Wear 307: Escape To The Country
Many things waste my time. Or I find many things to waste it. Is 'waste' the right word? Is procrastination a bad thing? Or is it just focus in other areas, in other interests, than you thought you would focus on when you got up this morning? Which of these is a 'waste' of time: Candy Crush Saga; reading other people's blogs; Pinterest; reading books; sleeping; working (duh, stupid question on that one); or; realestate.com? That last one is the procrastination-de-jour currently keeping me away from the writing of blogs that used to fill each and every day of my life. I'm itching at the bit to buy a house.
Irene List_Addict
And boy, is it stressful. I am feeling ill from the seriousness of it all. Ulcers, headaches, pimples. What happened, you see, is we found the 'perfect house'. We shouldn't have even been looking. We hadn't seen a bank or a broker about how much we could borrow. We had looked on the Internet, and given ourselves an uninformed idea of what would we could get which didn't take into account three things: my margin lending loan being 'debt', our LVR (Loan Value Ratio—that is the size of the loan in relation to the value of the property, or, less financially obscurely, how big your deposit needs to be for the bank to lend you the rest dependant on how much the house will cost. Make sense? We're learning a lot), and mortgage insurance (also dependant on the size of your deposit and crazily expensive). So when we got all excited about this beautiful 1920's house, high in the hills with a bungalow, wooden floorboards, windows to views that were unbelievable, and wanted to make an offer, we suddenly realised that even though we could make the repayments, we couldn't actually borrow enough to buy the house because of the (weeny) size of our deposit. And we learned another hard house-buying lesson: how much it hurts to have to let go of the house you love!
Hurts, and sets up expectations. We've found another one we like now. Like—on the way to love—but not yet love. It's much cheaper. But it seems not cheap enough for what it is and what the others in the area have sold for. Knowing more is not making anything easier. Buying a house is a funny thing. It is unlike anything else you will ever do. What do you want? What is a deal-breaker? What do the other people buying it with you want or think are deal breakers? Is this house the best or will something else come along? If we don't take this one will nothing else come along? And then—the game! They say they want X, but they actually want X amount plus forty thousand; you offer X amount less twenty thousand, they come back saying they want X amount plus fifty thousand, you offer X plus five thousand, they ... You get the drift. The good thing about not loving, just liking, this latest house is we are prepared to sit back and play the game to our advantage. Aren't we, V——? Unless someone makes an offer? Oh gosh! Don't think these pimples are going anywhere soon. Or this poor blog either! Now you know where I am, in case you were wondering. Back to you sporadically, xxx.
The Outfit
Clearing the Closet: It’s time to go amazing Mexican shirt that has lost all its dye
Top: Mexico
Skirt: Op-shopped
Gloves: Macy's, New York
Shoes: Irregular Choice 'Summer Berries'
Photographer de Jour: Moi
Getting linky today with:
And boy, is it stressful. I am feeling ill from the seriousness of it all. Ulcers, headaches, pimples. What happened, you see, is we found the 'perfect house'. We shouldn't have even been looking. We hadn't seen a bank or a broker about how much we could borrow. We had looked on the Internet, and given ourselves an uninformed idea of what would we could get which didn't take into account three things: my margin lending loan being 'debt', our LVR (Loan Value Ratio—that is the size of the loan in relation to the value of the property, or, less financially obscurely, how big your deposit needs to be for the bank to lend you the rest dependant on how much the house will cost. Make sense? We're learning a lot), and mortgage insurance (also dependant on the size of your deposit and crazily expensive). So when we got all excited about this beautiful 1920's house, high in the hills with a bungalow, wooden floorboards, windows to views that were unbelievable, and wanted to make an offer, we suddenly realised that even though we could make the repayments, we couldn't actually borrow enough to buy the house because of the (weeny) size of our deposit. And we learned another hard house-buying lesson: how much it hurts to have to let go of the house you love!
Hurts, and sets up expectations. We've found another one we like now. Like—on the way to love—but not yet love. It's much cheaper. But it seems not cheap enough for what it is and what the others in the area have sold for. Knowing more is not making anything easier. Buying a house is a funny thing. It is unlike anything else you will ever do. What do you want? What is a deal-breaker? What do the other people buying it with you want or think are deal breakers? Is this house the best or will something else come along? If we don't take this one will nothing else come along? And then—the game! They say they want X, but they actually want X amount plus forty thousand; you offer X amount less twenty thousand, they come back saying they want X amount plus fifty thousand, you offer X plus five thousand, they ... You get the drift. The good thing about not loving, just liking, this latest house is we are prepared to sit back and play the game to our advantage. Aren't we, V——? Unless someone makes an offer? Oh gosh! Don't think these pimples are going anywhere soon. Or this poor blog either! Now you know where I am, in case you were wondering. Back to you sporadically, xxx.
Who Wore It Better?
Getting linky today with:
Oh, I hear ya on the house buying! It's so crazy and stressful, and it's fun, but mainly all the other negative stuff! I learned a lot when we went through the process, but I also know I relied on the husband to retain all the stuff I didn't want to cloud my brain with - like insurance and inspections and yada yada. Just tell me when it's time to pick paint color, ok?
ReplyDeleteGood luck!! And thanks for linking up with manic monday!!
Carylee | http://www.morepiecesofme.com
Eeek. House hunting is super stressful. I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteIt took us ages to find the one we settled on.
There was a bidding war (us and 5 other couples) and we had to go in with our best offer without the luxury of a home inspection. We got the house, and we do love it, but about 3 years ago (we've been here for 8 now) it developed cracks in the foundation or basement and has had a slow leak which has over time developed into some mould which is what I believe made me brutally ill (as in almost hospital stay ill) the last few days. I don't regret buying the house, but we may have overpaid for it now knowing that those faults probably existed with it when we bought it. This year we will need to pay big $ to get the basement resealed and all the mould removed. I am thinking it is going to be a HUGE issue.
Not to scare you or anything! LOL You probably don't have mould issues where you are anyhow. ; )
bisous
Suzanne
Good luck with the house hunting. I've only apartment hunted and that was painful!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up for MMG :)