New Tricks?

It may seem slightly odd, but I can't touch type. (That (and this) sentence took me three times as long as it ordinarily would to type, because I am trying to become a reformed hen-pecker.)

I've given up for the moment and reverted to a pretty poor technique in an effort to stop myself going insane with the lack of speed I was typing at.


I found a pretty cool site to help with my new plan of self improvement - well this particular part of it anyway! I also find, that there is a balance between concentrating and over thinking that needs to be found - sometimes I surprise myself with speed and accuracy, and others I get insecure over fingering and slow right down... my brain on some level, does know where the keys are - I just have to learn to start using my pinkies and ring fingers more.

I'd really like to be able to type without looking at the keys...



Today is one of my brothers' birthday. Happy Birthday dude! Have fun on your weekend away.


The house purchase is rolling along nicely, settlement is booked in for 3pm next week and the solicitor and the finance company have confirmed they have everything they need... I guess that just means the seller's side has to be up to speed and we're all happy! Update on that - my solicitor just emailed and gave me the list of funds we need to provide for settlement. Scary! Luckily though, I didn't accept blindly and asked a question that saved us paying an extra $400 to the government! It means there is $400 more in the wedding/honeymoon money - which has GOT to be a good thing!


In other news...

BabyCakes' Mum's health has become a concern again.

My Dad has also been in for more tests - his results are confusing - pretty much routinely abnormal which means more tests and more um-ing and ah-ing by his various doctors as they try and work out what is happening. He's upbeat about it all though.



Life really does keep moving on...

More Steps

Our offer was officially accepted last Monday. This means that a week from today, we will either have an unconditional contract, or be looking for a new house to get excited over!


As testament to how excited we are, here is a (rough) floor plan I made up last night, to help describe it to people and to get an idea how furniture we have (and don't have) will fit.

Last Wednesday we had the pest and building inspections, and both men were quite free with their praise for the house. "They don't make them like this anymore" type comments were heard, and the pest guy seemed quite infatuated with the house, saying that he himself would buy a place just like it.

The completion of the building and pest inspections signified the start of my real excitement for this purchase, and we just got more excited over the course of the weekend as we went to the auction for the other property we had been interested in. The run down "fix-er upper" went for $505,000 - well over what we would have paid for it, and well over our budget for a house in general. The feeling of absolute relief and confidence in the price we offered for our new home was very satisfying as the auction bids went higher and higher.

The flat is due to settle on Wednesday afternoon, so it seems all our checks and balances are falling into place as everything gains momentum to our goal. (I'll also be without a mortgage then... and have a fantastic looking bank account for a while too!)

The only blemish so far in the ease of all these transactions is that the house has a tenant in it, and legally she's allowed to stay until the 23rd of November. That leaves us with 6 days we don't have a home! Additionally, her contracted rent payment is less than we have to pay to stay on in the flat!

We will wait until the house goes unconditional before we start negotiating with the tenant, to make sure she knows there will be no penalty for breaking the contract early. I just hope that the fact that every time we have been to the property there have been more boxes packed is a sign that they are looking to leave sooner rather than later. I can't imagine that anyone would plan to live with packed boxes for 2 months or more. Fingers crossed she finds an ideal place to live and can't wait to get there!



Now comes the time to seriously contemplate packing and the move.... I'd love to be in our new home at the start of next month.

A Verbal Acceptance

We've had a verbal acceptance of our offer on this house. The owner didn't want to sign anything without her solicitor being present, so we won't have a signed contract until Monday.

I'm excited but wary.

We have to get the building and pest inspector through too, to make sure there are no hidden nasties.

A new house, a new home, a new reason to go to Ikea!

BabyCakes has never had a mortgage before... an exciting but nerve wracking process.

Now to arrange the furniture....

Step Four?

Today we put an offer in on a house. It is not the one that we spent a lot of time thinking about, but one we've had on our radar for a while.

This is a smaller house than the one up for auction in Nundah, but it is in a much quieter location and far more of a "just move in" proposition.

