Kind people

The buyer of my landlady’s house signed the contract, and wanted the 31st March as the settlement date. I was to be homeless in a few weeks.

There must have been a family discussion; a celebration I dare say, of finalising the sale. Well, you can imagine, when the contract is signed it’s a done deal. A commitment date set, money in the bank, and plans to be made for the future. It seems that my landlady’s mother considered offering me board at her house, realising I’d be homeless. That was thoughtful. Though, there wasn’t much room in her house, as she would also be boarding her daughter. She hasn’t been looking for another property and wasn’t fussed about the settlement date, leaving that at the buyer’s discretion. And until she finds another place, she would be living with her mother.

When the excitement eased, conversation may have fallen to the subject of my situation. As a boarder in her house I would be lost for a place to live. Of course, you can always come up with some arrangement even if I had to rent an onsite caravan until I found something. My landlady’s brother lived nearby, as it happened. I wasn’t aware of that. I had met him on the occasional visit to his sister’s place. He seemed pleasant enough, and I must have made the same impression on him. Unbeknown to me, he had suggested that if I wished I could move my things into his place and board with him for as long as I wished.

I was very touched by the kindness and consideration of people.

Minor frustrations

The first Thursday open inspection happened. Five couples visited. The property hadn't been on the market a week, and the real estate agent is talking about reducing the price. Could this be a method of trying to soften us up; conditioning us for an argument to lower the price?

The for-sale sign finally went up out the front. I couldn’t help thinking that this was a bit late. Something that should have been done weeks ago, or at least on the first day the property was listed. Despite the fact that the house was meant to be listed as Sale by Tender the sign read Private Sale, whatever that meant. We were considering selling privately, but in the end opted for an agent. So how can this be a private sale? The agent suggested listing the property as a sale by tender. Presumably, any punters interested in the property would lodge an offer prior to the deadline. After the deadline the highest offer, that is acceptable to us, wins. So what’s this about a private sale?

I got the car back from the garage today. I took it for a drive with its good-as-new turbo, and was disappointed that it put out almost the same amount of smoke as before. The smoke wasn’t nearly as bad as before, but it was still polluting the air in a bad way. The mechanic had been talking about the drain holes in the lower (oil) rings. He was talking about a major engine overhaul, but didn’t actually say that. He explained that sometimes the piston rings can get their drain holes blocked preventing excess oil from escaping, and when that happens the engine produces a lot of smoke. I wondered if it was because the exhaust pipe was full of oil. He conceded that that could be the problem. I took the car for a good long drive. The smoke began to ease somewhat after about 40 minutes on the road. At the end of the run, it was just like a smoky old car, rather than the attention getting smog making machine it was a few weeks ago. This was an improvement, but not an impressive improvement. I expected it to be smoke free. But in fairness to the people who repaired the turbo, it was now quiet and the car had a lot more guts.

It’ll be interesting to see what it’s like on the next Melbourne trip. At least it’s no longer a target for the police. So, after spending $960 for the turbo repair and $445 for removal and replacement I have to consider whether it was worth the $1400. Anyway, I like the car.

D-day minus one

S and I were editing the text that was to appear in the ad. The convenience of email, with S in Melbourne and me in Canberra. Though, with the first open insepction tomorrow I can't help but wonder if the real estate agent has left all this stuff a bit late. We got the term ‘rustic’ out of the text quickly. Why do people use that word so often? I think everyone puts a different meaning to it. So it doesn’t really mean anything anyway. S was relieved when they hadn’t used the “first home buyer” phrase. Curiously, we had both chosen the same photos to be used in campaign. Poor S is finding it a hard slog, and is considering an all night session of cleaning.

• The bedroom needs a tidy up
• The shower and sinks need to be cleaned
• The laundry needs a tidy
• There are piles of boxes stored in the end bathroom that have to go
• The study is neat but has a few boxes remaining, and
• Everything needs to be vacuumed

The widows need to be washed, perhaps tomorrow, but with that line up there may not be time nor the energy left in her body.

