Had a house viewing and they had sold their house. Not interested in ours even though they liked it. Ah well til next time.

Got some You Tube videos of Tassie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEMbuz1XoOw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPiQq3swG2E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Ofeq8rznU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkd-0QZf1Ys

Hi well its been fantastic these last few days really sunny, still a bite in the air but just like spring rather than winter. went to Launnie yesterday without a coat!! it was lovely .. funny I was talking to 2 friends here who originate from Melbourne and they both said its much colder over there in winter, see there are many misconceptions re Tassie weather, always makes me laugh

as for where ever you settle, like you say no where is forever especially if you rent

Hi Lenmil. Shame about the viewer not wanting to make an offer on your house, but at least it goes to show that your house is nice if they said they liked it, just a shame it's not quite what they're after.
I know after not selling for a while that people start to wonder what's wrong with their house! Always amazes me - some of the holes you see that sell -
i remember me and Andy viewing a place that had been re-possessed before we bought this house - and we almost made an offer - and the previous tenants had booted in the bath panel, ripped out all the kitchen worktops and cupboards (obviously because of the re-possession), they'd done loads of damage but the re-possession price was the same sale price as if it had been in good order!
and there's us ordinary families that have normal family homes that we try and keep as nice as possible that struggle to sell!

Anyway, i hope you get another viewer very soon!!

thanks for the youtube links!

Cathy

the weather over there at the moment sounds lovely!

the weather over here at the moment is crap!
so much for the good old british summer!
today we have grey skies, wind, and the strong possibility of rain! oh joy, how i love to entertain the kids indoors all day! i think the old plasticine/playdoh etc will have to come out later if i dont want them running around like loonies all morning! (but then i'll probably spend half hour picking tiny bits out of the dining room mat!)

isn't Melbourne supposed to be the City that can show all the season's in one day? I'm sure i've heard that before from different people, i remember someone saying that they wore a scarf and winter coat going to work and by the time they came home they were in their t-shirt only!

Andy's sister from Perth left here yesterday. We saw them Monday evening to say our goodbyes - and Eden said to her Aunt&Uncle that they'll have to come and visit us in Tasmania when we live there...(bless her). They didn't reply such is their distaste that we have chosen such a place over Perth I take that to mean that they're not going to visit us! (what a shame ).

Cathy

Thanks for that Cathy. It's amazing how people think so differently. I think people are just plain and simple scared to buy a house in case they drop in price. They may do so, but they will go back up again. They always do. But it's silly not to buy a house you really want. If you don't go for it some one else will. The annoying thing is we used to get people putting letters through our door asking to let them know if we decide to sell. This was only a few years ago. Since then a lot of work has gone into doing the house up a bit. But how far do you go. It's no good spending too much just to see the other people rip out all your work to put in their own. A few builders told me to put in a white bathroom as that's what people like. But not every one does. I don't for example. I like other colours. Guess it's just a waiting game. I may be going back to Tassie in a few weeks to keep my visa going. Too nice a place to give up.

Some pictures to remind.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3181/...ae4f0e27_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/...3c30005f_b.jpg


Arrgghh why won't my house sell. AArrrgghhh why can't i win the lottery. etc etc.

Hi Lenmil, you are right - people are very scared to part with any money at the moment. It's strange though as it's all "hidden" money where property is concerned - you dont see the equity / non-equity unless you sell and dont re-buy! Prices will definitely rise again - demand will outweigh what's available again like before.
We know that there's things we could do to our house still if we wanted to fork out more money - but since buying the place 6 years ago we've spent more than £25,000 probably on bits and pieces, from doubleglazing to new bathroom etc etc etc! We dont want to replace the kitchen because at the same time the heating / boiler would need doing (old boiler currently bang in the middle of the kitchen!) So we'd decided to let the next owner put in whatever kitchen takes their fancy - and although our kitchen is ok, not great but clean & tidy - we know that a lot of people expect to see a brand new kitchen in a house with granite or wood worktops etc! So you cant win! If you have a nice one, chances are someone will like you say rip it out after moving in anyway and if you haven't got one you'll get criticised by some viewers for that. If we haven't sold in 6months time we may consider putting one in (without replacing the boiler) and Andy will do the work himself - but it's all time/hassle taken up that we dont fancy! The next big DIY project we were hoping would be in our home in Tas!

