Project New Home

Now that Project Wedding is pretty much all finalised, and Project Baby is ticking along nicely, Jonathan and I have tentatively started looking for a new home to house our growing family.

My one-bedroom apartment in St Leonards has been home to me since 2001, and has served me, and since May 2009, served us very well. I loved the space when I was there on my own, and when Jonathan moved in, it felt like there was just enough space for us (although at times it has felt a little bit cramped). Add Mina visiting every weekend and sleeping over every second weekend to the mix, and my growing belly containing Speedy, space (or lack thereof) has recently become quite an issue.

Whilst I am reluctant to move, because I've been at St Leonards for so long, and oh, how I hate moving house, we will soon have no choice but to find more space. The apartment really isn't built to house 2 adults, an active 5 year old, and a brand spanking new baby.

Last week, I started looking at properties for sale on Domain. My location preference for our new home is in the Northern Suburbs where I grew up - anywhere in the Epping / Eastwood / Marsfield / North Ryde area would be perfect, as I've always loved that area, and there are some very good schools too. The public transport system has improved by leaps and bounds since I last lived in the area, with train stations added to the North Ryde area, and a massive upgrade of Epping Station and the Epping Bus Depot. And there are plenty of shops around too - Macquarie Shopping Centre is huge, and there are some big supermarkets close by as well. Jonathan has no real preference for location - he knows where he doesn't want to live, but that's about it.

Ideally, our new home would have 3 bedrooms, a study (that can be turned into another bedroom), 2 bathrooms, a newish kitchen, an internal laundry, some outdoor-ish entertainment area (balcony or courtyard), and 2 garage spaces. But certainly, no less than 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and 1 garage space. We worked out that we need 3 bedrooms at a minimum - Mina has recently been complaining that we aren't providing her with a proper bed and a proper bedroom and a proper bath in a proper bathroom, and now has permission from her mother to not sleep over again until we do provide her with her demands. (As an aside, how many 5 year olds can you name that has a double futon bed which is all hers to use for the 2 nights a fortnight that she sleeps over??? Can anyone spell "demanding brat"???) So, in the spirit of being good parents, we need to provide a proper bedroom space for the brat who uses it 2 days per fortnight. We also need a room for Speedy, who will actually be using his room full time. And of course, we need a room for us.

In my search on Domain last week, I came across a lovely looking place in Epping. The photos made the place look very nice, as did the advertising, and it ticked a large number of boxes for me - 5 minute walk to the station, 4 bedrooms, fully renovated throughout. I liked it so much I asked Jonathan if we could go to the open house last Saturday.

Of course, I should point out that neither of us had to this point spoken with our finance guru friend to see if we could afford this place. But that's just the way we are - unconventional.

Along with Mina, we went to inspect the property. We were the last family to arrive for the inspection, and we stayed as long as we could. We chatted with the real estate agent, and asked a few questions here and there. We also agreed to her sending us a copy of the contract.

Oh yes, we love this place. We want this place.

The property is scheduled to go to auction while Jonathan and I are away on our honeymoon. By the look of things, the open house we went to was the 2nd of 6 open houses scheduled for this property's 6 week advertising campaign. It certainly feels like the vendors are stuck on the idea to go all the way to auction.

Jonathan and I are trying our best not to put all our eggs in the one basket with this property, but it's proving a little harder for me than him. He has been quite upset since Mina's mother told Mina she didn't have to sleep over any more (without consulting us first), so I want us to have the space for Mina and meet her brattish demands as quickly as possible so that she would sleep over again. Plus I'm also getting into a small state of panic about the current lack of space, and in the very near future, the possibility of having to deal with a visiting brat and our brand new baby in a one-bedroom apartment.

With all things in mind, we talked firstly to my folks about the property. My dad has been in the real estate game for as long as I can remember - he purchased properties in Sydney as investments way back in the early 1960s when he was in Sydney as a mature age university student and has always been a shrewd property owner and investor. Since he has so much experience and still know so many people in the real estate game, it would have been remiss to not seek his advice. The owner of the listing agent turned out to be a very familiar business associate of Dad's, so phone calls were made to discuss the property. Bless. I love my father!

Next task was to line up a meeting with our finance guru friend Andrew, who came to our place to talk finances with us on Wednesday night. By his calculations, we can more than afford the new place, with a bit extra for some new furniture and a new car in the future, which made us all very happy.

The property has another open house tomorrow, and we've asked my folks to come along to inspect it with us. I hope they see as much beauty as we do, and at the same time, see all the faults that we don't - Jonathan and I are now pretty emotionally wrapped up in this property that we will need my parents' objective eyes to point out every little fault.

We have yet to engage a solicitor, which we will need to do if my folks think the property is a goer. Dad knows plenty of people, so that won't be a problem finding someone who will look after us. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In any case, this is the first of 2 properties we have inspected, so for now, let's just say the search continues. It may be a long journey, or it may end with us making an offer on this property and the offer being accepted. Who knows what will happen in this current competitive real estate market?

Wish us luck, and stay tuned for updates!

PS - and yes, that is a picture of Smurfette's house.