Beautiful Amnesia

The things I have to deal with … I mean seriously, isn’t this something that should NOT have happened in the first place? It’s just plain stupidity.

Dear XXX

I have been advised to contact you first regarding the following issue:

It has come to our attention that the gate to XXX is only 2.3 meters wide and not 2.6 meters wide as per plan in the contract. The following problems exist with access to the car space.

1) As the gate opening is only 2.3m in width and not the specified standard 2.6m, we have trouble manoeuvring a little hatchback through the gate. Any larger car would most likely not fit through the opening. The opening should be at least 2.6m wide to enable a standard sized car to enter and exit the dedicated car space.

2) The gates currently open inwards into the car space. We only just manage to shut the gates with a hatchback car parked in the space. Other standard sized cars like a sedan would prohibit the gates from closing when parked in the car space.

We are requesting a solution that:

1) widens the gate width to the stipulated 2.6 meters; and

2) a gate that will shut when a standard sized car is parked in the car space.

I thought I’d add a quick update here about the housing situation. I landed in Melbourne after an all night flight from Singapore on the Friday and it was rush rush rush rush rush. To the bank, to the lawyers, to the actual house for a final inspection and all that sort of boring stuff. All that on close to no sleep and sitting in a cramped position on an aircraft for an extended period of time. Ok well I lie a little bit, the house inspection was exciting because they were finished! Well mostly. It was quite dramatic (as dramatic as it could get in my state of comatose) because they had left a few things out and a few things were changed and … and … argh … I don’t really want to go into that now because I’ve had been dealing with it the last couple of weeks and yes it has totally done my poor head in.

Here are some photos of the completed project. I did have some photos from just before I left for Singapore when they were still painting the place and putting finishing touches to it but I guess I’ll skip those for now because at this point it is finished. Yes. Complete! COMPLETE!! I never thought I’d see this day.

And yes it’s all very lovely and I have even managed to muster up some enthusiasm. I wish I could have taken the whole week off work this week just to concentrate on moving and all the headaches that come along with it. But I will peservere, this will happen. The long ardous frustrating phone calls to telcos and internet companies, gas companies, electrical companies (all designed to suck the money and life force out of you) are now almost over. Packing is dare I say, almost halfway there and I have a few more nights to go. We have done a few trips in my little car to ferry some of the lighter stuff across … where did all this STUFF come from? Like in the past five years, I have accumulated STUFF. I have a lot of STUFF. And I still want STUFF. I think I should STUFF THAT for a little while!

I now know why my friend Libs said that she will NEVER EVER buy another property, and NEVER EVER move again. Like EVER. For me, never say never, but at this point … I am certainly on her side.

More to come!

Yesterday we decided to do something different. Instead of driving to have a look at the progress of the little house, we decided that we would take the bicycle instead and cycle 20KM return route. Truth be told, the ride itself wasn’t too bad, but my physical health was. The route was mostly flat and on bike paths along the road. Unfortunately, unlike most rides I am used to taking along the Yarra River, this one saw us competing with trucks and exhaust fumes for a lot of the way. I was relieved when we got to the water because that was when I was sure I was actually improving my health instead of killing it. But the sun was shining and the breeze was blowing … my muscles were working. It was mostly all good.

The little house is moving along although it still won’t be complete till January. I suppose there are still lots left to be done. I was excited because the site was open and I could peer in from the windows to see some work they had done on the interior.

The flooring is in, and so are some of the fittings like kitchen cabinetry. There is quite a bit to go but it is taking shape. I’m not sure if it is quite what I expected. I’d imagined it in my head so many times that actually seeing it form before my eyes was a rather bizarre and quite giddying experience. Or, it could just be because I was seriously lacking oxygen after arriving at the house on my bicycle.

The exterior still looks pretty much the same. They have removed some of the temporary support and the tiny car space/courtyard area is filled with the remaining boral blue bricks for the other wall that is to come up. Here are a couple of pictures for good measure.

In the last picture you can kind of see that the walls between the rooms have come up and the door frames are in place. That’s much better than when it didn’t even use to have a floor/ceiling. How exciting.

Just a quick update. Drove by the work-in-progress yesterday after dropping off the check for the deposit. I felt strangely poor after that tiny slip of paper left my hands. It seemed like such a non-event – hand slip of paper over, get slip of paper back. Oh it’s just a receipt, my money’s actually gone. I hope you are smiling! *sigh*

Anyway, it was quite exciting to see that more of the cladding has come up for the place.

