My husband and I have finally begun the daunting task of looking at buying a house. Neither of us have ever owned one before and we're both what could be considered middle age if one was to live until 80 or so.
I lived in a house once owned by my daughter's father. I had no legal or monetary interest in that home but still I got the feeling of what it is like to be a home owner. That was many years ago and he and I seperated about two years after he purchased that property. It was pretty spectacular though - 126 acres of land which had several natural creeks running through it and government owned, protected land behind it. My daughter was born into that home and on that property she was introduced to bush walks and the peace and quiet that living in such a place can bring. She's too young to remember it of course but aside from our rocky relationship and the people living nearby it was like living in our own private slice of paradise.
Problem is my husband and I have never been in a position to buy a home before and because of that we've pretty much ignored the real estate market. Our focus has been on rentals and what kind of bang you get for your buck there. We've been fortunate enough to stay in the one rental home for 8 years. Some may think that's a bit sad and unfortunate but for us it's provided a stable home with stable rent. Our landlord isn't always diligent about things but we have an unspoken, unwritten deal - we fix the things we can and only call him for the things we can't take care of. It works all around as far as business deals go which renting is. It's purely and simply a business deal. You pay for a service (where all the tax benefits go to the landlord) while the landlord sits on a property that continues to increase in value while someone pays it off for him. Later he might decide to sell it for a profit or he might decide never to sell and use the equity to fund further investments.
It's never particularly been my "dream" to own my own home - not like it has for others or in the usual sense one might consider when it comes to entering into a debt contract for pretty much the rest of your life. There are advantages to renting that never come with home ownership. For example if something goes terribly wrong you're not responsible, unless of course you were the one who caused the damage. If things get tough you can downsize pretty easily or if you decide you're sick of the house you live in you just move out and find somewhere else. There's no rates and no building insurance. Just one fixed rate each week.
A few years ago we could barely afford to pay our rent (which was well below market value) and wondered almost daily where we'd find the money to buy the food to feed our children. Things have improved since then; my husband has a better paying job; I've gone back to work but for less money than I was earning 4 years ago (them's the breaks) but we've managed to work hard at saving a little. Our savings have also been boosted by small amounts from my father's estate. Not a lot but enough to get us to the point where investing it in a home might be a reality.
We had no idea where to start really so we did it by asking direct questions of other people who had bought homes. We asked about the pitfalls and the positives; what to look for; how much is too much; what represents good value; what type of location should we look for etc. A work colleague of mine has been buying and selling property for years now and she has been an incredible source of information. She's willingly helped me by sending me lists of things to look for when inspecting a property for sale; how to negotiate on the price; what clauses to include in a contract. Still, even armed with all that information it's hard to know exactly where to begin. The more research one does the more daunting the task seems to be. I keep reminding myself that it can't be that difficult because everyone is buying a house these days and most of the time it seems to go quite smoothly.
We spoke to some people who specialise in investment properties. They seemed so positive and made it sound so simple but we were bamboozled by the information and decided to just push it to the back of our minds. We weren't sure if that was for us. We then spoke to a local mortgage broker and also my brother (who is a mortgage broker but not local). It was beginning to sound as if buying a place to live in might be feasible for us, especially given the current state of affairs in relation to interest rates etc.
So we began to seriously start looking at what was around for the money we could reasonably afford without starving at the same time. So far we've looked at four properties and I don't think it's any where near enough to give us any real indication of what represents real value. All four have been in the same price range and all four have been vastly different in what they have to offer for that price. One was too small and eaten out with white ants (one would never know about either of these things by looking at the photos), one needed so much repair work done to make it safe it was immediately wiped off the list, the other two could be moved right into but would need work later to make them more attractive/functional. One of those was just too far away and would make work and school more stressful than it already was. The plan is not to enter into anything that is going to make life unbearable and wish we'd never done it.
What I plan to do on this blog is to record my account of our search for a house and the things we've learned along the way. Hopefully I'll find the time to update it regularly and with a bit of luck this information may be read by someone else doing the same things as us - learning about an industry which can suck dry the uneducated.
