March 2026

S M T W T F S
1 2345 67
8 9101112 1314
15 161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Tuesday, October 29th, 2013 10:34 am
Long time no update.

After about 10 years, we've finally got news on the property development front. A development application has been approved by the local council, and the property my sisters and I have been living in for the last 10 years (the house we've owned for some 20+ years) is finally being sold.

This is precipitating a few sea changes.

It won't be for another year or so, but it will eventually be. And so it's time to start thinking about options.

1. It means that we'll be out of a place to live.

2. It means that we'll be coming into a share of money. (From the sale of our grandmother's unit, which was left to my mum when gran died 13 years ago, and which is coming to my sisters and I - as my stepbros get the stuff from their grandmother and which doesn't come to us.)

The intersection of these two things means I'd be looking at buying a place. Probably in the same area where I am now, probably a unit since I can't afford a house. Probably alone because I don't want to live with B2, and while I'd be amenable to buying with B1, chances are if B1 and I are sharing a house, B2 would think she'd be entitled to live there, too.

And thus precipitates an issue that has gradually been coming to a head over the last 10 years.

B2 thinks she's independent. The truth is she's not. Everything in her life is subsidised. Her food, her utilities, even the roof over her head. It's all subsidised - by us, her family. The parentals, B1, myself...

B2 has never lived in a situation where the buck stopped with her. And this is a problem because she's 36 years of age and this should have happened at least ten years ago.

This is also an issue because B2 presently thinks she's going to live with B1 when the house splits up. Which, more or less, means B1 will end up looking after B2 for, well, most likely the rest of their lives if we're honest about it.

Not my problem perhaps, but a concern, certainly.

Anyway, even if I'm not looking to buy immediately, I think I'd like to start looking at places in the area, if only to get a view for what's available, how expensive it is, and what my options are. I'd prefer a 2-bed if I'm living alone, 3-bed if I'm sharing with someone.

Buying a house with someone else as tenants-in-common would be ideal - I prefer living with other people, but for that, you need to know you can live with them, you need to know you can trust them, and you need to know they can uphold their end of the financial situation.

What I really want? Is a terrace house, or semi - 3-bed, with a north-facing garden so I can have the kitchen garden I've wanted for, oh, 15 years now. Can't afford it yet. Give me another ten years and I'll see...

In the meantime, househunting. Maybe one Saturday a month, check out places and prices and note what I like and don't, work out how much I'd be looking to pay.

And get my unit out west ready to be sold.
Tags:
Tuesday, November 26th, 2013 01:08 am (UTC)
Unit = storage unit?
Tuesday, November 26th, 2013 02:22 am (UTC)
I was a bit confused, further up the page, about why you would have a unit while also living in a house with your sisters... BUT HEY it's also none of my business.

Also, all your housing jargon is hilariously confusing to me, and I'm honestly not sure how much of it is Australia and how much of it is my general lack of housing knowledge. The dilemmas are pretty universal though. Good luck!