Here’s a shot with part of the street in it. Gives the building a little more perspective.

It is a small little place, but I think that I’ll really enjoy living in it once we get there. Of course, I spent the rest of the night worrying about potential vandals and that nice boral blue brick wall out the front. I then proceeded to do a whole lot of research on the internet on graffiti, removing graffiti, preventing graffiti – after all that, I think at the end of the day it’s just easier to keep my fingers crossed xcrossxcrossxcrossx

We first had a look at this property on the 2nd of August and waited for ages before the vendors could get the contract right. We finally managed to put in a written formal offer on the 22nd of August and it was verbally accepted on the 23rd of August. They were supposed to have signed off on the contract and returned it to us as an acceptance of offer the next day.

Well we waited, and waited. The offer legally lapsed but we verbally told them that we will give them a little bit more time. We waited somemore. On Monday 7th of September we had to go back to the realestate agent’s office and sign off on some changes to the contract including the project specifications. We were assured that the contract would get back to us Tuesday 8th of September.

Of course the contract did not happen till yesterday 10th of September. I left work a tad early and picked up the contract that was left in the mailbox by the agent’s office (after hours collection). When I opened it I realised that they had not put a settlement date in the contract like they were supposed to. *Bites my fist and dances around in frantic circles*

This has been an absolute nightmare and everyday of waiting has been agony. It hasn’t helped that things have been totally horrendous at workthis couple of weeks. It was terribly painful dealing with the rather eccentric and largely invisible vendor who to this day we have never met except in name. His home has however recently been featured in the papers as his architecture and design firm has done very well for itself. I guess we’re hoping that this little house will turn out nicely being “architecturally designed”. Mostly it has been agony because I am leaving for Singapore in a few weeks and we need to get finances in order. There is agony also because the longer you wait, the more you start doubting your decision as new properties appear on the market. Last but not least, agony because you start wondering whether you are paying too much for too little as you nervously watch the market like a newborn child – noticing every slightest twitch. Hang on, maybe it’s my nervous twitches I’m thinking about.

So now we finally have a settlement date – it is set on 10th January 2010 but it will likely be completed end of this year sometime. Well that’s what we have been told anyway. Yet considering the amount of waiting we’ve already had to do, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are not able to move in till next year.

Here are some photos I took yesterday of the progress of the build. When I was in the area last saturday, the builders were just putting up the Boral Blue Bricks but had not started cladding the building yet. This time, some cladding has been done and they will be painted a suitable colour according to project specification.

I guess it’s now up to our lenders … will you, or will you not. Will you, or will you not. More waiting. More paper work. ARGH! *twitch twitch twitch*

I really need to take a break from this whole process. I am looking forward to going up to Ballarat tonight for the Photo Biennale being held there. So. Looking. Forward. Did I say that already? I’m not taking my laptop, not taking any movies … just a good ol’ book and my camera. Hoping to have some quiet time sitting around just recovering some strength and some sense of self. Yes please.

As most of my friends already know, I have been looking to buy a place for the most part of 2009. Actually, make that ALL of 2009. From the moment the seed was planted, most of my weekends have been spent at various house inspections and getting to know the suburbs around Melbourne. I must say, my sense of geography has greatly expanded through this exercise and I am also now able to tell north from south, east from west … well most of the time *looks at my trusty iphone compass*.

I have looked at suburbs I’d never even heard of and even decided that I might be able to live in some of the less … glamorous ones. The Singaporean in me bent a little in some of these cases. My expectations have lifted, dropped, levelled out, lifted. It has been such a rollercoaster ride. I had been warned by more experienced colleagues and friends that finding a place is not the biggest problem – actually getting your hands on it is what is more dramatic than a chinese drama serial.

In the entire 8 months, we have come close to 3 properties. So close that I can see my new living room all mapped out in my head already. Yet all three times, we have either changed out minds (sloping land – don’t ask), or been outbid by invisible ninjas who seem to steathily strike with an unending supply of $ shaped boomerangs. Ouch.

I have had fights with realestate agents – despite my usual professional demeanour, something about them just really piss me off *excuse me, is that oil in your hair?*These suited up gentlemen with white teeth and cold hands, or the tarted up ladies in heels so high if I were selling the house I wouldn’t let them IN it for fear they may put dent marks on the polished floorboards. