Some light ($s) at the end of the tunnel

Our Melbourne real estate agent emailed me the document he said he got from the buyer’s solicitor. It was a note which could have been typed by anyone, on a plain sheet of paper, that stated our real estate agent “…is the beneficiary in a transmission from Burnt Britt Cardens – Walrod” of an amount of 15,000 in a currency type of GBP. It appeared legitimate, in so far as a few words on a piece of paper are concerned. It was a step forward.

I left a message on Mal’s answering service (Westpac) to say it had arrived. S is feeling lousy over this whole shemozzle.

There were two other properties in Flynn that we didn’t see properly last Saturday. One was in Jacobs Place and another in Rolland Place. We were at Rolland Place when B rang and we upped our offer to win the property. Rolland seemed like an ex-govie, was very ordinary and a bit depressing inside. Sure, the pool looked nice, the back garden was done up nicely but it was a sad little property, and advertised for the same price as the property I'm hoping will come through. Rolland didn’t seem worth the lower end of its advertised $340-$360k price tag. Jacobs Place on the other hand had fabulous views, and did seem a large place, but the property made no connection with me, which was just as well for the $420-$440k price tag. The agent at the property pointed me toward a property in Carandini Street for about $400k. It was an okay property, with huge windows but it overlooked the neighbours in an imposing sort of way. Little impressed me today.

I took a drive out to Fyshwick to check out the used car lots for a ute. I need a ute to be able to transport our camper van, that’s sitting in the driveway at Warrandyte, up here to Canberra. The old ute I used to have literally rusted away, and then the engine blew up, but that’s another story. There wasn’t much in the offing from the used car dealers; and they often seem so much like con-artists.

While I was at Fyshwick I spotted a branch of Avis, and wondered about truck rentals. I paid them a visit. Prices for trucks, that can be driven by people with only a car driver’s licence, though pricey are within my budget. The trucks were a very good size too. We have a lot of stuff that we don’t trust removalists with. This might be a solution.

Trolling the suburbs

I took a drive through the suburbs of Scullin and Page after work. There is a strange mix of posh houses here and there amongst what look like older public housing. The locals refer to the older government provided housing as ‘govies’. Presumably, a lot of bulldozing of these old houses and rebuilding goes on. Presumably if you can come across the opportunity of purchasing one of these older houses that may be a bit run down, and you can get it for (mostly) land value, you may come out okay building a swish house on the land. These govies often sit on fairly large blocks, compared with what is generally available today, in Canberra. This would also have the effect of gentrifying the district.

I also discovered the suburb of Macgregor. There are definitely some nice properties in this suburb. Though there are distinct divisions between and within the same suburb here in Canberra, and Macgregor is typical of the situation. Macgregor starts on fairly flat land and gradually climbs to reveal views of the northern Canberra suburbs to the Brindabella Mountains in the distance. It’s very obvious that the more wealthy people have built homes that reflect their incomes and live on the slopes with views to the mountain ranges, whereas the poorer residents live on the flats often in ordinary looking houses, sometimes in unkempt streets, with no views. And the views are magnificent in Canberra if you get high enough up the slope.