worzel

I don't take long (ask Sam ). We started looking last Saturday and did open houses that weekend. Sam saw another on Monday and got me to see it that evening. We made an offer the next day and had it accepted the following day. 5 days start to finish! Realtors get a bad press (often deservedly) but ours shuttled between our house the vendors and another bidders on the Tuesday night until 10.30pm when we finally agreed a price.

We wanted to stay in Currambine originally but houses here fell into 3 groups. Some very nice but silly priced houses, some very tatty but affordable ones near the station and quite a few "mansions". A couple of realtors said that Currambine has had its day, particularly those on the eastern edge near where the freeway extension is to be and we now agree. We have started to get a lot of hooning around here too. One guy over the road even had someone crash into his garden.

So we looked at Kinross but everything we saw there was very small especially the bedrooms and very few had a pool or even room for one. If you are on a tighter budget it might suit you.

Carramar was never on our shortlist but once we saw one there we went to view anything we could in that area. The eastern end is still being built and a few kms down the road is Banksia Grove which has a few Home West houses (but all suburbs do now - by rule apparently). They all tend to be modest in size so far as living rooms are concerned (but still big by UK standards) but have big bedrooms, pools, airocon, retic etc. And they are also $50-100K than the next suburb towards the beach.

We are paying $368K (156K GBP) for a 4 x 2 with all the above and it doesn't even need decorating. It is a cul-de-sac location and we loved the fact that there were kids playing in the street everywhere which we don't see in Currambine.

Carramar is due to get a shopping centre (with Coles) and the local high school is a private one with a good reputation (St Stephens).

binbird

Congratulations Worzel - you are making swift progress! Will your daughter have to change schools?

Binbird

Juliecabs

Sounds good Worzel.
Any chance of some piccies later?

Three Legs

Well done fella ... we could be renting next door !

walla

sorry for being dumb but where's Carramar?

walla

cheers, found it, beside Joondalup, well I never

Cheetah7

Congratulations both of you!

Would you say that buying your own house is more achievable taking into consideration wages etc in Australia than in the UK?

Buying property in the UK seems almost impossible with todays prices.

Three Legs

I would say so ... just by a smidgen tho' !

walla

if you get your skates on you may be able to buy before prices rise to about UK prices, however renting is relatively cheap.

Cheetah7

Walla, you woulnt want me on skates, I would fall over.

See what you mean though.

worzel

We are agonising over that one. She has only done 4 weeks at school so far so in a few months it would all be forgotten. But after 7 weeks off she is itching to get back. I think we have decided to wait until the next school hols by which time we would have moved.

walla

roller skates are fine but roller blades are what you need for buying a house

Cheetah7

Im afraid that after the 'thailand pole dancing incident' Abdel won't let me near a bicycle let alone roller blades. :scared:

worzel

Try this:

http://www.patiencerealestate.com.au/frame.htm

If it doesn't go straight to our house do Property Quick Search > ID Search and enter reference 3321440.

worzel

Having come out here with the equity of our UK house it is definitely easier to buy here. I reckon everything costs twice the GBP equivalent over here (not the 2.35 rate) and I have found it easy enough to get that sort of salary to match.

Interest rates are a couple of points higher here but they haven't had a property crash in recent memory so banks seem quite willing to lend as it is taken as a given the prices will carry on rising.