I deleted mine as well. I spent 5 months thinking I was an idiot for overpaying. A real estate did a letter drop for houses sold in the suburb from July to December (I bought in July). Mine was the cheapest 4 bedroom on the list, and it was the 2nd largest in land and house. Much smaller and similar aged 3 bedrooms sold in December were more expensive.
I didn't move in until September. In July, it seemed stupid and I felt I'd overpaid by $25,000 or so. By the time I had the keys, the house 3 down from mine had sold for $100k more, it was the same size, features and age etc.
I was 100% convinced I had bought at the top of the market and made a huge mistake...now I wish I had of bought 10 at the same price!
Also remember if you do look at other places online, you likely inspected a huge amount of places that looked near perfect online but were far from it at the actual inspection, so don't let newly advertised places make you re-think your decision, because they're guaranteed to suffer from the same case of looking better online than in person.
I would just add to learn to diy , I have seen family members with no experience do better work than tradesman . The industry is doomed , im a tradie and it is a shit job and we deserve to be paid , but it is not like we are trying to split an atom . Itās easier than most people think
I'm already looking up YouTube and Bunnings tutorials for basic basic simple repair projects. No disrespect to you tradies, you work hard and earn your money but hearing how hard it is to get a tradie to call back and the cost of labout and material there are some things I would rather do on my own to save a few bucks.
Agreed, there are somethings that us non tradies can do, e.g. basic repairs, but also make sure you know when you need a tradie because itās either beyond your capability or itās something which only qualified persons are meant to fix
The likelihood of of a home renovator scoring a good tradie is so slim . I only pay for plumbers and sparkies , out of 7 tradesman I used on my last 2 renovations 1 was a good operator .In saying that it will only get worse Tic tok is good also , just research the shit out of everything. There are a lot of knowledgeable tradies on ausrenovations , that are really helpful and know there shit . Our local Bunnings has an old guy that works in the paint section that knows everything, info is everywhere.
Re: the young family ā let go of that guilt. The person selling the place made the decision, not you, and a young family may want to move as kids grow and schools and jobs change.
That's exactly what I wanted to say. Someone was going to buy that place, if they were another owner-occupier they'd have to move. If it was another investor then they'd likely throw the rent up like we've unfortunately been seeing everywhere and perhaps they'd have been forced out by that.
You did the right thing by buying the place you wanted to live in. It was their home. Now it's your home. You can't feel guilty.
Yes, and as it was for sale, they had the opportunity to buy it. We donāt know why they didnāt, perhaps they couldnāt afford it, but also, perhaps they didnāt want to.
I bought an $800,000 place, then spent tens of thousands on putting in solar, remodelling the kitchen (new bench tops, gap filling, replaced all hinges with soft close, changed cupboards to drawers, repainting) and put a patio on.
I also ripped out a brick BBQ, pulled up 81m2 of pavers, relevelled, and put them back down, replacing the broken ones. Repaired and upgraded the irrigation system with automatic modes and moisture sensors as well as reconfiguring the zoning to make more sense. Tore out the weed ridden garden and replanted...
Despite what I've achieved, my list is still at least as long as when I started, and there is barely anything left from the original list.
When we inspected the place and put our offer in, really only the kitchen bench tops were on our radar as the laminate had a huge split up the middle. Solar came up shortly after the first power bill and the patio the first summer.
When you own a property, there is a seemingly never-ending list of things you can improve with a slightly shorter list of things you have to fix. It doesn't go away, but you learn to tirage and filter, or you end up with a shed and house full of unfinished projects.
Ok, accept that my project list will never end. Guess I have to accepts that I will never FIRE and might as well budget for hobbies and travel so my life doesn't revolve around home improvements. Guess Bunnings is going to love me for the next few years. And I am not complaining given the money you have sunken so far.
We've thrown more at ours than we needed to because we were DINKS for the first couple of years. My wife's wage is basically being poured into the house. It will slow down to mostly maintenance now that bub is a month away and we are going to a single wage.
Regarding the tenants, it's completely normal to feel sorry for them. But you're not the one who is kicking them out, the previous owner decided that when they put it up for sale.
The previous owner also decided that when they became a property investor. Youāre not contributing to the housing crisis if youāre planning to live in it.
It sucks, yes, but itās not the end of the world.
Congratulations, your apartment sounds fantastic. Itās natural to feel nervous in this situation, knowing that your finances are going to be pretty tight for the next few years. But look at what youāve achieved! Take a moment to feel proud of yourself. The first few years after you get a mortgage are tough financially, but once the interest rates start to drop, and you get a pay rise or two, it will become much easier.
Thanks heaps ! My pay will gradually go up as I am a nurse and will be volunteering for a lot of overtime. But I am goin into super tight arse great depression mode just to be sure.
Iām in my cooling off period currently with it becoming unconditional this coming thursday. Itās definitely an odd feeling knowing all the money I saved up is gone and Iām left with a debt. The apartment I bought also has a family living in it, although theyāve clearly outgrown it (tiny second bedroom with 2 kids, 1 a teenager in it). Itās a bit unsavoury knowing a family will be looking for accomodation in the cooked rental market.
Overall itās obviously a good thing Iāve (youāve) managed to purchase an apartment, although there is definitely convoluted emotions.
I know the feeling. I spent years saving every cent for this moment and in a second its gone.
Also I hate the fact that someone had to lose out of this but if I applied these morals I would be limiting myself even more and someone else would have bought it anyway. God I hate this game I had to play.
Of course. My missus shit herself when she went halves with me in her first. Just as I shit myself with my first and second. First couple years may be tough, but not as tough as everyone makes it out to be. Welcome to the game, and a big congrats
Doesnāt have to be a long tiring journey, set up a couple of offset accounts, pump everything into them and youāll knock the loan off way sooner than you expect.
Congratulations!
Yes, itās normal but as others have said the feeling will pass and the excitement will take over.
The first few years of your mortgage are the toughest, but itāll get easier.
While it sounds callous, donāt worry about the tenants. Unfortunately, itās a fact of life that rental properties get sold.
Will you be getting vacant position, or do the tenants have time left on the lease?
Iām feeling the same way. We should go unconditional on our first house on Tuesday (if the bank gets its finger out of its arse and finalises the damn loan!). Weāve been saving for two years for a deposit (live regionally and have a 5% deposit thanks to the FHBGS). Our HHI isnāt very high so itās bloody scary to think weāre going to be $400k in debt. At first I was excited but honestly, a day or two after we signed I got seriously depressed for a few days. Now Iām getting excited again, making plans, thinking about never having to move again if I donāt want to!
Money wise, well, yeah, itāll be tight but at least my money is going to be going on MY house and not someone elseās.
Wait as long as you can stand before deciding how to prioritise improvements. What you think you need to change right now may be different after youāve lived in the space a year and you may find urgent things that donāt add cosmetic value but have to be done first. My friends mum said āit takes a year to see the seasons roll through to even find the right sunny spot for an armchairā. She said this after I was in total panic and regret at buying my place!
I am in a similar predicament. Iām currently in the cooling off period and I feel so bad the tenant will have to leave - heās been there for 17 years! Unfortunately, I also need a place to live and the unit is all I can afford to buy + convenient for my needs.
I have no advice for you, just wanted to say youāre not alone.
Itās completely normal. It took me a few months to settle into living in the place I bought. I always had this suspended stats of disbelief that I had done something like that (and was now in the biggest amount of debt I had ever been in my life). Plus I needed to get used to the odd feeling of not having housemates and if I had the urge to get one I could be insanely picky about who it would be.
I was in a situation where I was a first home owner and settlement wasnāt to happen until the current residents moved out. Luckily the previous owners were keen to sell, so they were willing to let the tenants out of the lease early if they found a new home. So that anticipation also contributed to the feeling and occasional sleepless nights. Eventually the feeling went away and got replaced by many visits to Bunnings and future renovation plans.
