Currently (September) so much is happening with the development of the house, so I will get through April to August pretty quickly!

APRIL 2009

The 17th rolls around and all is approved.  I own a block of land!

We begin the fun of looking at display homes, getting an idea of which builders had designs I liked and what kind of $$ I was up for.

We found a lot of project builders had a range of houses, and then upgrades for each house - better kitchens, bathrooms, rendering, different style roof, etc.  So  many choices!

We found one builder in particular, who had a few designs we liked. Some of them were too big for the block, and needed modifying, others had parts I liked and parts I didn’t…

MAY 2009

After seeing 3 designs from this particular builder and liking certain elements of all of them, Mum, Dad and I sat at the kitchen table and started pulling pieces of each one apart… it was like a jigsaw puzzle - lounge room out of one design, kitchen and bathroom out of another, deciding how many bedrooms to have (at first we had 4, one for me, 2 to rent out, and 1 as a guest bedroom for my mother! LOL her idea of course), did I need a lounge room, living room and dining room and how big they should all be!

We took them back to the project builder to get them to cost it up with a few extras.  At the same time we also visited an architect that we had met at the Home Show earlier in the year.  He liked our design but thought he could make some improvements on it.

It was coming up to the pointy end of May.  The project builder had come back with a price of around $188,000 including all the extras we wanted.  Given the first home owner’s boost ($21K) was due to end in June, he wanted to lock me in.

“Hi Amilia, I know you’re still considering the quote we sent you but we’ll need an answer by Friday if you want to get this done by the end of June,” he says.

I start to get antsy… so much pressure to make a decision. There’s been talk in the media about extending the boost to the Home Owner’s grant and the budget is due to be announced the following week.  I make the decision to wait and see what happens, if I miss out on some money, oh well, at least I know I haven’t signed up to something I’m not completely sure about just because there’s some kind of deadline hanging over me.

I go into work the next day excited to tell my boss I’d finally bought something! I walk in the door to unhappy faces and tears…

He shakes his head, and says “We’re all gone.”

Most of the Brisbane office of our publishing company, parent owned by Telstra, was being made redundant.  I’m floored.

Amid a flurry of phone calls to my current temp agency as well as other contacts I had, I call my mother to break the news.

“Should I cancel the contract?” I ask her. Any logical person would think this.

I’m aware that I have a cooling off period, but if I do cancel, I have to pay the vendor 1% of the purchase price.  There are ways of getting around this however, if the reason for the cancellation of the contract is due to finance etc.

“Definitely not,” she says, “you could have a new job next week”.

Fair point.  However, being ever too familiar with my 4 months of unemployment, I’m still unsettled by the idea.

We proceed with the bank.  Technically I’m still employed by my agency, even though I’m not currently on assignment.  My parents play a big part in getting the finance approved by guaranteeing the repayments.

MARCH 2009 

I employ the same strategy when looking for a house… look everywhere!

Found quite a lot of land on the north side of Brisbane so trekked up there a few times. There were a few particular blocks at Kallangur which were part of a new development. They weren’t released yet (awaiting council approval for subdivision) so I put down a holding deposit so that I’d get first bid once they were on the market.

We visited a home show and got an idea of a few builders that we liked and it also gave me a chance to pick up lots of brochures on products I liked.

Caeserstone benchtops, corner baths, shutters, bi-fold doors, I love them all!

We’re notified by the development company that the land at Kallangur probably won’t be released until May. This poses a bit of a problem, so we keep our deposit on the land but keep looking.

We come across a few blocks on the southside, at Goodna. The area behind Westside Christian College has been developed and there’s lots of new houses there. There’s a few blocks that seem like a lot of work (lots of retaining required) and a few that look like they could be pretty good. They’re all around the $160-170K mark and the blocks are between 500-600sqm.

The bargaining begins!

I put in a few bids on one block that is set quite high and has a decent view into the bush a few kms away. The vendor is not interested, wants more money than $155K… My dad continues to look in the area for me while I’m at work.

I get home from uni one night and he tells me there’s another block I should put a bid on. It’s one we had previously discounted as there was a block behind it which was quite high up and we figured the backyard would flood every time it rained. He’d gone to have a better look though, and thought we could get away with it with proper retaining and drainage at the back.

It’s 17 March… I check it out and call the real estate agent. He comes over and I sign all the paperwork to bid on the land. I offer $152,500. It’s accepted! I’m excited! We start the process to get the bank involved and get the finance approved. In just 30 days, I’ll officially own a block of land.

FEBRUARY 2009

We begin looking for houses, spending hours on weekends at open homes, and hours at night looking online.

I live on the southside so we focused our attention there… looking around the Forest Lake area mostly as there was lots for sale there.

