Searching for a house to buy in Australia can be a difficult thing; Although, I guess it's not "looking for the house" that's the hard part it's securing it that can be the difficulty. It's a hot market, prices are high, (unsustainably in my opinion), and even though there's been a softening of the market in the last few months there's not much sign of prices dropping dramatically anytime soon.
I've been looking around lately myself, scanning the listings on realestate.com.au with the view to finding something suitable for one of my brothers who is actively seeking and buying. He's asked for my help; I'm well-placed to assist thanks to a job I had for twenty years.
Looking for a house can be annoying, my brother is over it, but I've been enjoying it - probably because I'm not the one actively buying. I go over the listings in the areas he's interested in every few days and have found some options and while he'll make his own choices it's my objective (and professional) opinion he's looking for in counter-balance to his own.
We've discussed a few like this one, and this one here, and one more here each of which are close to what he wants but are not quite right so he's put them aside; the search continues and in other regions also.
He and his wife are looking for acreage, meaning a large land parcel, because he wants to have some hobby-animals, a vegetable garden and other things. His mind is set on 2 hectares (4 acres) which equates to 20,000 square metres and for the right situation would compromise...that's a good thing because he's going to have to do that to secure something. He's offered on a couple already and missed out for various reasons, one he didn't offer enough and the offer on the other was just a little late and he's starting to get annoyed at the whole process which is why he's asked me to help.
Fortunately he's flexible with his needs so able to look at a wide range of properties increasing his chances. Of course, the distance to his work and his wife's business can't be compromised but they homeschool @mrbonkers (my nephew) so they don't need to factor school into it. I'm sure he'll find the right thing eventually but certainly understand the frustration he's feeling having been through it many times myself and can only imagine what it's like for others who don't have the flexibility or funds he has at his disposal.
Naturally, I don't mind helping and even though I'll not spend much time at the house he eventually buys because he lives at the other side of Australia from me looking is a bit of fun and I like being involved.
Have you ever gone through this scenario yourself? What experiences have you had while going through the process of looking for and securing your house and then how about the move itself? How did that go? Feel free to comment on that or anything you like really.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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Ugggghhhh. Moving. I've had some good and some bad. Probably the most epic bad was the one where I put the fully decorated Christmas tree in the front of the truck so we could have it in the new place (100 miles away). Good help loading and unloading, but the drive included a nasty snow storm. The tree was important to my then wife's girls.
Best one was probably to where I am now. Took me a couple of weeks and there was no time constraint. I'd pack and move stuff until I was tired of it then quit. The day I moved my bed was the actual 'date of move'. Pretty stress free.
yeah, moving isn't the most enjoyable of things, something always goes wrong. I've done it a few times and have some funny stories to tell but also a few not so nice things; I might do a post on it one of these days.
These are the moves that go the best.
I hope you're well and loving life.
I like buying something for myself that way the most. When someone else wants to buy something, and I help them, without tension (I see it for myself), I can rationally look at the needs and decide on the best option.
But it was never as big a thing as a house or an apartment 🙂 Wardrobe, furniture and even a car cannot be compared to an apartment or a house...
When it comes to such a large investment, money is always a big challenge... I was convinced of this a few years ago when I was looking for an apartment for my parents. Luckily, the purchase was made at "that" time (8 years ago), before the big increase in real estate prices. Today, real estate is more than 3 times more expensive. And salaries have increased by 30%.
My brother who was buying a house in Scotland had a similar task as your brother. When he found a property that suited him, he had to move from the old to the new house in one day, he didn't have time for a slow move. He didn't have as much challenges with the price as with the organization of the move.
But that's another story, which will probably be mentioned when your brother buys a new house 🙂
Maybe I can share my experiences with moving or renovating the apartment I moved into here with the community 🤔
I tend not to put too much weight on other people's opinions when it comes to the things I buy although that doesn't mean I don't take them into consideration; the thing is that their opinion in theirs and often based around their experiences, needs and understandings/expectations rather then my own. Having said that, my brother and I are on the same page and, because of the profession I was once in for many years, he is happy to take my opinions into consideration.
My brother made an offer on another house today and it's a cracker, one I like a lot; it's on 22,000sqm and has established vegetable gardens, chicken coops, heaps of garaging/workshop areas, a swimming pond (natural), outside sauna, spa bath and shower, BBQ areas plus all the stuff you'd expect inside the actual house. It's all surrounded by Australian rain forest yet has nice (useable) open areas as well. I hope he's successful with the offer.
Good luck to your brother today 🤞
I hope the seller will accept the offer.
And then the adventure begins, moving and furnishing.
I can’t imagine how stressful it must be to try to find the right place with everything involved, like work and distance. It’s great that your brother’s flexible, but it must still be tough.
I think I'd be kind of overwhelmed if I were in his shoes. I hope he finds the perfect spot soon. It’s awesome that you're supporting him through it. It kind of makes me wonder what it’ll be like when I need to buy my first house someday
People are pretty adaptable I think, so it may seem very overwhelming to you but I think if you were actively in the situation you'd probably handle it well.
We moved one time. After that I could not find my Witcher books for a while so that was slightly frustrating.
Yeah, I can imagine losing books to be quite frustrating and annoying; clearly you found them again though right?