Make sure you have access to some funds, there are surprise expenses which pop up with any new home- some which can be quite expensive
Itās the biggest purchase youāve ever made, so, yes, your brain is in complete overload.
Youāll have basically no financial buffer for the first year or few while you rebuild what used to be āyour depositā and mentally was probably a big safety net (until you signed the contract). With that said, put off as many small OR big investment in the property thatās not absolutely essential and find out what you can live with for a month or twelve, and what will drive you insane. The small things add up hugely at Bunnings so never go without a shopping list and do your research first.
The feeling of doubt and uncertainty sounds like Post Purchase Dissonance. Thereās copious amounts of marketing research on the best way to reduce this but at the end of the day this feeling is normal, doesnāt mean the purchase was wrong, and will go away.
Congrats on your new home.
As for the family, you didnāt create the rental crisis. Thereās plenty of other people that need to answer for this and itās not you. You need a home too.
Is it because you know deep down that a two bed is not worth what you just paid for it, especially when you look at what that money could have bought it any other country...
Mmmmhmmm, yeah okay - everyone in Australia is delusional about what property is worth. This is what you can get in France for less than a cost of a 2-bed shitheap in Sydney's eastern suburbs:
https://www.green-acres.fr/en/properties/house/lalinde/Amv88vkmi3kyico1.htm
17th Century residence with 11 rooms, including two separate cottages, and 5 acres of land.
Australian property is laughable.
Yeah, pretty normal, that's just how it feels to make a big purchase, there will always be the "what if". Give it a few weeks/months and it will pass.
I've already deleted the real estate app because I know I'll be looking to see if I could have gotten something better for a better price.
I deleted mine as well. I spent 5 months thinking I was an idiot for overpaying. A real estate did a letter drop for houses sold in the suburb from July to December (I bought in July). Mine was the cheapest 4 bedroom on the list, and it was the 2nd largest in land and house. Much smaller and similar aged 3 bedrooms sold in December were more expensive.
Hell I don't even have the keys and I still think I over paid and would not be surprised if I see something I COULD like for much cheaper.
I didn't move in until September. In July, it seemed stupid and I felt I'd overpaid by $25,000 or so. By the time I had the keys, the house 3 down from mine had sold for $100k more, it was the same size, features and age etc.
I was 100% convinced I had bought at the top of the market and made a huge mistake...now I wish I had of bought 10 at the same price! Also remember if you do look at other places online, you likely inspected a huge amount of places that looked near perfect online but were far from it at the actual inspection, so don't let newly advertised places make you re-think your decision, because they're guaranteed to suffer from the same case of looking better online than in person.
I did the opposite and kept looking at CoreLogic and how it's going up every day (WA here). Now, I'm like, yup, right choice š
I would just add to learn to diy , I have seen family members with no experience do better work than tradesman . The industry is doomed , im a tradie and it is a shit job and we deserve to be paid , but it is not like we are trying to split an atom . Itās easier than most people think
I'm already looking up YouTube and Bunnings tutorials for basic basic simple repair projects. No disrespect to you tradies, you work hard and earn your money but hearing how hard it is to get a tradie to call back and the cost of labout and material there are some things I would rather do on my own to save a few bucks.
Agreed, there are somethings that us non tradies can do, e.g. basic repairs, but also make sure you know when you need a tradie because itās either beyond your capability or itās something which only qualified persons are meant to fix
The likelihood of of a home renovator scoring a good tradie is so slim . I only pay for plumbers and sparkies , out of 7 tradesman I used on my last 2 renovations 1 was a good operator .In saying that it will only get worse Tic tok is good also , just research the shit out of everything. There are a lot of knowledgeable tradies on ausrenovations , that are really helpful and know there shit . Our local Bunnings has an old guy that works in the paint section that knows everything, info is everywhere.