I see some houses in shocking condition - cracked tiles, walls falling apart, kitchens with cupboards so badly damaged by water that the doors don’t close properly!  I know I’ll have to spend some money working on the house before I move in, but I’m not interested in a disaster!

We find a cute little 3 bedder in forest lake that’s in decent condition.  It’s 12 years old. Apart from replacing old carpets and perhaps redesigning the kitchen (more a want rather than a need before I moved in), it was in pretty good nick. The seller wants $329K for it. Ever the bargainer, my dad suggests we offer them $304K and see what happens.

They knock it back.

We counter offer with $308K but they’re still not interested.  Dad suggests I leave it there. Tired of looking, I get annoyed, but understand with the money I’d have to invest in it before I move in, it’s not worth offering any more. I also realise that while I like the house, I don’t love it, I decide not to pursue any further. (Yes I read all that bullshit about thinking with your head not your heart when purchasing property, but hey, it’s my first place, I want to like living there!)

We look at a few more places, but nothing comes up on the radar.  And then…

“Why don’t you build?” my mum says.

Having never looked at blocks of land before, I gather this can be an expensive exercise.  She convinces me, however, that I might end up with a new house for not that much more than a 12 year old house that needed work!

The land hunt begins…

JANUARY 2009

“I didn’t get the job”, my mum tells me, “but there’s another project in the works that they have in mind for me, just waiting to see when it gets approved.”

Phew! I’d decided not to move in with my friend and now my parents weren’t moving in the immediate (4-6weeks) future, everything was back to normal.

“I’ve been thinking though,” she says, “I think you should look to buy a house”.

What?! Seriously, mum, I’m 22, a student, with no job, who would even lend me money!

She think I’ll be surprised. In the end, I am!

So in late January we start the house hunt.  I was fortunate to pick up a job in late Jan working in publishing.  It was part-time, suited my uni hours and gave me some much needed money.

We began by looking at units, 2-3 bedrooms, something small and manageable, usually not quite as expensive as a house.  I wasn’t too discriminate with location.  While I’d love to live in/near the city, I know I can’t afford it, so started looking in the ‘burbs.  I live about 25 min drive time/40 min public transport time from the city and ideally, didn’t want to be further than that.

I looked on northside, southside, east and west, drove from Calamvale to Kallangur to Cleveland and Fig Tree Pocket.  Found a few nice places but when we worked out the $$ (my dad’s good with the property number crunching), it wasn’t seeming like a good option.  Body corporate fees were the biggest turn-off and I wanted to take my puppy with me - most unit developments won’t allow pets even if there is a small yard. 

Time to start looking at houses…

This blog will predominantly focus on the building and design of my house.  So I think it’s best we start from the beginning…

DECEMBER 2008.

“I’ve applied for a job in Parkes,” my mother proclaims.

“Oh ok,” I reply, “what will you do with the house?”

“Probably sell it to fund the development in NSW. You might want to think about finding a place to live.”

To give you some background, my parents are big into property.  They have a few investments in Brisbane, and a large block of land in Parkes which they plan to build 6 units on.  It hasn’t always been like this however, not until my mum hit 40 and my dad retired at the spritely age of 53 did they consider property as a way to fund their future.  Of course, now they see the benefits and often say to me “you should think about investing or buying” to which I usually retort “I’m a student, who will lend me any decent amount of money?” which usually shuts them up for a minute.

While I agreed it was a wise thing to do, it definitely wasn’t on the cards at that stage of my life.  In fact, in December, I had been unemployed for 4 months, having finished out a contract in August and having trouble picking up any consistent work since.

A close friend had just bought his first home and was looking for room mates. I’ve known him for years and thought that maybe moving in with him would be the way to go.  I was hesitant to move into existing share houses as I have a lot of house stuff wanting to be unpacked! (I kid you not - bar the fridge, washing machine and ironing board, I have just about every appliance you could possibly need when you move into a house, the products of my mother’s desire to start my “glory box” at age 15 and buy me something house related for every birthday and christmas).

I’ve been spoilt with my parents place, the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms are master size. I love my space. Even with my wardrobe full of boxes and having a dresser, bed, tv/cabinet and bedside table in my room, it’s still quite roomy.  I went to check out my friend’s new place and took some measurements and was a little concerned I wouldn’t fit much of my furniture in there. 

“Just buy smaller stuff,” he says.

*Not ideal*… My furniture is all less than 2 years old and matches, why would I want to change it all?!

Still, I don’t have much choice if my parents are potentially moving to another state.

I go shopping with my friend to buy his house stuff.

“I need a jaffle maker”, he says.

“Why don’t I just bring mine when I move in?” I say.

“No, I want my own jaffle maker”. *

*This is a very condensed version of this conversation!

I soon realise that even if I do move in with my friend, I’m still going to have pretty much everything in boxes in the smaller wardrobe in the smaller room. Really not ideal…

To be continued…