want something that size but where I am now and of course that doesn't exist. The places in suburbia are a joke. No room to put a lawnmower let alone tools engines and machinery. But, I may well end up in one. It's a scary thought.
The first place has enough Wow factor and upsides to forego a lot of what I enjoy now. I could make a lot of money running my business out of that place and book all the work I want. If I did that I could buy somewhere else to put the toys.
People ask what area we want to go. I tell them the area is not as important as the place itself. Some areas I wouldn't go, many I can't afford but I'm pretty flexible on location. I'm also half wondering if I shouldn't buy something cheap and ordinary and do it up and sell it in a few years. We'd like to go north but our daughter wants to stay here and we aren't leaving her although we have every reason she won't have any qualms about leaving us in the not too distant future. Parents. The kids dictate to us not the other way round now because we care about them more than they ever love us.
I have been looking at a LOT of properties and I really don't know how some people survive in some places. Cramped, no yard, no space to put a hammer and screwdriver...... I couldn't live like that.
Unfortunately the places that I can have what I want are a long way out now. Wether I can embrace that or I'll go nuts I have no idea.
I want quieter than what I have here but I don't want to go somewhere it's so quiet I freak out. Like my fathers place in teh country. you hear NOTHING there. I mean Nothing. He goes into town sometimes and I look after things there and the quiet freaks me out.
I'd really like a pool, not because I swim a lot but having always had one, a yard without just doesn't look right to me. They are damned expensive to have put in but maybe if I borrowed a mates backhoe and dug the hole myself and got one of those fibreglass in ground ones I could do it a lot cheaper? Something to look into.
I think selling the place is going to be a walk in the park to finding something I can live with and gets the Mrs approval as well.
Finding something with enough room to bring my toys and tools is really going to be a task and a half.
