Project New Home: Homes Viewed = 10

Guess who got conditional approval for a very big bucket of money to buy a new home???

The conditional approval for our mortgage came through yesterday - thanks so much to our gorgeous friend Andrew. The email came through while I was at work, and I was so excited I had to call Jonathan straight away. While we were on the phone, the enormity of our quest finally dawned on us, and although we were excited, we were also a little bit scared.

With this weekend being a sleepover weekend, we were house hunting with Mina, our power point counter and bath spotter. I found 3 properties open for inspection: 1 in Eastwood, 1 in Marsfield, and 1 in Epping.

The first property in Eastwood was a villa in a small complex of 4 villas. Although the property was on one of the busiest roads in Eastwood, the complex was set right back from the street, and the villa was at the very back of the complex which actually made it very quiet.

Upon entering the villa, we were greeted with a narrow but long lounge room, which the owners had furnished with both a lounge and a dining table. This flowed into an open plan kitchen, and a "family" space with easy access to the small courtyard which wrapped around the back of the property, which provides another entry point into the villa via the laundry.

The villa had 3 bedrooms - all very very generously sized. In fact, they were all double sized bedrooms, with the master bedroom having its own ensuite, and a really big ensuite to boot (it was almost the same size as the main bathroom). All the bedrooms had built in wardrobes, and the main bathroom had a bath. The double tandem garage was laid out so that the front of the garage housed the car, and the back of the garage was furnished like a "spare" living space.

This was a lovely villa. And it would have been perfect for us if we were a family with teenage children who spent a lot of time in their rooms, or a young couple looking to turn the villa into a share house to help pay the mortgage. As a couple with a young child and another on the way, we felt that we needed more family living space for our young family.

We went for some lunch at Macquarie Centre before heading to the inspection at the Marsfield property. Even before we arrived at the duplex, I knew this would be one property that I would fall in love with. And I was right.

The 2 storey duplex was at the bottom of a cul-de-sac in a gorgeous area, far enough removed from the hustle and bustle of Marsfield / North Ryde, but close enough to all the amenities. The property looked very well maintained, and the garden well groomed.

Once inside, we were greeted with dark redwood flooring, which Jonathan balked at immediately. We had seen the same kind of flooring at the first property we viewed at the start of our house hunting adventure, and Jonathan wasn't that keen on the flooring back then, and even less impressed with it now. The flooring just screamed "Asian", and to be honest, I wasn't that taken with it either, especially when it was so expansively installed throughout the duplex.

Downstairs, there was an ample living room and family room, which was contained to one side of the duplex. The kitchen was through a door in the centre of the ground floor, and I just fell in love with the kitchen. Big open space, with a dining area at the back of the big open space. There was also a small covered patio off the dining area. I could picture myself cooking for everyone and have them all seated at the dining table, keeping me company and enjoying the lovely aromas.

Upstairs was lovely too, with 3 massive bedrooms all with built ins - the master bedroom has a walk in wardrobe! The bathroom upstairs was amazing - the owners must have put a fair bit of money into renovating the bathroom - it was probably the best room in the house besides the kitchen.

Besides the flooring, this place was lovely lovely lovely. A huge problem though was that the property was scheduled to go to auction, with the starting bid being our upper limit. The auction will be held on site on August 28, so Jonathan and I decided we would come back to see how much the property would sell for.

The 3rd and last property for the day was in Epping, which was being listed by the same real estate agent who was selling first property we viewed - yes, Dad's friend, who was out the front of the property greeting potential buyers as we arrived.

The townhouse was at the back of the complex, which unfortunately also meant the townhouse more or less backed on to Beecroft Road. The complex also sloped down towards Beecroft Road, which meant the townhouse was at the bottom of the slope.

The entry level was the "upper" level, and we walked into a lovely lounge room with lovely rented furnishings. Two bedrooms and a bathroom made up the "upper" level, with built ins in both bedrooms.

Downstairs, there was a poorly constructed 3rd bedroom directly under the "upper" living space, with a small kitchen and an even smaller dining space. Access to the backyard was through the sliding doors adjoining the dining space, and although it was advertised as a "covered garden", the "covering" was provided by the trees from the other side of the back fence. There wasn't one flat surface in the backyard, which was a bit overgrown and looked very unloved. In fact, it didn't look like anything could grow in that backyard, and even if someone wanted to blitz it, there was little to no access for one to bring in the bobcat and other necessary equipment to do the landscaping.

And there was another problem. The 3rd bedroom wasn't always a bedroom. It looked like someone had decided at one point to put up some gyprock and enclose the downstairs living area to create a 3rd bedroom. It was dark and dingy and it actually felt damp. We weren't sure if that room got much natural sunlight at all.

It only got worse. The garage wasn't connected to the townhouse. It was displaced about 15m from the front door.

This property didn't sing to us at all, and we left in a bit of a hurry so we wouldn't be caught up talking to the agent for too long.

We've now seen 10 properties, and armed with our conditional finance approval, we are totally ready to make an offer on that perfect property. Bring it on!