Another real estate hunting weekend

There was a house for sale in Macgregor that I’d seen a week or so previously, and I returned for a second look with my camera in hand. I took a swag of photos for S to look at. She seems keener that me. Maybe I talk up the properties too much. Of course, that’s the trouble with me being in Canberra and her being in Melbourne.

It’s interesting what people will put up for sale. There was ducted air conditioning in the house, which would have been a bonus, but I noticed something on the outside of the house. There was what looked like an air return for the air conditioner in the hallway. Not sure. Some sort of vent. On the outside of the house, on a section of the wall near where this air return would have been positioned, there was a large discolouration in the brickwork. Condensation? I had an image of the brick cavity being full of water. Hardly likely, but air conditioners can develop condensation. It had me concerned. There was also some cracking of bricks running up from this area to a nearby window. It may have worried other punters too, so why didn’t they fix it. I find it difficult to work out why people leave things like that. Structural repairs can be expensive. Would you sell a car with a flat tyre or broken windscreen? Who knows, maybe that problem was one of the reasons the place was being sold; to get rid of their problems.

I also checked out the deep south of Canberra. Banks is one of the southern most suburbs of Canberra. I thought it was bit like Dunlop but with views, and boy, are some of those views spectacular. There seem to be a lot of new houses as well as building activity. There are a lot of large houses on small blocks in Banks, and a lot of them don’t have any style to them. Building houses without style seems to be an architectural trend I’ve noticed in recent years.

I had been passing a property in Banks that had an open-house sign out the front. So, why not just have a look; nothing to loose. It was a hot day, and the coolness of its air conditioned rooms was welcome. It wasn’t a property for me; far too large, but I had a pleasant chat while there. The very friendly real estate agent gave me the address of a house in Gordon, which is also in the south, and not too far away. We had a chat about Canberra weather. Her advice: get a house with central heating, saying that it can get into minus figures during winter in Canberra. And of course, as I am only too well aware it gets darn hot in summer. So, an air con too presumably.

I had a look at the Gordon house the agent had recommended. No one was living there so I peered in the windows and had a walk around the property, but my attention was taken by the view to the south west. The panorama of the ranges that was visible from the property was astounding. There are some beautiful vistas to be had in the northern side of Canberra, but none are a patch on the rugged majesty of southern districts. Being a bit closer to the hills makes a lot of difference.