Wanderlust

Hello all!

Well, I've been here nearly 3 months now and I'm still loving it to bits. Been living with family in the Gold Coast and commuting to Brisbane for work every day! I've spent 3 months of my spare time looking for a place I like that I can afford, and I finally found it!!! Here's how its worked out so far...

Its a 3 bed townhouse (semi-detached in a secure complex with a pool) in a suburb called Runcorn (about 16km from Brisbane CBD) Put in an offer on Friday, haggled over the weekend and had my offer accepted on Sunday. ($4,500 less than the asking price).
Sorted out a solicitor (roughly $800 for solicitors fees & searches), pest and building inspection (about $400). Because the property costs less than $250K I dont have to pay any stamp duty, and because its my first home in Oz, I get a $7K grant from the government that is deposited into my bank account on the day of the settlement.
There are government fees of about $350 to pay as well.

Got a mortgage at 6.49% (variable). Mortgages over here are really cool. They have a thing called 'draw back' (I think) - basically you can put as much money into paying off your mortgage as you want so you can pay it off earlier - and if you find you need it - you can take it back out again. Awesome!

Hoping to have the keys in my hand Xmas eve. Merry Xmas me!!!

If anything else interesting occurs or I find more info, I'll add it to this post.

For those in Brissie - housewarming in Jan some time.

W.

Pollyana

Hiya,

Congrats on the new house!!!!! Def up for a housewarming party. Sounds like a good place - hope you'll be very happy there Bet you can't wait for Xmas Eve now

Polly
x

honeybob

Wanderlust,

nice to see some positivity on here, really pleased it is going well for you, hope you have a cracking christmas!!!!

bob xx

tinaj

It sounds fantastic! Glad to hear things are working out for you over here. The weather is warming up a bit now so you will be glad of that pool !

spalen

Great news on the house! really fantastic.

How is that commute ? and how do you think it'll be being 16Km into each day there and back ? I assume you work in CBD?

Just wondering how it really feels to do the daily grind and commute in each day from outside the CBD...

Wanderlust

Actually, my new place is only 10 min from where I work, as I work in Brisbane Technology Park, also South side of the city.

The drive itself at the moment isn't too bad - its 80km - which is all done in one long stretch (takes about 50 min - 1hr). Traffic is never a problem as I dont get close enough to the city to experience it. But - I know people who live on the South side of the city, similar sort of area, and they commute into the CBD every day. Apparently after 8am the traffic in the city is horrendous! But there alternate routes.

Any other questions??

W.

mlbonner

Whats the square root of 41237?

Seriously though, sounds good. Sorry I didnt reply to your text, I got tied up at work. Looking fwd to the house-warming (you're going to HAVE to have one now )

See you next week

ABCDiamond

I tried so hard to resist the urge to answer this, but failed...... 203.0689538063365

Hels

Ahhhhhhhh you must be feeling better then??

ABCDiamond

I'm not really sure yet. I just turned the computer on, and thought i'd have a read of what's happening, and tried to stop myself answering, but had no control

mlbonner

someone had to answer it I suppose

Jimbo9

Q. What is the 13th root of 70664373816742861
02234008830240157375704233170702632731
26972151600039570906541997314191454938
9684111?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...373489,00.html