Today we officially own our first place in Oz

[BriD]

Such an exciting day for us!!!

Today the settlement went through successfully and we now own our very own little place in Sydney! It is the most wonderful feeling to know we no longer have to rent and we can hang our own pictures on the wall!! YAY! It is a 3 bedroom townhouse in Sylvania, Sutherland shire, New South Wales. We are so happy!!

We are celebrating from afar though as we are currently in RSA visiting. So we are obviously looking forward to coming home...home to Sydney and home home to our new place

Have the most amazing circle of friends who really helped us pull it all together with our move out of our rental into storage units / flying to RSA craziness / final inspections of the property on our behalf etc...I feel very blessed.

And in addition to friends...we had such an amazing group of people helping us...the estate agent who went above and beyond for us, the conveyancer who patiently helped us Newbies figure out the way to buy a property properly, and our mortgage broker who has also gone out of his way for us and been so patient with all my questions. It seems it was meant to be and everything fell into place so beautifully.

I love Aus...it is home...and now we have a home home...

Thanks for sharing in our excitement

xx

Bri

[Neels]

That is awesome news BriD. Good on you Congrats, I can only imagine what a great feeling that must be.

[Clover]

Congratulations on your first home Enjoy !

[monsta]

So, within a year of moving across, you have your own place in Sydney! That's quite impressive.

For those who don't live in Sydney. There are stories on TV of people paying $1.5 million for a little old ladies old house near the CBD. The house was so run down, the buyer bought it to demolish and start again. Then the politicians (during the New South Wales state election) talk about how Sydney's population will double by 2050. And how if they start building roads as fast as they can, it just isn't going to be enough. So, we need to find alternative solutions like public transport.

Then I look at Ryde council. They are facing a forced amalgamation, i.e. they will be merged into a larger super council. Their argument against it is, "our Macquarie park business park is going to become Sydney's 2nd CBD!". I don't think they looked at a map and saw it borders a national park on the northern side. Cars already queue for 5-10mins to get out of Maquarie park and head up north through the only road through the national park. But, hey! lets add more traffic.

I guess my point is, with the system as it is in Sydney, the local councils are only doing what's good for themselves. There are too few people are looking t the big picture. Even though the politicians claim that's the solution ever election.

So, buying a house is a good move... a nice house in an area with good infrastructure or near the CBD will always be worth a lot.

[qwerty]

Congrats! That is amazing news

We're not even close to being there yet... just don't see us being able to afford a house in Sydney (Northshore) very soon. As Monsta has pointed out - the prices people pay for 'Renovate or Detonate' properties are through the roof!

Think we'll have to move out to the Central Coast or Blue Mountains...just a 1 1/2 hour commute one-way

Edited April 7, 2015 by qwerty

[rozellem]

Very excited for you Bri! I am a Libra and have a fundamental need to live and nest in a place I own myself. A bl@@dy curse, I tell you. We bought less than 2 years ago and our area has skyrocketed. Conservatively, if we had not even reached for a paint brush since moving in, our place would now fetch at least 300k more than we paid for it. I dont bother myself too much with prices and property bubbles, as we intend to live here for the rest of our lives. Seriously, if I won the lotto tomorrow, I would just build a new house on the same plot. Enjoy the move, it makes a big difference in being settled.

[Tazzn]

Congratulations.. enjoy moving into your new home when you get home

[AFreshStart]

Congrats BriD,

We know the feeling, we settled last week and moved in over in the Easter weekend, we are in, but I'm exhausted! It racks up 3 moves in 7-8 months, but what feeling to own your own place, or at least be paying into something you will own. Congrats again.

Monsta, from experience $1.5 million is on the lower side, we've watched properties in Surry Hills go for over $2 million and they have to be gutted... it's showing no signs of slowing either. We were looking at 2-bedroom apartments in Green Square, off plan and they are in the $970k - $1million mark, that buys you 75 - 88m2 of Sydney real estate.

Cheers

Matt

[Batsie]

Awesome BriD, congrat. Good on you.

[BriD]

Thanks everyone.

Yeah no doubt about it...Sydney housing market is INSANELY EXPENSIVE...when I think of what we paid for our little townhouse and convert it to rands I want to be sick. However...it is not gonna change here anytime soon...and it is a good investment. We are not paying rent into someone else's mortgage and we have our foot on the property ladder...feels good to own for sure. We are still relatively far from the CBD with a 35 minute train ride...would never ever have been able to afford to be closer...however, having said that...we really love the area we stay in and it is perfect for us right now.