Im not having much luck

[Olive]

You are not the only one

Hey tiger, you are not the only one. Same here we don't have PPOR no IP working over 10 hrs a day etc. We have been to many suburbs and 2 states... changing loan, all sorts of rejections and obstacles etc. Really wana to give up many times. But the fact is if you don't make it happen now, you're going to regret big time! So 'just do it!' We are with you same boat. Hope you find yours soooooon. Olive

 

[tiger]

Tiger,

Are you looking for a house on the Woy Woy Peninsula?

Our budget is under 300k so we are restricted to particular suburbs on the coast.

The agent called again last night saying the owners are going to treat and fix the termites and any damage and it comes with a 10 year warranty.
How many of us have bought houses with past termite damage and repair that we dont know about? At least this would have a warranty but still.. makes me nervous.

 

[FHB]

I know how you feel, we have been looking for a few years now and everything we put offers on falls apart. I have a bigger budget, but it still doesn't help, the first place we wanted to buy came back with flood restrictions which impacted what we wanted to do to it, we walked away. The next one we got out bidded at Auction on, the third one came back with an undisclosed easement which affected the extensions we needed to put in, the fourth one we got outbidded in a blind tender, same with the fifth one. And since then we just can't find a decent combination of land size, position, etc that will work for us.

We sometimes feel like we are being too picky, but if we look at lesser places we just aren't interested in living in them, they are worse than what we are renting. It isn't really an issue of price for us, if we can get the combination of what we want then we will pay whatever, but the right ones never seem to come on the market, or when they do we get gazumped.

We're looking to buy in Brisbane western suburbs, but have started looking out around the south and east, but still no good. Might have to think about another city or country.

Another rant over.

 

[evand]

Are you looking on the Woy Woy peninsula. In that price range for a house its either there or around Wyong, Toukley, Gorokan etc.

If you are looking on the Peninsula, i know the area backward and know an agent or two. I might be able to help you.

Can you be a bit more specific in what you are looking for? A 10 year warranty sounds great but would be hard - if not impossible - to enforce in say, 7 years. So i would think long & hard about that one. Sounds like the agent is trying to get his commission...sorry....i meant a sale.

Our budget is under 300k so we are restricted to particular suburbs on the coast.

The agent called again last night saying the owners are going to treat and fix the termites and any damage and it comes with a 10 year warranty.
How many of us have bought houses with past termite damage and repair that we dont know about? At least this would have a warranty but still.. makes me nervous.

 

[Bayside]

I'm not having much luck myself, been looking for about 6 months now.
I think i'm too stingy, need to up my offers.
Missed out on about 5 places now. Making an offer on something today so wish me luck!!!

 

[tiger]

FHB - I can relate
Why shouldn't we (me and you) be picky? We are spending a ton of money, our life savings in my case, and we have no obligation to spend it on anything we aren't totally happy with. If it were an investment property we would have found one long ago but this is something we are to live in for many years - big difference.

evand - Yes those areas (not wyong though), and over the months I've got to know many agents well too, some bending over backwards to find us the home we want. I actually feel sorry for them when they call to say they've found an awesome house and we go look and don't like it. And the 10 year warranty thing doesnt mean much to me either.. we've lost confidence in the house and it was already pushing us to the financial limits whereas we could find something cheaper.

Good luck Bayside - someone has to have some success!

 

[evand]

Tiger,

You are limited by your budget and that can make it tough.

What i have done in that situation is this. Write down a list of your priorities for your property. Suburbs/area, block size, house size, number of bedrooms, close to schools, condition, garage etc etc.

Then prioritise that list from most important to least important.

Make copies of your list with check boxes next to each item and tick away at open inspections. Which ever properties tick most of the most important items are the one you make offers on.

You can't tick them all as your budget precludes that, so you have to be realistic at this time.

By the way, i did the whole exercise separate from my wife and compared notes of the original list and when we ticked at individual properties and then compromised between us.

