Options

A couple of things have changed since we started house hunting about 4 months ago. House prices had started to slip gently in the month of May 2022. But not enough for us to venture without guilt.

This is our first home, one where we hope to see our kids grow up. We have a few requirements, at least 3 bedrooms, an ok-ok kitchen, a large courtyard, at least 2 bathrooms/toilets, a great suburb, not very far from my kids’ schools.

I like to dabble in gardening, so a large enough garden area will be welcome as well. Although not a necessity; I have plans of purchasing a rural plot sometime in the next couple of years. My husband concurs and my kids are excited about this plan. So that’s sorted from a direction and money point of view.

So our options are:

1. A knockdown rebuild house. This would have to be an older house (asbestos-ridden, that’s why a knockdown). We buy the house just for the land value. Based on how much we want to spend on the house, we either build a granny flat home (as primary home). Later on, we extend this house with additional rooms. Knocked down house area will serve our new courtyard.
2. A new house – already constructed – built in the last 23 years. From 2022, it would mean the house is no asbestos as the date of construction would be in the late nineties. Asbestos was banned in 1982, although it was used to some extent in construction until 1980s ended. It was entirely stopped in the early 1990s. Asbestos was formally banned from export in the late 1990s. So, this magic number of 23 years is not actually a magic number.
3. A townhouse or villa. These buildings are relatively new and were built in the early 2000s or late 1990s. We always ask for date of construction before we set out for a house inspection.

With the slow decline in house prices this year (4th rate increase took place a few days ago this week), we hope to have a good subset to choose from. Although we feel the pain of those who may have invested their hard-earned money buying these houses not so long ago in March 2022 during the peak of house prices. It feels ghoulish not to 🙁