We will just have to wait and see if the owner accepts our offer - a nerve wracking time to be sure.

We made an offer that BabyCakes and I feel comfortable with, and I doubt we'll negotiate further. We made our offer significantly high enough that we do not expect that there will be negotiation, it's more of a yes/no proposition. I'm not sure if this is where the market is at at this time, or it is the culture of the real estate offices we have been dealing with recently, but it was like this when I sold the flat too.

The house does need some work - the guttering is holey, obviously damage wood work in places and tree stumps left in the ground. There is also a tenant in place until the 23rd of November. With any luck, given they won't be able to stay on after that date, they will want to move out sooner...

Hopefully we should know tomorrow if the offer is accepted. I hope it is, it would be very exciting.

Step Two

If step one in our plan to move into a house was to put the flat on the market, step two was signing a contract accepting an offer on it.

It was a busy weekend, our first open inspection (and hopefully our last one too). We had an offer on the flat on Saturday afternoon, after one person from the open inspection brought their partner back to look at the flat later in the day. They wanted me to make a decision within a couple of hours which was very stressful, and in the end they didn't get. The real estate agent went back to them on my behalf and told them I wouldn't accept any other offers or let anyone else see the property until I had made a decision on their contract. The called the agent the next day having "cooled off". It was our first big taste of the fact that a signed contract does not equate to sale.

On Monday the agent brought an interested buyer through, and they subsequently made an offer too. the contract offer and terms were very similar to the first one, so it was a much easier decision second time round to accept the offer. I actually got to sign this contract, so that was a step beyond where we got the first time. Now we just wait the 14 days until the contract is unconditional, and then we wait the next 16 days to make sure the money goes into the account! Realistically though, an unconditional contract is the next step.

The ad has been removed from realestate.com.au, so the property does not appear "stale" should there be a need to re-list it due to a contract crashing.

In two weeks, we could possibly be in a position to seriously hunt for our new home!

Sunday was a big day, trying to squeeze in some laundry on a day we could afford to leave it hanging on the line (not a good look when "showing" a home), more driving by houses, lunch with my family and dinner with BabyCakes' folks. Lunch was fun with three toddlers racing around trying to not let the others out do themselves, and another baby looking on. It certainly changes the dynamics of the group interaction.

Dinner at BabyCakes' parents place was much more low key (much needed at the end of the weekend), but equally as enjoyable. I wouldn't have thought that a crossword scratchie could be a group activity.... but it can!

Saturday night was an impromptu outing to the AFL. BabyCakes was offered the tickets on Saturday morning and so we invited Mr & Mrs C to join us, as they are the only friends I have who really mention AFL, and Mr C hails from Geelong, so I thought he might enjoy the nostalgia. Mrs C had to unfortunately leave early to make it to work, but it was a nice shared outing. We had to battle the crowds to get there (Riverfire plus Gabba event = busy Brisbane), and I accidentally spilled half a beer down the back of two chairs in front of me, and the occupants of them.... oops.

All up, a busy busy weekend, after a busy busy week... but it's been nice to have things to do. I'm just wondering if it will every calm back down to a mildly busy weekend...

OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!!???!!!!

I think I could learn to love my real estate agents. Yesterday they called me to let me know that they'd contacted about a quarter of the people on their lists waiting for a flat in the area. From those calls they'd arranged 3 viewing appointments, and more people driving past to have a look before making appointments. I was happy and excited by this... the flat isn't officially on the market, and I've not signed anything to officially "hire" them as agents.


This morning I get a call from the agents, saying they have a guy who wants to put a contract in on the place. He's not seen it. The agent had to tell him he can't do it yet, because not all the paperwork is ready for offers yet. She also encouraged him that he really should look at it first too. He'll be stopping by tomorrow afternoon with daughter to look at the property. I just can't get over the fact that they were prepared to promise money without even seeing it....


It makes me feel that we will get what we want for it, and maybe a bit more too.










WOOHOO!