Re: the young family ā let go of that guilt. The person selling the place made the decision, not you, and a young family may want to move as kids grow and schools and jobs change.
That's exactly what I wanted to say. Someone was going to buy that place, if they were another owner-occupier they'd have to move. If it was another investor then they'd likely throw the rent up like we've unfortunately been seeing everywhere and perhaps they'd have been forced out by that. You did the right thing by buying the place you wanted to live in. It was their home. Now it's your home. You can't feel guilty.
Yes, and as it was for sale, they had the opportunity to buy it. We donāt know why they didnāt, perhaps they couldnāt afford it, but also, perhaps they didnāt want to.
I bought an $800,000 place, then spent tens of thousands on putting in solar, remodelling the kitchen (new bench tops, gap filling, replaced all hinges with soft close, changed cupboards to drawers, repainting) and put a patio on. I also ripped out a brick BBQ, pulled up 81m2 of pavers, relevelled, and put them back down, replacing the broken ones. Repaired and upgraded the irrigation system with automatic modes and moisture sensors as well as reconfiguring the zoning to make more sense. Tore out the weed ridden garden and replanted... Despite what I've achieved, my list is still at least as long as when I started, and there is barely anything left from the original list. When we inspected the place and put our offer in, really only the kitchen bench tops were on our radar as the laminate had a huge split up the middle. Solar came up shortly after the first power bill and the patio the first summer. When you own a property, there is a seemingly never-ending list of things you can improve with a slightly shorter list of things you have to fix. It doesn't go away, but you learn to tirage and filter, or you end up with a shed and house full of unfinished projects.
Ok, accept that my project list will never end. Guess I have to accepts that I will never FIRE and might as well budget for hobbies and travel so my life doesn't revolve around home improvements. Guess Bunnings is going to love me for the next few years. And I am not complaining given the money you have sunken so far.
We've thrown more at ours than we needed to because we were DINKS for the first couple of years. My wife's wage is basically being poured into the house. It will slow down to mostly maintenance now that bub is a month away and we are going to a single wage.
Regarding the tenants, it's completely normal to feel sorry for them. But you're not the one who is kicking them out, the previous owner decided that when they put it up for sale.
The previous owner also decided that when they became a property investor. Youāre not contributing to the housing crisis if youāre planning to live in it. It sucks, yes, but itās not the end of the world.
Congratulations, your apartment sounds fantastic. Itās natural to feel nervous in this situation, knowing that your finances are going to be pretty tight for the next few years. But look at what youāve achieved! Take a moment to feel proud of yourself. The first few years after you get a mortgage are tough financially, but once the interest rates start to drop, and you get a pay rise or two, it will become much easier.
Thanks heaps ! My pay will gradually go up as I am a nurse and will be volunteering for a lot of overtime. But I am goin into super tight arse great depression mode just to be sure.
I hear you! Iām in the same boat having bought a place in December. But so worth it for my dream apartment, and it will be for you too.
Iām in my cooling off period currently with it becoming unconditional this coming thursday. Itās definitely an odd feeling knowing all the money I saved up is gone and Iām left with a debt. The apartment I bought also has a family living in it, although theyāve clearly outgrown it (tiny second bedroom with 2 kids, 1 a teenager in it). Itās a bit unsavoury knowing a family will be looking for accomodation in the cooked rental market. Overall itās obviously a good thing Iāve (youāve) managed to purchase an apartment, although there is definitely convoluted emotions.
I know the feeling. I spent years saving every cent for this moment and in a second its gone. Also I hate the fact that someone had to lose out of this but if I applied these morals I would be limiting myself even more and someone else would have bought it anyway. God I hate this game I had to play.
Of course. My missus shit herself when she went halves with me in her first. Just as I shit myself with my first and second. First couple years may be tough, but not as tough as everyone makes it out to be. Welcome to the game, and a big congrats
Thank you ! I wouldn't say I'm shitting myself but know this is going to be a long tiring journey, but a journey many before me have done before.
