It was late 2008 when a friend offered us a townhouse in Quakers Hill. It was a 2 bedroom, 25 yo townhouse which is near a freeway and a 7 minute walk to the station. Back then, we were busy with our wedding preparation so we said we'll consider looking for a house next year.
Fast forward to 2009.
Domain.com.au and realestate.com.au became my favorite internet sites. I told hubby that we should buy at least a 3 bedroom townhouse (just because I want a small piece of land) and location should be accesible to public transport (becasue we don't drive yet).
Then we started looking.
Meadowbank, West Ryde and surrounds - very very expensive!
Liberty Grove - expensive and a good 15 mins walk to either Concord West or Rhodes station
Eastwood, Denistone and North Strathfield - prices are beyond our reach, no townhouses only old units. After a few weeks of looking, we decided to expand the area and also started looking for 2 bedroom units (as 3 bedroom units/ townhouse are very rare in the areas I was initially eyeing.)
Pennant Hills, Thornleigh - Units are very close to Pennant Hills road. Being a very busy road, it gets noisy and dusty inside the units.
Carlingford - viewed a new property development. Price for a 2-bedder was still cheap at $390K, only downside is, we waited for almost an hour to go back to Epping so hubby said we are not going back to Carlingford.
Hornsby - Those near the station is expensive and strata is almost $1000/ quarter. Went down further to College Crescent and the units are a bit small and a 10 min walk everyday, uphill is not really very enticing.
Waitara - very close to the station, prices are within reach but the hallway leading to some units makes me claustrophobic. Also, strata/water/council rates is around $1200/ quarter so we gave it a miss.
After a few months of looking around the North area, it hit us - we cannot afford living in the North! Some units were within our range but something is always not right about it - the cupboards, the noise, the strata, the location, etc. etc. etc. With this, I slowly accepted the fact that I will be looking for a house in the West and eventually live there.
Homebush West - affordable units, mostly two bedrooms. Made an offer on one units we both liked. Offer not accepted. Negotiated, again not accepted. Viewed the unit a second time before making another offer then found out that the current tenant is keeping a dog and its poo is all around the balcony, ieewww. Did not make another offer.
Quakers Hill - affordable but too far away. Saw a very nice townhouse - 3 bedroom and around 10min walk to station for $400K. Made an offer (which is very low). Offer was not accepted. hahaha
Kellyville Ridge - New Australand development. Walked 20 mins from the bus stop to the site. Very far! Bus fare is expensive (not to mention the long train ride to Blacktown). Sales Agent looks like he doesn't want to sell us the Terrace Home (after telling him that our budget is $500K max, still not good enough for him, hmmp). Houses were very nice. Community looks nice but its just sooooooo far away.
Wentworthville - The Townhouse we viewed is a bit old with only one toilet and needs major renovation. Saw a 2-year old villa with no strata but its a fair bit of walk from the station.
Toongabbie - Cesar mentioned that his friend is moving out because the owner wants to sell the 3 bedroom townhouse. He told us that the only problem is the lounge --- its too small. So we went to the open house, viewed the property: 3 bedroom, 2 toilets and bath, 1 guest toilet, underground car park, one guest carprk. Less than 5 minutes from station. And yes, the lounge and dining is very small. But we liked the property, and we liked Toongabbie. We don't need a big lounge and dining for now because there's only two of us!
The town house was to be Auctioned. We made an offer and told the Agent that we are not willing to go to auction. After a few negotiations, and another inspection, we signed the contract and paid 0.25% deposit... that was 12 September 2009.
And the timeline for Valeria St started:
12/09/09 - signed the contract, paid 0.25% dep
15/09/09 - solicitor received the contract. cooling off period is until 22/9/09
21/09/09 - bank valued the property 22/09/09 - requested for an extension of the cooling off period
23/09/09 - strata and land inspections 23/09/09 - bank valuation came back - $356K same as our offer! 25/09/09 - received unconditional approval from the bank
29/09/09 - paid the 10% deposit
29/09/09 - contracts exchanged 30/09/09 - loan agreements, FHOG and Stamp Duty exemption signed 16/10/09 - First Home Owners Grant Approved, money will be available at settlement date
26/10/09 - settlement date
I'll be picking up the keys from the real estate agent tomorrow. =)
Oh how time flies. Seems like it was just yesterday when we did all the house hunting and now, we actually are new home owners. A few things to do to the townhouse but it will be our new abode in the weeks to come.
Thank you Cesar the tip.
Thank you Lord for the guidance and for giving us what is best for us. As always, I cannot thank You enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment