First Weekend Post-Househunting

Now that the house-hunting is over, it feels good to have gained our weekends back!

On my way home from work on Friday, I caught a glimpse of this double rainbow...

It looked far more impressive in real life, but of course being the responsible citizen that I am, I could not afford to take a better photo.  This was snapped from my iPhone sitting in its little handsfree mount!

I have noticed more and more rainbows around Melbourne recently (which has increased my driving time greatly, since often when I see them I feel compelled to keep driving to follow them, even after I have reached my destination!) and I love them!  Unfortunately, they also seem to be accompanied by (or are as a result of) this constant we weather we've been having.

Saturday night we headed out for dinner for my cousin's birthday.  I bought this cute little puppy cake, and also the little longevity man figurine as a cake-topper at Liam's insistence.

Poor little cake was a little tense, so we administered some acupuncture treatment...

No wonder he'd been nervous though... Look what happened next!

I can at least confirm that he was very very tasty!

After dinner and cake, Liam and I settled down in front of the TV for one of my favourite events of the week - Saturday Night Football!

We are avid football fans, and are known amongst our friends as the crazy couple who will be at the stadium every week!  Often twice a weekend, if not twice a day, if that's when our teams happen to be playing.  Unfortunately due to the impending mortgage repayments which are in our immediate future, we've had to cut down on this.  Sadface. 

After the game, Liam attempted to put himself to bed although only got half way off the couch until he gave up it seems!

It must have worked wonders for him though, because when he woke up the next morning (and yes, after I stopped laughing at him I did wake him up and send him off to bed!) he was full of energy and decided to whip up a yummy breakfast for us.

Mmm... look at all those lovely fresh vegetables!

Let's just say he's more organised than I am!  When I cook, the kitchen is a horrible mess and I'm always fumbling for the ingredients at the last minute when everything needs to be in the pan.

It's got to be said - there is something very appealing about a man in the kitchen...

Especially when he produces tasty food like this!

I've said it once, and I've said it a thousand times... weekends just disappear far too quickly! 

Tell me what you got up to! xx

When House B becomes Plan A!

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my last post!  It's such an exciting time for us - I keep looking at the photos of the house, and I love it so much! I think that it's just beautiful, I'm so glad you all seem to agree!

As most of you guessed, in the end House B won the battle! 
House B has now become our plan A, and I couldn't be happier! 

Thank you for all your helpful advice on the dilemma!  I had some wonderful tips from you, and it really helped to clear my mind and gave me a guide on what I should focus on.  I hadn't really shared the house-hunting process with many of my friends, so it helped tremendously to have advice from all of you lovely ladies, and also to have a bit of wisdom from some who had done it all before. I am ever so grateful! xx

As suggested, I decided to draw up a list of pros and cons of each house -

As you can see, House B won in a landslide!

When I said that House A was the perfect right-now house for us, I was really lying a little.  I'm sorry about that.  If it makes you feel any better, I was lying to myself too! I could just imagine being in that stunning open plan living room with a little balcony perfect for indulging in wine and cheese platters... but what was missing from that scene was the every day annoyances and inconveniences we would have to put up with.  In the end, I came to the realisation that House B was a much better fit for us, not only in the future, but right now too. 

I am now the proud owner (or I will be in exactly 28 days!) of a beautiful three-bedroom two-bathroom double storey townhouse.  As you might have seen from the picture in my previous post, it's a gorgeous little thing and I cannot wait to get moved in! Unfortunately it is currently tenanted on a fixed lease until the end of December.  Once the lease is transferred we are going to discuss with the tentants the possibility of breaking it early, but in the worst case scenario we should be in our new home around Christmas time (ahh, the wait is going to kill me!).

And look at the size of my new kitchen! <3

So now begins the fun of planning and buying new things to decorate the house! If the renters decide they want to stay until the end of their lease, we will have quite a while to plan and save up to buy everything that we need! I'm so excited.

Can you give me any tips, or inspiration for setting up and decorating a new home? xx

Wordless Wednesday : Coming Home

That's Miss Homeowner to you!

Wordless Wednesday happens here, here, here, here and here!

What to do, what to do?

First up... here's a picture!

This is how I spent my Sunday night. It was bliss!