My landlady has seen her solicitor, and is signing papers for the sale of her house – the contract. They will then contact the buyer’s solicitor. As far as I know, there is no firm date set for settlement, other than a possible end of the month.

I rang the mechanic. No car until possibly Wednesday. There was no gasket provided, hence the delay.

A reprieve

This was the day that the photographer didn’t come (again). This is no drama, as the extra time will be welcome. It took ages to get the brushed wood sideboard that’s in the lounge looking good, and S knows her efforts may not be well regarded by the stylist, who has some pretty definite ideas on what looks good and what doesn’t. Apparently, the study still needs a lot of effort.

No more news on the sale of my landlady’s house; the place that I live. Presumably the sale is still going ahead. It would be nice to find our new dream house, rent it until our house sells, and then complete the transaction. I’m not sure if such things are possible. Do people rent the property they are about to purchase?

A few developments

S was beginning to flake out with the workload of tidying the house constantly, and finding it difficult to find places to put everything. The photographer was delayed and couldn’t come, which is probably a blessing in disguise as there is now more time to tidy up.

At work, I asked my boss (by email) about extending the period for claiming removal expenses. He was confident it wouldn’t be a problem, but asked me to raise the subject again later, whatever that means. That’s not the most reassuring of responses, but at least I got a response, and its good to have these things in writing. It’s a great help that the company will cover some of the cost. The HR department said that I must make a claim for the funds within six months of starting employment. Not a chance of that, and I don’t want to miss out on the money just because I might exceed the deadline.

I felt lost without the car. The garage said they wouldn’t be able to get to it until Friday. I went to the National Library of Australia on the weekend, using Canberra’s bus services. It’s strange using the buses after so many years. The library has a rather nice café – now that’s a lovely idea. This library was a strange place. There were hardly any books on public shelves, most having to be retrieved by staff from storage. Though it resolves the problem of books being incorrectly re-shelved, but it limits your browsing ability. The 30 minute wait for materials to be delivered seems a bit much. All the books are referenced by an online catalogue, which is okay in that you can check things out from your home computer if you need to, but was a problem in that you have to compete with the web sufers who sit monopolising the computers, preventing others from using the catalogue. It's easy to whinge. I shouldn't really as it's a wonderful place and must see for everyone.

My landlady has had an offer on her house and a deposit has been paid. The sale will be pending the sale of their own house, and the settlement is expected to take place at the end of March. Now this is a problem. I’ll have to find somewhere else to live. Anyway, it was on the cards and mentioned when I moved in. I was rather hoping that I’d be in my house before she sold her place. That’s the way things go. It does go to show that private house sales do work. She said she got a price she’s happy with and has no agent’s fees to pay. She said when first put on the market not so many people showed interest. A few punters came by, but it wasn’t until she posted the house for sale on the allhomes web site that things took off. And, if that was her only cost then that’s not bad indeed.

Private sale or no private sale

Now there's a question: to sell your property privately or go through a real estate agent.

At home, the Landfield real estate didn’t call by as expected. So, we chose another agent. That’s the way it goes. In many ways your life choices are not made as a result of careful weighting of the pros and cons of something; those of agents in this case. It was more about who was there at the time. There’s not often a lot of personal experience people might have on which to base a decision.

In actual fact, with this property being located on a relatively busy road, I was inclined to sell it privately. I was thinking of doing little more than sticking a sign up on the front and waiting for the punters to call. Real estate agents don’t have your best interests at heart. Well, of course they don’t, they are in the business for the money. The best they can do for you as a buyer is put you in contact with sellers, and you have to resist being influenced by anything that might sway you from your goals, like paying more than you want. The best they can do for you as a seller is bring in the punters, and you have to resist their persuasive tactics of lowering your asking price.

I’m reminded of a Canberra real estate company, though the name escapes me for the moment, that had a really obscure advertising strategy. They were aiming their advertising at property owners. They said that they consistently obtained higher sell prices than any other agent for equivalent properties, and this was the reason you should use them rather than any other Canberra company. Hmm. Sounds like a great thing if you are selling your property; we all want as much as we can get. Suppose you are shopping for a property. The slogan doesn’t sound nearly as good. Why would anyone want to buy through an agent that boasted of fleecing its punters?