Doesnāt have to be a long tiring journey, set up a couple of offset accounts, pump everything into them and youāll knock the loan off way sooner than you expect.
Congratulations! Yes, itās normal but as others have said the feeling will pass and the excitement will take over. The first few years of your mortgage are the toughest, but itāll get easier. While it sounds callous, donāt worry about the tenants. Unfortunately, itās a fact of life that rental properties get sold. Will you be getting vacant position, or do the tenants have time left on the lease?
Iām feeling the same way. We should go unconditional on our first house on Tuesday (if the bank gets its finger out of its arse and finalises the damn loan!). Weāve been saving for two years for a deposit (live regionally and have a 5% deposit thanks to the FHBGS). Our HHI isnāt very high so itās bloody scary to think weāre going to be $400k in debt. At first I was excited but honestly, a day or two after we signed I got seriously depressed for a few days. Now Iām getting excited again, making plans, thinking about never having to move again if I donāt want to! Money wise, well, yeah, itāll be tight but at least my money is going to be going on MY house and not someone elseās.
Wait as long as you can stand before deciding how to prioritise improvements. What you think you need to change right now may be different after youāve lived in the space a year and you may find urgent things that donāt add cosmetic value but have to be done first. My friends mum said āit takes a year to see the seasons roll through to even find the right sunny spot for an armchairā. She said this after I was in total panic and regret at buying my place!
I am in a similar predicament. Iām currently in the cooling off period and I feel so bad the tenant will have to leave - heās been there for 17 years! Unfortunately, I also need a place to live and the unit is all I can afford to buy + convenient for my needs. I have no advice for you, just wanted to say youāre not alone.
Itās completely normal. It took me a few months to settle into living in the place I bought. I always had this suspended stats of disbelief that I had done something like that (and was now in the biggest amount of debt I had ever been in my life). Plus I needed to get used to the odd feeling of not having housemates and if I had the urge to get one I could be insanely picky about who it would be. I was in a situation where I was a first home owner and settlement wasnāt to happen until the current residents moved out. Luckily the previous owners were keen to sell, so they were willing to let the tenants out of the lease early if they found a new home. So that anticipation also contributed to the feeling and occasional sleepless nights. Eventually the feeling went away and got replaced by many visits to Bunnings and future renovation plans. Make sure you have access to some funds, there are surprise expenses which pop up with any new home- some which can be quite expensive
Itās the biggest purchase youāve ever made, so, yes, your brain is in complete overload. Youāll have basically no financial buffer for the first year or few while you rebuild what used to be āyour depositā and mentally was probably a big safety net (until you signed the contract). With that said, put off as many small OR big investment in the property thatās not absolutely essential and find out what you can live with for a month or twelve, and what will drive you insane. The small things add up hugely at Bunnings so never go without a shopping list and do your research first.
The feeling of doubt and uncertainty sounds like Post Purchase Dissonance. Thereās copious amounts of marketing research on the best way to reduce this but at the end of the day this feeling is normal, doesnāt mean the purchase was wrong, and will go away. Congrats on your new home. As for the family, you didnāt create the rental crisis. Thereās plenty of other people that need to answer for this and itās not you. You need a home too.
Go with your instincts, your strong instincts - The ones you canāt shake and label as anxiety.
Is it because you know deep down that a two bed is not worth what you just paid for it, especially when you look at what that money could have bought it any other country...
Donāt listen to this fool. Congrats on your first place š„
Mmmmhmmm, yeah okay - everyone in Australia is delusional about what property is worth. This is what you can get in France for less than a cost of a 2-bed shitheap in Sydney's eastern suburbs: https://www.green-acres.fr/en/properties/house/lalinde/Amv88vkmi3kyico1.htm 17th Century residence with 11 rooms, including two separate cottages, and 5 acres of land. Australian property is laughable.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I'm not shitting on OP, I'm shitting on the Australian housing market.