Now it's text time. I apologise in advance for the big rant here, but I've been keeping the whole house-buying process under wraps from most people until I actually become a home-owner so I need to tell someone! And you, my dear readers, are the lucky winners.

You might remember that in this post, I told you that we'd fallen in love with a property.  Then in this post I shared the news that we had decided to put in an offer.  Then there was this post where I had to admit that our offer had been rejected but we were considering a second property.

Well, now I present to you this post where I divulge to all that we have indeed put in an offer on the second property.  HOWEVER, this is where it gets complicated. 

Upon leaving the second property after our inspection I notice a missed call on my mobile.  We call back, and it's the real estate agent from the first house (we will call this House A) enquiring whether we are still in the market for a house, and if so are we still interested in the place? We confirm on both accounts, however stress that there is no way we are going to pay the price that they're asking.  He says he will talk to the vendors and come back to us.  In the mean time, after seeing  the other property (we will call this House B) for the second time we decide that although it's not the love like we'd had for House A, it is definitely a much more practical house and will suit our needs much better in the long-term, not to mention it is a significant amount cheaper.  So yes, we went straight to the real estate agent and put in an offer.

Upon further investigation, we decide that given the interest during inspections (we had to line up to get in!) and the fact that we've been told there are already two other offers on the table, we decide that we should probably increase our initial offer to be competitive. 

This morning though, before we are able to action this, we get a phone call from the real estate agent of House A. He tells us that the vendors are willing to take our last offer+ an additional $2,500 to which we say no way.  We inform him that we've put an offer in on House B, but will be in touch should that fall through.  Not long after that, we receive a text message stating that the vendors of House A are willing to take our last offer on the condition that we withdraw our offer on House B today and sign the contracts.  Again, this is a no way.  We text back stating that if they agree to drop our last offer by $5,000 we will consider it, but no promises. 

At this stage. I have no idea what the hell to do! I still adore House A. It is a perfect right-now house for us, and it would suit our current lifestyle perfectly! But House B will be a much better choice in the future, and it has a double garage rather than the one car+street parking that House A offers.  House A does not have a bath tub (although it has 3 ensuite bathrooms, but no room for a bath!) which will make things difficult in the future should we decide to have kids.  But House A is much more stunning upon entering, and will surely impress my guests as well as provide a perfect place to entertain in the open space lounge room which opens up onto the balcony.  House B however has more room outside for the crazy dogs. 

Why does this house-buying business have to be so damn complicated?!?!?!?!

Wordless Wednesday : Three Musketeers!

A rare moment of calm.

They're hard to come by whenever these three are together!

Wordless Wednesday happens here, here, here, here and here!

Back to Blogging!

You may (or you may not!) have noticed my slight absence from the blogging scene.  In addition to being hectic busy lately, I have also experienced what can only be described as blogger's block.  Each time I thought about wanting to write a post, my brain would draw a complete blank!

Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post! My mind over the past couple of weeks has been consumed mostly with house business, which I did not want to talk about since there was nothing really to tell, but also did not want to speak negatively of in case I jinxed myself!

Either way, whatever my superstitions were, it appears they did not pay off.  Unfortunately the vendors have been rather stubborn in what they are asking for the property, and given the current market conditions and property prices in general, I am unwilling to budge and give those extra dollars they are holding out for.  The real estate agent is hopeful given a bit more time that we can all come to an agreement, but I think I am all negotiated out when it comes to this!

No matter.  We've seen another lovely place over the weekend, and whilst it doesn't have the wow or pizazz that the other property pulled me in with, it does come with more space and much more of a homely feel to it.  We're going to try to arrange a second inspection this week, and then the deliberations will begin on whether to put in an offer.

Anyway, in my brief absence...

I've cooked some tasty food.

I've ordered some unhealthy food.

I've procured some lovely new boots.

And I've spent hours poring over copious amounts of paperwork!

I hope you've all been keeping safe.  Time to catch up with all of your blogs now!

Here's Hoping!

Just a quick post! It has been a very busy week, and part of the reason for that is that...

We put an offer in on a house today!

We've gone in with a very low unconditional offer, which I'm almost certain will be knocked back.  We have a fair amount to play with so I'm just desperately hoping that the negotiations will work in our favour and that we can come to a suitable figure before we reach our limit! I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I am very excited!

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me?!