Originally Posted by sonlymewalter

Hi PP

Compared to the UK system the Aussie process of buying a house is fairly quick and straight forward. I suppose it's been slightly different for you due to the cock up re finances that the adviser made. It all seems hard at the moment but once it's all over and you're in and you have your first celebratory drink, you'll look back and be glad you did it

Re the table & chairs: Have a look on the notice boards that are sometimes outside Coles/Woolies etc as there are often people selling stuff on there. I'm sure if you look there or in local papers or even garage sales, you'll come across someone wanting to sell theirs.

Re termites: I was exactly the same, especially when I saw that the inspectors take no responsibility if termites are found to be beind the wall at a later stage

Don't stress. S'all good. Keep smiling and remember how well you've done in the short time you've been in Aus

Originally Posted by Professional Princess

We are just waiting for the finance to go through now, the bank have all the paperwork and we should hear any day now.

I cant wait for it to be over, its the being in limbo that I cant stand.

We asked the owner if she wanted to sell her garden table and chairs but she is taking it with her, it is an expensive table and chairs so I guess it will be back to the quokka.

Im having termite nightmares.

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

Hi PP,

We have our house inspected for termites every year. Cost $180 in July this year.

Hope this helps,

M

Originally Posted by philnorris

YOU ^&*^&*^& I was thinking nooooooo she's going home, after all this heart ache and all these years to finally get out there she is going home.

Then read on, had me going for a short while though. I hope you love your new place cant wait to see the pics I am soooo jellous. I have to wait another 5 months till I get to go "HOME" lol.

Good luck in your new home PP.

Phil

Originally Posted by Professional Princess

Fooled ya

I can't wait to hear from the broker that the finance has gone through, I am on tenterhooks here.

Which area do you plan to live in?

Originally Posted by Professional Princess

One of the girls at work tends to do all the termite inspections for colleagues if/when they buy properties so he will do ours for the mortgage and then once we have moved in, we are going to get him to spray the place as seen loads of spiders when we viewed - including redbacks so they have to go. Can they spray anything to aid protection against termites?


We live in a brick house, and we have a barrier termite protection in between rows of bricks just below where the lowest 'weep' holes are in our walls.

The guy who came out last year said that we could have chemical protection against termites, think he quoted $30 per metre of brickwork, but ours is a new house, and termite barrier is guaranteed for 10 years as long as we have annual inspections done. Many people here, mostly Australians, don't bother to have the checks done. I just like the security of knowing that everything is okay.

We prefer the barrier protection against the chemical option, but if we moved into an older house, we'd have to take another look at the chemical option.

Here are a couple of sites for you to look at:

http://www.housing.qld.gov.au/design/pdf/termites.pdf

http://www.termite.com.au/termite-control-perth.html

Don't know why, but I think that termites may be more of a problem in the more humid states because they need moisture to survivie, and to build their nests.

Our termite guy says good places for them to start out in houses are the 'wet areas', bathrooms, kitchens, laundries, because of the moisture, and any leaks that might be found in these areas.

On a separate note, we had a problem with redbacks when we moved in to our house. They were in the roof space, and were coming into the bathrooms via the overhead heat lamps/fan/lights. Our pest control guy got rid of them, and advised us to put insect net over the openings in our attic floor where the redbacks had been coming in. Mr M, got the stuff from Bunnings. Very cheap. He made sure that the insect netting isn't close enough to the lamps/bulbs etc so that it doesn't melt.

Our termite protection guy even checks out the roof space, he told me that ours is the cleanest roof space he's ever seen!

Our pest control guys sprays our roof space, inside the house, and all of our garden, for $200. People are amazed when I tellthem how long the guys are here, +/- 2hrs. Some of my friends say their guys are in and out in 40mins and charge more! The stuff they use lasts for up to 12 months, and it works, I found a dying huntsman in our garage about 3 days before the guys were due to come last November.

Don't know about WA, but best time to spray in QLD is November.

Hope this helps!

M

Originally Posted by philnorris

I dunno to be honest, we have a short term let in Hocking arranged then going to have a drive around, I would like some where with a little space around me and thats about it. BUT, since amanda cant drive it has to be close to public transport, atleast till I kick her ass and make her learn to drive.

Originally Posted by Professional Princess

I passed my test donkeys years ago and have never driven since. I had my refresher lesson two weeks ago and hated it.

I need to build my confidence but to be honest, if I could rely on public transport forever then I would, only the new house really does dictate that I drive.

I cant ever imagine being a confident driver.

Originally Posted by philnorris

I am sure you will be just fine I took amanda out in an auto and not wanting this to sound bad but she had loads of confidence with not needing to think about a clutch and changing gears too.

Originally Posted by Professional Princess

It will be six months on 8th September that we have been in Australia.

Still in the same jobs, the usual variety of intense and often painful emotions to deal with.

I keep seeing people that look like my friends/Dad and the more I stare at them the more they morph into them.

Mr PP said he can hear me say certain words with a 'twang' but I beg to differ although when I am drunk my Westcountry accent comes out really strong.

I don't miss England yet I tune in to anything English/British and felt absurdly proud when I saw the handover at the Olympics on TV.

