this time last year

02/11

02/12

I know which one I prefer living in!
How's the house sale going I hear you ask? I don't want to jinx anything but hopefully we'll have something to report on in the next week...

new year, new challenges

We've started looking at house designs for the new block. Taking sun aspects, established trees, council setbacks and our budget into account - this isn't an easy task. The easy part is that my husband and I are fairly agreeable when it comes to designs / layout / building materials. It's just a shame that the more environmentally sound you try to be when designing a house, the more expensive it becomes...crazy!

We've considered standard show homes, kit homes, modular homes and now we're looking into a couple of builders (though I think this may be the most expensive option yet, once we incorporate architectural costs, etc). Keep you posted.

The new year has brought new buyers to the real estate market. We've had 4 viewings booked and over 200 hits on the real estate website in the last 3 days. The couples we've had through have made offers on other houses and seem to be serious. Fingers crossed.

wishing and hoping

Sorry for the extended pause. It's been over 2 months since the house went on the market and still no sale. I've thought about updating the blog to talk about the current stall in the housing market / cautious buyers / unsteady economy, but in truth it's all a little... disappointing.

We've had a lot of people through to look at the house. Their comments have all been positive. I believe we've got a great agent working for us who's been timely with updates and feedback. We've tried online, print and signage to advertise, along with several strategies to attract new and different buyers in the market. We're not overpriced (and this isn't just my opinion!). The house is immaculate. Still no sale.

Unfortunately buyer confidence has dropped in the market and we're copping it. Oh well, guess it's back to vacuuming and moping, wishing and hoping, dusting and tidying...waiting for someone to fall in love with our house.

living in a constant state of tidy

It's no longer a case of: get out of bed, have breakfast, get ready, and leave for work.Now it's: get out of bed and make it (ensuring all pillows are plumped and doona is straight). Have breakfast, then wash up dishes (making sure benches are tidy and clutter-free). Get ready for work, putting away any clothes / shoes / other such offending items to potential buyers. Leave for work...late.

This actually takes time and effort to live in such a ready-for-inspection state. We've had around 8 people through (we're not having any open homes) and a couple of contracts taken. The most difficult part is slowing down after such a hectic 9 months of repairs, additions and council inspections.

Some friends have commented that the house looks so good (it honestly does - we're not just saying it) that we won't want to let it go. We will, we do. We've emotionally detached. We had to let go in order to get this project finished. Otherwise we couldn't have maintained such fevered pace, we would have renovated like most people do - over a couple of years. Besides, we have bills to pay and need the house sale to cover the reno costs.

We did consider a few options, like selling the house and the vacant block but a capital gains tax of $100,000 on the vacant block put an end to that idea. We even considered selling both blocks to one purchaser - subdivided through council but not through the lands title office (emitting capital gains tax) but it seemed 1 big block would sell for less than 2 individual blocks - making our return on investment pretty low.

We're happy to sell this house now. It seems a shame in some ways - so much love and attention has gone into it - it looks better than we've ever seen it, but we know that we'll eventually grow out of it and we'd like to make an even better investment for the future.

Must get back to cleaning up the smallest of messes and filling the house with flowers. Still, it's better than laying turf, washing endless loads of muddy washing or waiting for council decisions.

last push

Am so ready to fall into bed. This weekend has been exhausting! We set a cracking pace to get all of the final bits and pieces done to have the real estate photos taken tomorrow (and go on the market!),and we actually got there.

It was one of those days...wake up, put on washing, pick up turf aerator, have a squiz at a show home, get home, hang out washing, clean down outdoor furniture, stain back deck, iron a bus load of washing, lunch, return aerator, buy curtain rail, stain front deck, wash down driveway, move outdoor furniture around some more, vacuum, mop, dinner, hang some pictures, tidy up, clean bathroom...ughh, I'm exhausted just writing about it!

The house looks fantastic. We've never seen it look so good. There are a couple of things we still want to work on but even if we sold tomorrow (how cool would that be?), we've still got time to finish a few small things. I'm so proud of what we've done. It's enormous when you think about it, and I think it shows in the finished product.



I've got more to write but can barely lift my fingers to type so I'll add another post in a few days. Wish us luck! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

good news

Our final inspection yesterday with council was a success. One alteration required (we knew there would be something, but this is an easy fix) and we should receive the subdivision certificate next week.

I had to laugh, after all the debate of access into the stormwater pits including ladders, step irons and australian standards...the council inspector didn't even lift up a grate to have a look inside. Oh well, it's done, it's approved and it's safe for the new owner.

Our house painting also started yesterday and already the house looks transformed. The windows have been primed but not finished. I'll post a photo when the front is completed. It looks fantastic.

The last bit of good news is that the occupancy certificate is official. This was an underpinning piece of paper required from the moving of the house (yes, it took that long!). It ties everything together for the subdivision to go through.

we're only a few weeks away

Not long now and we should be putting the house on the market. While the list of big jobs is diminishing, the small jobs are growing - it's all the detailed stuff that we've been putting off that we need to get around to.

This week I gathered the required info to finish off the occupancy certificate (necessary to move forward with council), picked up the surveys of work completed and with a list of all the construction certificate and development application criteria completed, submitted this to council, lodging the subdivision certificate.

We've got the final inspection with council this week and hoping (and praying) all goes well, it should be through council in 10 days. Judging from prior experiences, we should really allow a good 3 weeks. Then it's onto the bank, then the land and titles office to make it all official - exciting!

Hang on...did I really just say that? A subdivision is what I now consider "exciting"? Is this what life has come too??? A word to the wise: if you really want a life, if you really want to discuss other topics than the state of your house, if you really want a normal social life (that doesn't revolve around trips to bunnings or home world)...don't renovate! Get out now, before it sucks you in!!!

On the upside, the rain has eased and we've been able to get some more prep work done for the house to be painted. See how I did that? I just started talking about renovations AGAIN!!


The staining on the deck has really transformed the look of the house (scroll down for the 'before' picture). We've sanded the house back (which is why if looks a little worse-for-wear) - ready for a fresh coat of paint.

Through the survey drawings we can really see how good our structural engineer, concreter and plumber have been at their jobs. The works-as-executed drawings highlight the original plans against actual work, and they've done a fantastic job under (sometimes) difficult conditions and specifications.

Ok, am going to go and relax now...maybe have a glass of red and watch an episode of Grand Designs. Arggghhh, it's taking me over!!!