Project New Home: Another 2nd Inspection!

After a night of great anticipation, Jonathan and I took Dad and Mum, and Mina, to see the gorgeous villa in Denistone.

Prior to leaving for the inspection, Dad and Mum had asked about the villa's proximity to schools and public transport. Mum had pulled out her very old street directory and looked up the area, and we found that besides the Catholic primary school a block away, there was also a public primary school on the other side of the main road, about 3 blocks away, which was still within walking distance. I had told Dad and Mum that we had checked out the high school situation, and that the villa was within the catchment area for the schools we want the kids to attend. Denistone station was a little bit far away, but the walking distance was not entirely out of the question.

Having already spent 30 minutes at the inspection yesterday, we were ultra keen to show the property to Dad and Mum, whose opinion and expertise we value. For the duration of the tour of the villa, I was expecting Dad and Mum to pick apart the property and list all the flaws. Yet, strangely, for much of the tour, there was silence.

Meanwhile, Jonathan and Mina busied themselves with their measuring tapes and measured up the rooms. As we weren't given a floor plan, nor the dimensions of the rooms, we felt it was important to get some measurements to see how big a space we were dealing with.

From room to room we roamed. Dad and Mum both noticed that the stove was electric (they have always preferred gas), and the hot water system was on the small side. They both noted that the ceilings were nice and high, and that the master bedroom has the only built in wardrobe. In the back garden, they noticed the overflow pipe for the hot water system seemed to be jutting out a fair way from the house, and asked if it could be sawed back.

Dad and Mum also noticed the spacious laundry space, and the lovely lovely lovely walk in pantry. They seemed to like the security shutters on the front windows of the villa. They made a comment about the single car space, and the single toilet in the 3-bedroom villa, but liked the fact that the toilet was separated from the bathroom.

We spent another 30 minutes at the villa with the agent, talking about various things before finally heading off for lunch. Mina seemed to like the villa a lot, although we can't be sure whether her comment of "this is the only one I've liked so please buy this one" was reflective of her true feelings, or simply that she'd had enough of house hunting with us and really wanted us to buy a place so weekends could return to doing stuff she wanted to do.

The agent told us to put in our best offer by midday tomorrow, as he had received 3 other offers already and was keen to end the inspection process for the vendors by then. We took the buyers' price declaration form and promised to email him our best offer before midday tomorrow. With that, we left to head back to Chatswood for yum cha and a debrief.

Over lunch, Dad and Mum listed their main concern - that the train station was a bit far away, and getting to and from the bus stop, even though it was close by, was still subjected to the elements. Mum's concern was for Jonathan's trip to work, and that was when we realised we hadn't told her that Jonathan had moved offices and was now working in the city! Dad said that while the bus is a good mode of transport, the trips to and from work may be long ones for us as we would inevitably be stuck in traffic during peak hour.

But otherwise, generally, Dad and Mum were both quite complimentary about the villa. Even though it didn't have the "magic" combination of 3-2-2 (bedroom, bathroom, garage), there was plenty of storage space, with room for more outdoor storage in the form of a future garden shed behind the garage. The villa was at the back of a complex on the high side of the street - at the highest possible peak of the street, and it was on a quiet street with very little traffic. From the front of the villa, there is a lovely view of Homebush and Parramatta, which would be a good vantage point for any fireworks displays from the Sydney Olympic Park.

When it came time to talk money, Jonathan and I needed a little bit of guidance as to how much we should offer. The agent had already informed us of 3 other offers, and told us that if we were to make an offer, indicatively, it needed to be higher than the listed price and the amount should not end in a rounded figure. Jonathan and I wanted Dad's opinion on how much to offer, and the amount he had in mind was the same as the one we wanted to pay.

We thanked Dad and Mum for all their help, and spent most of the afternoon discussing the property and our offer, until we were both 100% comfortable with making the offer in the amount that we had in mind. We also came up with a totally random sum, with the last 4 digits being 1234. We hope this will get us over the line, because we really do like this place, a lot.

As soon as I get into work tomorrow, I will be emailing the form through to the agent. After that, there won't be anything else to do but wait. Stay tuned!

Updated on September 13 @ 9.35am

Email sent. Waiting game begins.

Updated on September 13 @ 12.05pm

Agent just called. Our offer is the highest! Pipped the 2nd offer by that much. Agent is now going to take the offer to the vendors and see if it is accepted. Stay tuned!!!

Updated on September 13 @ 4.03pm

Agent just called again. Our offer has been accepted!!! Now comes the scary part - the part that involves solicitors and money!

We are almost there. We can almost almost almost say we are the proud owners of a gorgeous new home!!!