I must admit - when we did our bathroom we now have a completely white bathroom! But it wasn't intended - just that i broke the toilet pan late last year (dropped a bottle of perfume down the loo) and we couldnt get a replacement to match the colour of the suite. Changing the loo meant getting a whole new suite - and re-tiling the bathroom and replacing the floor because of the different sizes (whoops!!!!), and all the insurance paid for was the suite - as anything else like the floor they said were "consequential losses" and we weren't covered for them with our cover!
Our house seems to fall under the "money pit" category of houses. If anything is going to go wrong it will do.

Are you going back to Tassie just for a visit then? must be costing you a lot in flights to do that?
What kind of visa do you have? was it not a permanent residency one?
I'm very glad that we validated last year when we did - although Andy knows we could be out there now if we'd decided to sell last year and not go then, but i dont think any of us predicted that the property situation would be quite like this...

As usual though - i'm keeping my fingerscrossed for you..... Must be harder for you guys as you've been there, lived there and know how much you want to be there.... Whereas we've only visited briefly so i guess it's easier for us to stay put for the timebeing....

Cathy

Stop torturing yourself! Lovely pics though

I have a PR visa but i have to work for 2 years to get the restrictions lifted. Been too hard the family being apart. But were all missing Tassie and all that is stopping us is the house not selling. Unless i win the lottery on Saturday of course. Here's hoping. The housing situation is dire, with not enough houses for people. When the scare is over, boy o boy will the prices rocket.

Hi, it's a shame you have restrictions on your PR visa. How much time towards the two years have you managed to do so far? I cant remember how long you were out in Tas? Were you sponsored / state sponsored?
We have 136 skilled independant visa's - so apart from the validation date we were given we had no other restrictions other than the fact that we now need to be out there by March 2012 !
I appreciate it must have been very hard for you to be seperated as a family.
You'd think that immigration would take such things into consideration but they dont seem to which is a shame, but the number of people in this situation seems to be increasing from having read other posts on BE lately.

I've also been wondering how many other people connected to the construction industry over here in the UK like brickies etc are going to start applying for Australian Visa's. I know things aren't booming quite so much in Oz as they were say two years ago with building etc - but with so many UK workers losing their jobs i reckon more will be looking to go oversea's.

I had done 8 months. My job is still open but if i take too long it may go. And i was sponsored so it will be a dilemma.

oh no, not a good situation to be in... I do hope something good happens for you soon! I'm going to send you some karma - fingerscrossed!

Hi Lenmil, i was just sitting here thinking about when we put our house up for sale again and was wondering what the general consensus is regarding sale prices....
ie, do people think it's better to have your house advertised for sale as "offers in excess"....
or should we put it up again at a specific price and wait for offers (and to be knocked down!)....

I'd be interested in anyone's opinions on this......

thanks guys & girls!
Cathy

Hi

Lenmil and Cathy - sending loads of house selling luck your way, really hoipe you both get that buyer

We have had a bit of bother with our neighbour this weekend, apparently there has been complaints about them before we even moved in and the landlord has evicted them, so I think they were trying to be as annoying as possible before they left!

Have had lovely weather here this weekend, went to Bruny Island yesterday and had a picnic lunch on the beach, was wonderful!

Sam

hiya yep but they also say that about Tas weather too, anyhoo we've had some snow up in the hills and there is quite a lot on Ben Lomand at the mo they now have 6 lifts open, they are doing a kids games day up there next sunday sounds like fun and its free must be hard entertaining them indoors when the weather is crap, we used to play a lot of board games I loved doing that.

as for your rellies shame they are too blinkered to miss out in seeing Tas, there are some funny people arent there I would never miss a chance at visiting a new place, want to see it all we also spent 6 months in WA and loved it