We are not actually looking to move so I rarely see what is for sale in our area. When I look online at real estate I am looking at places far far away from where we are now. Places where you can still buy big blocks, where you have no idea if your neighbours are home or not.
Looking is one thing, but the decision to move to the country is too big. I always struggle with the decision about if I really want to leave the city altogether.
Yesterday I noticed the perfect place for us in the local newspaper. JUST AROUND THE CORNER.
The house itself didn't bother me too much, but for sale is one of the last remaining super sized blocks. 3000m. This is better than gold dust.
I know we can't afford such a place, but I want it anyway.
Today was the open for inspection and we peeked through the house with a handful of others. Not as many as I expected, but enough to know that other people want it too.
We have spent the whole day wishing things were a bit different and that we had the capacity to buy this house. It is torture, because we just can't.
I don't know why we even looked through in the first place, knowing that this was likely. Perhaps we were hoping to see a ramshackle house that we hated, a street landscape that was less appealing, or too much work required. But we saw a dream house which is exactly that. A dream.
Do you look at houses that are well beyond your means?
We tend to look at houses that are a bit beyond our means - which is incredibly frustrating. I go through phases of looking online all the time, then deleting all real estate apps completely from my phone, until I get curious again and reinstall them. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteIf it's any consolation, a big block like that might be a bugger to maintain!
It is a big block and the garden needs LOTS of work, there would be costs to get retaining walls fixed and trees removed or trimmed etc. The fences are all down. ALl lots of money to do.
DeleteI see things in Sydney terms but 3000m is absolutely enormous. It was only by a stroke of luck that we got our current home (Chez Abulous) so hang in there.
ReplyDelete3000m is enormous here too. Most blocks here are around 500m and the houses are all being ripped down and townhouses are going on, so most people have about 250m only. 3000m is like a farm around here.
DeleteI don't look at houses we can't afford because we can afford what I ideally want BUT I refuse to have a mortgage of anywhere near $500k because well that's just ridiculous, I wouldn't sleep well at night and no matter what the bank might think, there is a huge difference between "affording" a mortgage and it impacting on your current lifestyle to the point that it would change completely and not necessarily for the better!
ReplyDeleteInstead I look at acreages in southern Tasmania, somewhere we were all set to move to 5 years ago but then life happened, somewhere we planned to move to this year but then reality set in [Tassie needs to do something about it's employment or lack of!]. I still have hope we will end up there one day but that hurdle, that obstacle called my husband is a bloody hard one to overcome!
I think in this house I am the obstacle - the rest of them would be living in the country by now!
DeleteI just did. Last night. And then tried to figure out how we could possibly conjure up the $300k in difference between our place and "those places".
ReplyDeleteI haven't done it in a long long time, and part of me is excited to dream again, and another part of me yells "PAY OFF THE MORTGAGE YOU HAVE!!".
Good luck!!!
K x
We moved to the country last year - just an extra 20 mins out from where we used to live in Melbourne, but it FEELS so much different. And yes, its an acre block :) Hated the idea of moving further out, if I had my way we'd have got an even pokier place in an inner suburb, but hubby is a country boy and had other ideas. I actually apologised to the real estate agent when she first showed the house - it was so big, and so, so different than the direction my head was thinking of, I figured we were totally wasting her time. But I have to tell you - I have never regretted the move one iota. I absolutely love where we live. Even my spider phobia has relaxed into a more country style of living, lol. You never know Claire, you might just love it too (and you can always rent somewhere and rent your place out to see if you like it)
ReplyDeleteAs for looking at houses we can't afford, I must admit it's rare that I do. But I did fall absolutely in love with a simple little park in Malvern, with wonderful trees and lush grass, guys playing football, kids running about daft and people walking or sitting chatting. I desperately wanted to move nearby, but each time we'd go, hubby would point to a cardboard box or bin or something equally as "witty" and tell me that's all we could afford to buy there. A girl could dream ....
We are currently looking for a new house and it is horrible emotionally! I don't look at houses we can't afford. It is like torturing myself...once I see something that I love...it is hard to settle on anything else :)
ReplyDeleteWe moved here, to what I have proudly called our "for as long as we live in Melbourne, this will be our forever home" 10 years ago. Whilst I still love the house and the neighbourhood, it no longer suits our needs - the house is too big and we are never around to actually enjoy the neighbourhood. Instead we made a spur of the moment decision, to buy an apartment and downsize. Now all we have to do is wait for the apartment to be finished, sell off all the furniture that is too big and get ready for a new adventure. Bring on December, I am ready for a change!
ReplyDeleteYou are sooo loving my life write now! We literally just looked at a house around the corner from us, much bigger, and I am in love, mainly with the bigger block which as you said are rare! I guess we could do it but it would mean a complete lifestyle change which we don't want to do. Ahhhh to dream though hey!
ReplyDelete