MID 2018 (1)

With the house sale process  out of the way, it was now time to think about heading back up to Bendigo to house hunt in earnest. With some three and a half months until we had to leave our old home, it seemed we had plenty of time to find a new place….

The sign says it all…

Being able to search for properties online made house hunting much easier than it once was. Go to one of the main sales sites, fill in some search parameters, and up pops an array of choices and information. All from the comfort of the study chair.

Given that John’s stated requirement was for no close neighbours and at least an acre sized block, that went into the search engine, plus wanting at least four bedrooms – well, we would be having family and friends to visit, plus we each needed a study.

I also contacted the main large real estate firms in Bendigo, by email, stating that we were looking to buy, and giving a broad indication of what we wanted. Only one ever bothered to contact me back.

A couple of Open for Inspections looked interesting, both on the same Saturday in very early July. Drove John’s Passat up there, for a long day trip to look at these.

The first place was not our dream property, but proved very informative, because it was on an acre of land. Suddenly, the reality of an acre hit home to John – much larger than he thought! Standing on the house verandah, surveying the expanse of ground beyond the immediate fenced yard, he asked me what one would do with it. I replied “mow it” – which was not how he envisaged spending his time. So, revise block size downwards – gladly!

A big back yard to mow!

The other home was interesting, in the very pleasant eastern suburb of Strathfieldsaye, but the shed was small and grotty and the yard shaded by large gum trees. However, that did give us direct contact with an agent, who listened to our wish list. He thought he might have something that would suit, a place that was for sale but not actually being advertised. He would have to contact the people to arrange an inspection and would get back to us.

This agent had told us the address, in Maiden Gully, of the place he had in mind, so we drove across town to have a look from the outside. It appeared a definite possibility – an older build, architect designed, somewhat unusual, and on a very good sized block in a quiet area.

On the same street were a couple of vacant blocks for sale – again, a very good size, and we sat in the car opposite these for a while, pondering the “build or buy established”  question.

 We headed back to Melbourne, with a lot to talk about on the way.

John decided to liven up the late afternoon by becoming sleepy and so getting me to drive. Nothing unusual there – except that the Passat was automatic, and I had only ever in my life driven a manual shift car. Quick lesson ensued, after which he was relaxed enough to doze off, while I proceeded, tensely, and a good deal more slowly than he would have been driving.

It was a long and tiring day trip.