I am just glad that they were not Berserk books. Manga (Or at least Berserk because Berserk is only manga I bought) is more expensive than most normal books so I would have been even more frustrated. But yes, I found them eventually.
From what I remember my dad had a small(metal?) box with coins. I looked for it multiple times but was not able to find it. Shame, maybe it could be worth something now... My dad also collected postage stamps. We sold few albums and got 150(?) for it. We still have some albums. 150 is much less than I expected but it still is something.
Hi Galen, buying a house or an apartment to live in is one of the most important decisions one can make. The worst memory I have of buying my apartment is the difference in criteria that my partner and I had at that time. I don't have bad memories of that move, but I do remember the renovation work that had to be done. I don't like building work at home.
It can be be such an important decision; you know, they say that selling and buying a house raises the same stresses that a death in the family does, just differently. I can attest to it as a buyer and seller and someone who operated in the industry for twenty years.
I was unaware that this type of situation was comparable, in terms of stress, to the loss of a family member. Although once I know this information, I can think that it is true, from my own experience.
Have a good afternoon.
How can the housing market in Australia be this bad, I thought the snakes and spiders make living affordable over there 😂
Well, a house with snakes and spiders won't sell for as much as one without but those bastards are everywhere so it's difficult to get away from them. We tolerate them.
Looking for a house can be mind numbing for sure. My wife and I looked for almost a year before we finally found the one that we settled on. Now she has been looking off and on for us to move to a new place. I remember when we were looking before we put a bid on a house near some friends of ours. We weren't the highest offer, but our financials were much more secure than the other people. They ended up going with more money even though there was more risk. It was so disappointing for us, but it helped us find our current place. As I said, now we are considering downsizing, so who knows where we will end up. I'd like acreage as well, but the market and prices are nuts right now.
There's a lot to be said for going with the (more) secure money over the higher number and I've seen people take the risk for a small monetary gain time and time again only to have the deal fall over causing them to go back on the market and waste time and lose money as well. I suppose the risk people take is dependent on their situation.
Yeah, I can't imagine we were that far off from the people who got it, but who knows. I think we ended up with a nicer home in the long run.
It didn't used to be so hard, but the market sure has gone crazy the last few years. I haven't done any home searching since it got to bad and I probably won't again. The prices have just gotten so hideous !
I can see it might be fun to help look for someone else though.
Yep, it's the same in most first world countries I think, prices have increased on everything and it's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet. The crime rate is starting to rise too as people are resorting to other means to make ends meet. Only this week a massive business here has been pulled up for using (undisclosed) facial recognition at this stores across the country and their excuse? Increased violence and theft in the stores. Just one example. The housing prices are unsustainable, but for now they seem to want to stsy high.
I love the process of house hunting, seeing what's on the market, how people decorate and style their house, and trying to imagine if I could live there. Did a lot of that the last couple of years.
The actual buying the house process can be quite frustrating in the UK, that's the part I hate most as there's a lot of uncertainty. Once that's over, building up my home and putting my own mark is nice. Seeing how things all come together, from a blank canvas, to me filling it with decor and furniture. Sitting down and looking around, thinking, this is my home. So rewarding.
Even now, sometimes I still look online to see what's on the market, just to entertain myself.
Looking doesn't have to be a bad process but at the moment it's quite frustrating for people as price expectation is high as is demand. With the quality real of estate agent dropping (skills and ethics) it's becoming a harder process. They cut corners, act against legislative requirements and lack work ethic which leaves most buyers (who are even more clueless) in a bad position...the vendors too really although they often get their price so think they did well. It's like anything these days I guess, quality declines.
As for looking at houses, I understand what you're saying but for many who are often quite pressured it can be a terrible experience these days. Never used to be.
I like the houses you mentioned here, some of them have their own private forest.
The only thing I'm not clear about is the price. One really stands out in terms of price (and I'm saying, it's much cheaper than the others). Is it possible for your brother to look at properties with such price differences (2.5x)?
The price on the one he offered on today is over &1.1 million Australian dollars, about $680,000 Euro, so slightly above the average house price here in Australia. ($960,000 AUD)
He's been looking at properties at different price ranges because each will work for him depending on other factors - it's all a compromise. Ideally he's in the $1m+ range as that's the property he needs and wants (features/land/location), but he would look at the lesser priced ones and make compromises on his needs if that's required. I'm hoping he gets the one he offered on today.
It seems spiralling prices are a feature of property markets the world over. Prices in Ireland have risen 78% in the last decade. I've more or less spent my life renting as I've moved about quite a bit. Thank goodness I decided to buy 4 years ago.
It's great that your brother doesn't have to worry about your nephew's school and they can teach him in every school, ideal!
In my case I have not yet reached the point of buying a house, although I have looked and I always look to keep up to date. But if I have had to look to rent, I know that it is not ideal, and it has been an upheaval and something tedious and exhausting, a long and tiring process.
You will surely help your brother in an excellent way, because you have the necessary knowledge. I hope he will soon find the ideal place.
I think he'll find the right place eventually; he actually made an offer on a place today so we'll see how that goes. It's a really great opportunity but, of course, it comes down to the vendor accepting the offer and terms. Time will tell how it works out.
It will work very well, the right place is waiting for him.