house hunting

it didn't seemed like a long time ago that we were house hunting. when we first arrived back in november 08, we spent a good 2 weeks looking for a rental place to call our own for at least the year. it was slightly daunting times then as we were newbies in the country. we weren't sure of how things will pan out. we were glad we managed to find a place we liked in blackburn south.

not long after, we began looking at houses for sale. we were prompted by a friend who thought it will be a good idea to get use to the way house sales are conducted here in australia. back in singapore, we never really moved from our first home, a hdb apartment we owned since 1997. to me, moving house in singapore is almost an oxymoron; singapore is not big enough (at least for me) to want to move to someplace `closer' (work or otherwise). we are pretty much 30-45mins from anywhere in singapore when we drive. most times, shorter. secondly, most homes are 99 year lease, we don't own the place anyway, and if we want to buy a freehold or 999 year lease, we have to fork out significantly more. thirdly, i personally get turn off by the total amount of loan interests that i need to fork out. for the most part, i will be working to pay the bank. if i could, i do not like to owe anyone money, much less the banks. paying via my cpf then is perfect. i don't fork out a cent more from my take home pay. but mostly, i don't make enough money to buy my singapore `dream home'. i prefer to live within my means and enjoy smaller luxuries than to keep up with the joneses.

so, `getting into the market', as house agent here told me; is something new to me. for the last 4 months or so, we spent some saturdays driving to open houses; mostly to understand what to look out for, pitfalls to avoid and the processes of house purchase. in fact, i did make an offer of a house i pretty fancy (then), but my offer was deemed too low. it was recently sold to an `investor'. i learnt that you also need to `walk the talk' when you want to make an offer of a house. when i told the agent, "ok, i will offer $x00k for this property.", he looked at me and for 20 seconds, time stood still. he then politely told me that in order to show that my intent is serious, i need to write a cheque of `a couple of thousand dollars', to show that i am sincere. of course, i did not have my cheque book with me, which made my offer amateurish and insincere. now, i am more controlled. i don't `anyhow' make offers anymore.

and there are these `things to avoid and looked out for' that my mother insists that i look out for when i view the house. at times, i want to tear my hair out as we may have tick off successfully the 98 points that she laid out, then #99 didn't pass the `feng shui' test. house numbers are important, obviously, inauspicious numbers like 4, 13 (never mind 13 is my favourite and lucky number), 24 and thousand other house numbers that i need to avoid. other key things to look out for are: the house frontage cannot face the lamp post, kitchen cannot be at the front end of the house, toilet seating needs to face away from the entrance door, etc., etc. and 99 other conditions. well, it probably narrows down your choice of probable house to consider to................zero. all planets need to be aligned for this to happen. that said, i do take into considerations what my mom said as i personally believe in some of those things. if you can avoid it, why not? however, i am also realistic enough to know that in a mature suburb like where we are at, it will be pretty darn hard to look for that `perfect' house. so, we will cross out some of the conditional listings if necessary. i am more concern that i can afford the place.

and suddenly, 6 months passed. our house hunting shifted a gear up for a few reasons. for starter, the australian government may revise the first home ownership scheme subsidy which stands at a$14k now. we hope to still enjoy it before it may be taken away. secondly, we didn't think that the property market will `collapse' as we had hoped earlier with all the poor economic climate and the gloomy news we read. the market in melbourne is pretty resilient in holding its prices. so, if we can find something that is within our budget and a place that we like, we might as well take the plunge. thirdly, i was told that in autumn, house price can sometimes be as damp as the weather. when spring comes and flower blooms, property prices may actually edge up as the property will look prettier with all the flowers surrounding the property. i actually believe that logic.

wish us luck!