You can maybe come up with your own ideas/ or variation on this.

evand - Yes those areas (not wyong though), and over the months I've got to know many agents well too, some bending over backwards to find us the home we want. I actually feel sorry for them when they call to say they've found an awesome house and we go look and don't like it. And the 10 year warranty thing doesnt mean much to me either.. we've lost confidence in the house and it was already pushing us to the financial limits whereas we could find something cheaper.

Good luck Bayside - someone has to have some success!

 

[Gee Cee]

Termites

Be very careful buying anything with termites. Even if they say they have been erradicated there is a good chance they will be back.

The little critters hide & eat away at the inside of anything. I have seen the white electrical cable that houses are wired with look perfect from the outside. But the circuit breaker or fuse keeps blowing. After hours of searching you find all the internal wiring insulation eaten away. Thus causing a short circuit. The damage already done could keep costing you thousands in the future. So even if you get it at a rock bottom price by the time you replace main framing structures, wiring and any other damage it ain't no bargain.

Keep looking. If you get tired of it take a break then bounce back into it a bit later.

Good luck

Gee Cee
Greg

 

[RumpledElf]

Heh. When I bought my PPoR it was listed for $30k, they took $25k. It was stripped - no water, no hot water service, leaky roof, hardly any kitchen, crappy decor, no back door, mattresses and typewriters everywhere, no garden, multicoloured bathroom from hell.

5 years and $25k later I've almost finished renovating it and it is a really nice house. Bathroom is still the multicoloured room from hell (with all the new bathroom fixtures in boxes in the corner) but I'm about to stick a 10 metre long bolt through the middle of it so there's some more mess.

The IP we bought earlier this year I swear was suffering from the 'its too cheap, I won't buy that' syndrome. Cheapest house in the town by a huge margin, structurally sound, subdivisible, loads of potential. Haven't seen one in the same price range before or since, and for some bizarre reason there wasn't exactly a crowd of people fighting over it, they were all off spending 4x as much money on the renovated houses.

Nothing wrong with buying an ugly duckling, they clean up nice.

 

[tiger]

$25k!! I need to move to the outback

Well FINALLY found a house to buy, inspections all done and clear. Signing the contract tonight.

Funny thing is this house is completely opposite of what we originally set out to buy.
- We wanted 3bedroom, this is 2 (room to convert more space to rooms)
- In a suburb we didnt originally want due to distance from Sydney
- Old and very out dated
- No attached garage
- No to fibro, this house is mostly fibro

Of course our requirements weren't necessities but funny how we chose a house that met none of them yet we are still happy with it.

 

[Jon Chown]

Well FINALLY found a house to buy, inspections all done and clear. Signing the contract tonight.

Funny thing is this house is completely opposite of what we originally set out to buy.
- We wanted 3bedroom, this is 2 (room to convert more space to rooms)
- In a suburb we didnt originally want due to distance from Sydney
- Old and very out dated
- No attached garage
- No to fibro, this house is mostly fibro

Of course our requirements weren't necessities but funny how we chose a house that met none of them yet we are still happy with it.

And Buyers still wonder why, generally, Agents can't help them.

 

[BayView]

And Buyers still wonder why, generally, Agents can't help them.

Have to agree in part there Jon. I feel sorry for the agent to a degree.

In my industry we have them (customers who are f-knuckles) too.

On the flip-side, a professional salesperson (in any industry) is very good at listening to the customer and finding out what they want (not necessarily what they need), and giving them that product - quickly.

 

[willair]

And Buyers still wonder why, generally, Agents can't help them.

It's always been a 2 way street Jon,and i have to agree with the above statement,most REAL-ESTATE agents does not matter if they are green with a head full of steam,or the ones with 20 years under there dress or belt who say nothing and let the punter tell their life story in 3 minutes,most just don't listen to what the "Buyer "wants,not having a go at you Jon,just the way
i see things..willair..