New Home

Tonight is our first official day in the new house. Unofficially, we rolled out of bed here this morning after staggering home from a house warming party at our friends’ (Lucy and Darren) house down the street who, coincidentally, moved into their first house the same weekend. Tonight we turned in the keys at our rental house, packed up the cat and began unpacking (sort of) here at Younger Street.

These last few months have passed so quickly and at such a blur it seems amazing that we’ve actually arrived at this day in one piece. It was well over a year ago that we began looking, dedicating every Saturday morning (and many Thursday evenings) to scouring the paper for open houses and burned many litres of petrol rushing around from one disaster to another. We would get excited about this place or that only to have our hopes dashed, rightfully so, by Mauzi’s dad, a builder by trade. Sometimes he didn’t even go inside. Just one look at the gaping holes in the roof and the sagging foundation and you could read his body-language from a block away: his arms would cross tight against his chest, his head would bow to the ground, shaking left and right. With a loud, long, “Phew!” he’d turn on one heel and march off to the car.

Occasionally we did find a house that would get the nod of approval. Very early on we were cheated out of an amazing but neglected Art Deco house with huge potential. (You soon figure out which companies are out there to sell houses and who’s out just for the buck). This experience left Mauzi quite devastated and depressed and I felt gutted. We still look away when we drive past that house and hurl verbal abuse when we pass by Nelson Alexander Realty offices.

And so it went. We were lured to auction after auction (nearly all houses go to auction here) our high hopes, spurned on by a low list price, dashed by high sale price. At times, houses pulled nearly $100K more than they were listed for. $100,000!!! The market in our areas is tight and so many young buyers are all vying for the same starter prices. We were so discouraged that we began contemplating throwing in the whole house idea for an apartment.

Then this house came along around Easter weekend which gave us some time to think and get organised. It seemed perfect for us. The sellers wanted to deal with buyers privately rather than by auction which is where we were getting killed. Built just post WWI for returning servicemen, the house was surprisingly sound structurally but in need of some serious redecoration and reorganization. Mostly it needed some tender love and care.

To cut a long and stressful story short, (negotiations, settlement, loan choices, interest rate rises, stamp duties, inspections, etc.) we bought the house and here we are.

To be continued…

9 Younger St
Coburg, VIC
3058 Australia