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Blogs by Vena McGrath
Where does the time go?
7/15/2011 2:13:42 AM
Catch up time again ... and about 10 months after my last blog :)
My son and I decided last year to sell our home in Sydney and move to the South Coast of NSW. After months of work around the house and gardens (mostly done by my amazing son) we put the house on the market. It wasn't a great time of year to do this with Christmas only 5 weeks to go after our Open Day and with a cloud over the financial situation around the globe including Australia. But we decided that we wanted out of the big smoke so we pushed ahead. The Open Day brought a couple of offers that were withdrawn the next day and we then moved into the drone of appointments here there and everywhere, something we really hoped we wouldn't have to do.
For 3 months we lived a life of continually cleaning and keeping the house like a new pin. I hadn't done so much housework for years! Every couple of days I had to make my bed up with the new quilt, pillows etc., put down bathmats that hadn't been used, and purchase (or steal) flowers for the house. Lights on, disappear for a while, and then wait for the result. It was tiresome, boring and totally frustrating. It was also annoying having people say negative things about the home that you loved and had always cared for. We ended up knocking $30K off the original asking price in the hope it would inspire someone to make a bid. It hurt to have to do that but if we made the amended price it would pay for our new home at the very least.
The kitchen and ensuite and bathroom were old-fashioned for some people and yet, never having children living in the house and mostly only 1 or 2 adults at any one time, there was no damage anywhere. But, I can understand young people wanting today's fashion, after all that's what I wanted 20 years earlier when we had the house built. But I also understand that if you want new and modern then you don't buy second-hand 20 year old houses. Hence my annoyance and frustration at people coming to view the home when they must have known it wasn't what they wanted.
To cut a long story short, we finally had a visit from a couple, both in their second marriage, with a teenage daughter from their previous marriages each living with them. They found our home on the internet and did their research on the floor plan, the inground pool and outdoor areas etc., and decided it was just what they had been looking for. The estate agent brought them along for the visit and my son and I sat outside. To our delight they made an offer while they were in the home and we rejected the first offer, told them (through the agent) what we would accept and they accepted and made the offer. What a huge relief! Then came the cooling off period which seemed forever, then the building inspection and pest inspection which we passed with flying colours, and finally yes!!!! the house was sold.
During the months we spent making our home look more like a show home than one anyone lived in, we emptied out a lot of our combined 'junk' and things we could live without for a while, and stored all of it in the garage. As we were moving 2.5 hours south of home to live we didn't want to move anything to storage there until the last minute. The garage wasn't a place we could show anyone with pride but the buyers could see it was in great condition with access front and rear so no problem for them and it solved one for us. Now that we had sold the house and had a day for settlement we began to pack in earnest and my son and his brother hired trucks on a few separate days and moved our gear south to storage.
I left a week before my son moved out because I have a waterbed and it had to be taken down and packed by a specialist waterbed person and once it was gone I had no bed. I moved to my younger son's house in the suburb we were going to build in and left my older son at home to finish up the move, have the carpets cleaned, hand over the keys, and say goodbye. I loved my home and pool and hated having to leave it behind never to return, but it was time to move on and sell to people who needed a home to live in while they worked in Sydney. They seemed to be such nice people that I spent a fair amount of time making them a folder with all the info I could find on the house including plans, pool information, warranties for the stove, stove top, 2 reverse cycle air conditioners, council approval documents for the pool and pool fencing, directions on how to work the solar heating for the pool etc etc.
So here I am by the sea, as I wanted to be. I can't see it from here but it's only a 10 minute walk to the Bay and the heads where the sea meets the Bay are just across the water. At night I can hear the waves rolling in along the beaches in the Bay and it's a pleasure to hear. The air is pristine. There are no traffic lights here and maybe about 3,000 people live in the area. The shopping centre is very small and there is no service station to buy fuel. There is a primary school but no high school. No banks, but we do now have a post office. We go to Nowra every couple of weeks and do the major shopping (a freezer is a must)and day to day extras we purchase at the shopping centre at the IGA supermarket. The drive to Nowra is beautiful as the road winds through the dairy farmland and around the river and there are no traffic lights for 25km between home and Nowra.
I moved here on 20 February 2011 and finally (July 2011) the slab has been laid for our new home. The steel has been delivered and the windows and doors and now the waiting game for the major construction and fitout has begun and will continue for probably another 4 months. One thing I do know is that we will be spending Christmas 2011 in our new home!
I've been back to Sydney 3 times so far to visit my daughter and grand-daughter and to attend the Glaucoma Clinic at Westmead Hospital and everytime I go back I visit my home I no longer own. It looks just the same, which is good. It surely means that the family buying it were happy just to move in a settle down. I hope that they have as many happy years there as I had. I miss my daughter being close by but she has her own life and friends and spends a lot of time making sure her daughter has the best possible home life possible. She is 16 and learning to drive and is in Year 11 at High School. In September this year she will be eligible for a driving licence. She also works part-time at a Wendy's outlet in a local shopping centre so her life is very busy too.
