A few months later in the land of OZ.

The 2013 winter is behind us now and with the renewed economic stability we're receiving here in Australia, the property market is starting to perk up a bit; it's time  for a new post.

Again I've had an extended sabbatical from this blog; work, life, kids....something had to give and blogs was pretty much it over the last 5 months or so.

A bit has happened since. My family has started to look for something different. If you read my blog regularly enough, you'd get the overall feeling that I'm not a big fan of suburbia. I'm not a big fan of living with your window coverings almost permanently closed and am definitely not a fan of not being able to walk around nude in my backyard. So we've been looking; with the sole criteria of a property where I can walk around completely nude without anyone seeing me. This has lead to a few properties which fit, but the one I really liked was a 144 acre bush block. It had everything ready for the picking...some development, a lot of virginal bush, far away yet close enough (sort of).

The main challenge to buying such a block to live on is very much about choice for kids. Buying a bush block basically:

1. Limits you to your nearest school. The next nearest would be ages away.
2. Limits you in terms of sporting opportunities. Although there'd be enough space to flatten an oval or two.
3. Limits you to a 'run down to the shops'.
4. Limits you to the type of car you can realistically have.
5. Limits you to checking out tractors akin to checking out Lamborghinis.


Anyway, the space and the opportunity to make a huge block mine, the way I like it, is indeed compelling. Have any of you made the switch to a rural block?

Upgrade Part 2

Yesterday we had a few hours to kill so we went and had a look at a property on our "upgrade" radar. 

Here is a link to it on re.com.au. 

We had mixed feelings. Yeah, it has four acres, but it's sloping away. 

It's in a great spot close to Toowoomba CBD, but it's next to a dry creek bed. 

It had plenty of bedrooms and a study, but it's hardyplank. 

It has a large kitchen, straight from the 80s. 

So it was mixed thoughts. Prooobably a no goer. Your thoughts?

Buying a PPOR - emotional stuff.

The time has come to buy not a house, but a home. A place that we will live in for a while, a place that we can shape and mold over the years to make it our own. To give you an idea, I'm already looking at iPad wall mounts for our kitchen so that Melinda can use it as a recipe book. THAT SERIOUS.

So we've been looking around Toowoomba and to tell you the truth, house prices haven't changed much since we put a contract on a rental back in 2007. Luckily the sale fell through, I doubt we could get much more for it now. We're in the market for a 4 bedroom place, not a big yard, somewhere near a park and easy commute to my work. We are also thinking that this may still be a 'transition' house; a house that we will be in for about 3-4 years, before buying something even more to our liking.

I have made peace with one aspect of my current stage in life. I do not want a big back yard. Not now. I am busy enough. I have other stuff to do on the weekends, rather than spend countless hours gardening (even though I do love it).

So this one decision has taken a huge factor out of buying a house; the size of land.

We will most likely end up on a 600 square block, which, now, is fine with me.

Want cheap land???

This 100 acre block is selling for $1400/acre!!!! This is definitely a go ahead area...if I had the cash I would have snapped this up ages ago...it's been on the market for a little while, I'm sure they're open to offers...

Cheap Land close to Hobart!

This 10 acre block is a bargain for $70,000 (listed price) and no doubt you may be able to knock off a few more thousand since it's been on the market for a little while. It's only a 30-40 minute drive from the CBD (depending on your driving style and aggression on the trip) and New Norfolk is a beautiful small town growing into a "satellite" town of Hobart. There's a Woolworths there already and that lovely small town feel....check out the view you would wake up to every morning.

The Great Aussie Dream....or is it?

My mind often wonders off at little tangents and this morning, I contemplated home ownership, which, as most of us know, is often referred to as the "Great Aussie Dream." Home ownership is great. It's your little world, yours to mould into whatever you desire, a reflection of how you want to live and the things you like. On the other hand, I really do wonder about the modern version of what this so called "dream" really is.

While Australia has suddenly, since 2000ish, been at the receiving end of economic prosperity, a lot of people now call Australia home, but I contemplate what sort of home.

For example; a lot of people, especially new immigrants, rent. The Aussie dream is not alive for these people. Those fortunate enough to have bought and paying off a mortgage, the dream is coming to life, but what sort of dream? I mean, seriously, what is the average dream property for Australians? To me, it seems to be the 3,1,1 (3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 living area), or the 4,2,2 (4 bedroom, bath/ensuite and 2 living areas) which, on the face of it, seems great. The part I have trouble with is the size of the land. I mean seriously, does the Great Aussie Dream (GAD) involve a 600 square block of dirt, or even worse that I have seen recently, 420 or 330? What about terrace living? I mean, who really wants to live in a place where you can't go outside to have a fart or burp, without 8 of your neighbouring house dwellers hearing it? That is my definition of virtually no provacy. It's hell.

You see I have a problem with this. Australia is a vast, untapped country, with cazzillions of acres right across each State. So why do we end up in a house with a backyard where the dog has to strategically pick where it shits just so it doesn't step in it when walking around? And further, guess how much we are paying for these blocks, just for the convenience of urban living? Big money...

On the other hand, I have just completed, for fun, a little research in areas that are not in urban hell, but in a place where the GAD can become a true reality. For example, you can buy 100 acres in outback Queensland for about $150,000....with power and a bore. Why are these sitting there idle, no interest and no one buying, yet a 600 square hell block for 250K in urbania gets snapped up faster than I can say, STOP!??? I mean, I myself do the same thing, but why am I scared to buy in rural areas?

Have we became a fully urban nation? Is the convenience of having things at your fingertips that important? Obviously, or I wouldn't be having this rant. But I challenge the need for 99% of the population to live in suburbs rather than Aussies spreading their wings and looking for land. There is soooo much out there, un-used, left alone, forgotten.

The GAD, is living in hell. The GAD is dead. Long live land.