I don't miss any food/shops because I hated shopping anyway. Good hairdressers seem to be at a premium after my hair was well and truly hacked into by some English bird who thought that I would look 'better with short hair' - and now I am scared shitless to get it cut. One guy has told me his wife is a hairdresser and she can do it. However I dont want to help anyone out with their business at the risk of having my hair ruined again so I shall save my pennies and go to the salon opposite my work as they did my hair once and although costly, did a good job.

My asthma is better, I am finally starting to feel healthier after being ill with picking up various germs.

Mr PP still enjoys shopping and has found a nice little Italian supermarket in Freo where the veggies are so cheap so that is him happy, in fact he was in there this morning

However, even though everything is going really well in Fremantle and I love it here, I have really posted this to tell you that we are not staying here and it is time for us to go home.

I feel sick at the thought of moving, moving the cat again, packing our boxes and just moving but there is nothing we can do as it has to be done.

My family can't believe we are leaving either and nor can I really as I have loved it here.

Not to mention the cost, how the bloody hell are we going to finance it? How can I do it again to my cat? We move on 10th October so are packing and ending contracts now etc.

And on that note, I would like to proudly announce that by 'going home' we are actually the new owners of a 3 bedroom house with a big piss off garden about 6km out of Fremantle!

WE HAVE BOUGHT A BLOODY HOUSE!

We had applied for pre-approval and then got the broker checked out, I did my own research and she has got us a brilliant deal with interest. After seeing some properties, we kept coming back to the same one and it felt right the minute I walked in the door.

Dad had phoned me to say he had come out of hospital and the agent rang Mr PP, so they were negotiating with the owner in a 3 way conversation and all of a sudden it was a done deal.

So I said to Dad 'guess what? we have just bought a house' Dad was so excited he couldnt speak.

We paid our deposit yesterday and signed the contract and although it is subject to finance, there shouldnt be a problem and as Mr PP said, if it is meant to be then it is meant to be - if it falls through then so be it.

I wont say any more yet as I dont want to jinx it but we could never have done this in England - it is just more achievable here.

This house isnt a palace, the garden needs some work, the walls need painting so I can see a 'painting party' coming on, Ill supply the beer and the paint

But we dont want a huge house, we want a home and that is what we have got.

There, my update! (fooled ya though didnt I?)

Originally Posted by Professional Princess

It will be six months on 8th September that we have been in Australia.

Still in the same jobs, the usual variety of intense and often painful emotions to deal with.

I keep seeing people that look like my friends/Dad and the more I stare at them the more they morph into them.

Mr PP said he can hear me say certain words with a 'twang' but I beg to differ although when I am drunk my Westcountry accent comes out really strong.

I don't miss England yet I tune in to anything English/British and felt absurdly proud when I saw the handover at the Olympics on TV.

I don't miss any food/shops because I hated shopping anyway. Good hairdressers seem to be at a premium after my hair was well and truly hacked into by some English bird who thought that I would look 'better with short hair' - and now I am scared shitless to get it cut. One guy has told me his wife is a hairdresser and she can do it. However I dont want to help anyone out with their business at the risk of having my hair ruined again so I shall save my pennies and go to the salon opposite my work as they did my hair once and although costly, did a good job.

My asthma is better, I am finally starting to feel healthier after being ill with picking up various germs.

Mr PP still enjoys shopping and has found a nice little Italian supermarket in Freo where the veggies are so cheap so that is him happy, in fact he was in there this morning

However, even though everything is going really well in Fremantle and I love it here, I have really posted this to tell you that we are not staying here and it is time for us to go home

I feel sick at the thought of moving, moving the cat again, packing our boxes and just moving but there is nothing we can do as it has to be done.

My family can't believe we are leaving either and nor can I really as I have loved it here.

Not to mention the cost, how the bloody hell are we going to finance it? How can I do it again to my cat? We move on 10th October so are packing and ending contracts now etc.

And on that note, I would like to proudly announce that by 'going home' we are actually the new owners of a 3 bedroom house with a big piss off garden about 6km out of Fremantle!

WE HAVE BOUGHT A BLOODY HOUSE!

We had applied for pre-approval and then got the broker checked out, I did my own research and she has got us a brilliant deal with interest. After seeing some properties, we kept coming back to the same one and it felt right the minute I walked in the door.

Dad had phoned me to say he had come out of hospital and the agent rang Mr PP, so they were negotiating with the owner in a 3 way conversation and all of a sudden it was a done deal.

So I said to Dad 'guess what? we have just bought a house' Dad was so excited he couldnt speak.

We paid our deposit yesterday and signed the contract and although it is subject to finance, there shouldnt be a problem and as Mr PP said, if it is meant to be then it is meant to be - if it falls through then so be it.

I wont say any more yet as I dont want to jinx it but we could never have done this in England - it is just more achievable here.

This house isnt a palace, the garden needs some work, the walls need painting so I can see a 'painting party' coming on, Ill supply the beer and the paint

But we dont want a huge house, we want a home and that is what we have got.

There, my update! (fooled ya though didnt I?)