New mortgage

[gingerandmichael]

I just wanted to share that we officially signed over our lives tonight - our very first mortgage.

It''s only a 606 square meter (think that''s about 6500 square feet) block of empty land in a gated community, but with the price of Perth real estate that''s all we could afford!!

The repayments on it are still about 20% of our income...

We''re hoping to build on it in the next 2-3 years. I think that''s when it starts getting exciting! Until then, we''ll be pitching our pup tent and sleeping in swags!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Congratulations! Even though it''s a lot of $ just think about how happy you will be once you''re sitting in your new home. That kind of happiness can''t be measured in $s. And best of luck for a smooth and successful building process.

 

[jcrow]

wow! congrats

oh, house building. sounds exciting!!

we''re looking into getting a new home too. i feel so lost though. it''s a bit overwhelming!

 

[gingerandmichael]

Property is REALLY overwhelming. First you have to find what you want to buy...and in our case, we bought in the middle of a huge property boom, meaning we actually had to camp out at a land sales office for 3 nights just to get a block.

Then we waiting MONTHS for the titles to be issued. Now it''s December in Australia and the banking system all but shuts down halfway through the month - so instead of having 28 leisurely days to settle, we''ve really got to get it all done by next Tuesday (or lose our $1500 bonus for settling on time).

Add in having to do all of the transfer paperwork, getting things signed and stamped at the correct offices (and paying nearly $8000 in taxes!!!). It''s a nightmare.

The mortgage documents were in a stack as high as "Les Miserables" - I think there were at least 20 "Sign here" stickies in it.

We''ll put off building just to forget what a pain it was to get the block!

It will be worth it in the end though. The community is lovely...very Stepford Wifes-ish, but not in a scary way.