I miss having my own home a lot but we are making the best of what we have at the moment. We are very lucky not to have had to rent a home for all these months and decided to pay the council and water rates for my son and also the electricity bills while we are here to help out. We also had satellite TV installed and a landline and Internet connection which we will then take with us to the new home. I do most of the cooking and I know he appreciates that. It's a small house with only one bathroom and toilet and that's a real hard one to live with after us both having our own bathrooms for 20 years, but we make appointments for usage time :)
I have in my bedroom a single bed, a small wardrobe, a desk with my computer, my TV on top of a chest of drawers and other necessary files, printer etc that we brought with us. I call it my cave and it's where I spend a lot of my time. My four legged hairy mate sleeps in here of a night on the floor on his quilt beside the bed and there's no walking room left then. It's all a test of resolve and the reward is coming. I am sure my son will be glad to get his privacy and space back when we move out but in the meantime we are all doing our best to make the stay as pleasant as possible and workable for all of us.
Until next update, take care and stay happy.
Vena
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More Blogs by Vena McGrath
• Moving House - Sunday, December 04, 2011
• Where does the time go? - Friday, July 15, 2011
• Missing in Action/Catch-up time - Friday, September 17, 2010
• 3 October 2009 11.39 am - Friday, October 02, 2009
• Commonwealth Pension Bonus Scheme - Saturday, June 20, 2009
• Monday 4 May 2009 - 11.26 am - Sunday, May 03, 2009
• Easter Saturday 2009 - 11.37 am - Friday, April 10, 2009
• 2 March 2009 - 11.07 am - Sunday, March 01, 2009
• Saturday 31 January 2009 - 4.20PM - Friday, January 30, 2009
• January 2009 disappearing off the calendar - Friday, January 23, 2009
• Wednesday 7 January 2009, 1.50 pm - Tuesday, January 06, 2009
• Tuesday 23 December 2008 - 1754 hours - Monday, December 22, 2008
• Monday 24 November 2008 - 8.48 pm eastern standard daylight saving time Sydney Australia - Monday, November 24, 2008
• Monday 10 November 2008 - 12.10 am - Sunday, November 09, 2008
• Friday 26 September 2008 - 8.30 pm EST - Friday, September 26, 2008
• Saturday 13 September 2008 - Friday, September 12, 2008
• Saturday 5 July 2008 - 10.15 am - Friday, July 04, 2008
• Trees - Tuesday, June 10, 2008
• Monday 9 June 2008 - Monday, June 09, 2008
• Sunday 4 May 2008 - Saturday, May 03, 2008
• Easter 2008 in Sydney Australia - Thursday, March 20, 2008
• Sunday 24 February 2008 - Saturday, February 23, 2008
• 15 January 2008 - Monday, January 14, 2008
• 29 December 2007 - 1302 - Friday, December 28, 2007
• Christmas Eve - 4.50 pm dst Sydney Australia - Sunday, December 23, 2007
• Thursday 15 November 2007 - When Death Calls - Wednesday, November 14, 2007
• Sunday 26 August 2007 - Saturday, August 25, 2007
• Friday 10 August 2007 - Thursday, August 09, 2007
• Rain, rain, and then ... more rain! - Saturday, June 09, 2007
• MySpace - Tuesday 29 May - 9.27 pm EST Sydney - Tuesday, May 29, 2007
• Saturday 26 May 2007 = 8.16 pm EST - Saturday, May 26, 2007
• Saturday 19 May 2007 - 12.15 pm EST - Friday, May 18, 2007
• Chat Rooms - Monday, April 30, 2007
• Anzac Day 2007 - Tuesday, April 24, 2007
• Sunday April 15, 2007 - 12.49 pm - Saturday, April 14, 2007
• Sunday 15 April 2007, 11.40 a.m, EST Sydney Australia - Saturday, April 14, 2007
• 8.10 am April Fool's Day Sydney Australia - Saturday, March 31, 2007
• Saturday 3 March 2007 - 10.51 AM Sydney Australia - Friday, March 02, 2007
• Monday 26 February - 7.15 am - Sunday, February 25, 2007
• Thursday 22 February 2007 = 9,07 pm - Thursday, February 22, 2007
• Thursday 15 February 2007 - 7.17 am - Wednesday, February 14, 2007
• Sunday 11 February - 4 pm - Saturday, February 10, 2007
• Friday 2 February 2007 ... 9.34 pm Sydney Australia - Friday, February 02, 2007
• Today is 27/1/07 - Time 9.25 am Sydney Daylight Saving - Friday, January 26, 2007
• Sunday 14 January 2007 - 9.07 p.m. daylight saving time Sydney Australia - Sunday, January 14, 2007
• Tuesday 26 December - Boxing Day - Monday, December 25, 2006
• Christmas Eve in Sydney Australia - Saturday, December 23, 2006
• The Dilemma of Shaye - Saturday, December 02, 2006
• Worries with Shaye - Monday, November 27, 2006
• Around the World in 26 Days - Saturday, October 07, 2006
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