In a bid to overcome our homesickness this week we spent hours and hours finalising our decision about where in Oz we are going to settle. And the winner is right here in Caroline Springs. It was actually seeing the kids happy here that we finally made our minds up. Ellie is really happy at school and Becca, well, she simply adores her new kinder. In addition, we have made some really amazing friends here and add to that the decent property prices and good commute to the city and the decision was made. At present, property here is still a good price but there's a new bypass being built which will grossly reduce the drive into the city and with that, and the completion of the suburb in around 5 years we fully expect it to be a good investment.
Anyway, anyone who knows us knows that once we've decided to do something, we just get on with it (think back to brief engagement, then 2 kids in two years - get the picture lol). Anyway, we have inspected a fair few houses this week and on Tuesday, I spotted a new property come on the market which looked perfect. I called the estate agent and asked to inspect it then heard nothing back!! After a few chase up calls, we got in to see it on Thursday night and almost immediately fell in love with it. I won't go into the whole story but there was another offer already in on the property and the owners had reduced the price to sell quickly as they'd already moved out (a previous buyer dropped out last minute). So we thought about it all Thursday night and on Friday, confirmed our mortgage was Ok and made a cheeky offer which was promptly refused. So, we went back to them with the offer the same as the other bidder (but we'd found out by now they couldn't get the finance so it was just us bidding). We found out about 4pm yesterday that the offer was accepted so today we took the deposit cheque in and signed the official offer.
What can I tell you about the house? Well, it's right in the heart of Caroline Springs which means a 10 min walk to school, shops, library, pool, pub etc. It's about 1 year old and it was built by a company called Metricon. Long time readers of this blog will remember that's the same builder we chose when we were thinking of buiding so we were chuffed when we heard that as we think they're a great builder. We also discovered that the style of the house is exactly the same as the house we wanted to build with Metricon but couldn't afford (talk about fate). Thankfully, because the seller needed to sell quickly because of the previous lost buyer, the price was amazing. Actually, we had to go see the realtor for the place we're renting so arrange breakign the lease and she couldn't believe the price we got it for.
The house has everything we wanted including a nice added bonus of a proper home theatre room and a guest room upstairs right next to the bathroom. The girls have identical rooms next to ours as well as a rumpus area on the landing for their toys. As for our room, well, it's more of a suite than a room lol. When you go through the door htere's a corridor which opens on the left into a walk in dressing room with mirrored robes either side and a door into the ensuite. Follow the corridor along past the dressing area and the bed area is there with the balcony and lovely views (perfect for those early morning coffees). The ensuite is fab, it's got a massive spa bath, double sinks, large shower and separate WC.
I've added a few photos we took on our 2nd inspection today, there's also a floor plan in ther from the current model of the house. The only difference there is the layout of the master bedroom and that ours is the flip (i.e. mirror image). Also, here's a link to the builders site on which you can take 360 degree tours of the showhome of the same design and also see more photos and a video (bear in mind it's a showhome though so it's top of the range everything)...http://www.metricon.com.au/victoria/homes/tribeca/default.aspx
Right, we're off to sink a bottle of something strong.
BTW, we had a lovely night along at Helen and Andy's last night catching up on all their news, thanks guys.