There is quite a lot of information, on the web, and books that specialise in selling privately. Basically, the main reason for not doing it was that I was in Canberra and S was in Melbourne with the house. It may have been awkward. If you have time to browse some of this literature before deciding how to sell it will be worth your while. There was one book I had a look at, which was quite interesting to read, particularly some of the experiences some agents get up to. It was a real education. It described various scams real estate agents have used to squeeze more money out of a deal, and how to go about selling privately. If I can find it I'll edit the post.

Getting around

There was a Nissan EXA advertised for $150 in the newspaper. The turbocharger in my EXA needs to be replaced. And for that price I might be able to remove the turbo and throw the rest of the car away. Well, that was my idea in checking it out. There must have been a lot of interest as it had been sold by the time I got there. Anyway, it didn’t have a turbo. The turbo had been removed, extractors fitted, and the air inlet pipe that would normally have gone to the turbo went straight to the inlet manifold. Now that’s an interesting idea I could use if my turbo gets much worse. The car is beginning to put out some smoke when I decelerate, to say nothing of the noise that comes from the engine when the turbo kicks in under hard acceleration. It sounds terrible and I try to avoid it. Consequently, when I accelerate from traffic lights I do so gingerly. I doubt if too many other road users appreciate my sluggish driving habits.

It was a nice day so I spent the time driving around the Canberra suburbs, ending up on Mt Ainslie, and what a wonderful view can be had from there. I’m pleased to be able to get around Canberra okay. Though, you can’t go to anywhere unfamiliar without a street directory. In fact, I saw a couple of people walking in a quiet suburban street one evening after work, and one of them was carrying a street directory in their hand. There’s hardly a straight street in Canberra, and with so many no through roads, crescents, and curved roads it’s so easy to loose your way or sense of direction.

My landlady advised me she is having the house open for inspection on Sunday. I’ll have to clean my part of the house beforehand. She's selling her house privately; no agents for her. They do take hefty commissions. So, I'll be interested to see how things go. It's an idea I have been toying with. She has a very plain ‘for sale’ sign in the middle of the front garden, and when she has an 'open house' places a sign at the end of the street directing any passers by toward the house, and another sign on the footpath out the front. And then just waits for punters.

I found the car wrecking yards. They seem to congregate in the nearby NSW town of Queanbeyan. Canberra must be too good for this type of business. Anyway, none of them had any turbos available that were suitable for my car. I’ll keep my eyes open.

There is a sharp contrast between Queanbeyan and Canberra. It doesn’t take long to get used to Canberra’s clean and tidy appearance with few electricity power lines on the streets, no corner shops, and curved suburban streets that generally don’t go anywhere. Most other places, including Queanbeyan, are built in a rectangular street pattern, where there is often a corner shop, with ribbon shopping strips on the main roads as you get closer to town. On the other hand, Canberra tends to have clusters of shops grouped into tiny shopping precincts. I went into town for the first time; they mostly call it Civic. The centre of Canberra is very unlike most other CBDs. The majority of the shops seem to be built into a mall, though I must say, a very large mall. But when I say mall, I don’t mean like Rundle Mall or the Bourke Street Mall. Think about your local Westfield shopping centre mall, and then think much, much bigger. It took me ages to find a petrol station in Canberra. You’ll seldom see any on a main road, as in most other cities. Usually they are tucked away in the suburbs out of sight. It must be something to do with having a clean tidy image.

One of the most delightful things about getting around Canberra is the system of main roads. They generally all have 80km/hr speed limits, which is very different from other cities. Travelling from one suburb to the next is best done by getting to your nearest main road, zipping up to 80, and the road signing is good here, and then getting off at some side street near your destination. I used to drive a taxi and you could often cut through just about any suburban side street and find yourself bypassing almost as many traffic lights as you wished, but you can’t do this in Canberra because so many suburban streets are no through roads or loops that take you back to the same road you just left. Of course, the advantage of that is that most streets in Canberra are quiet and serene.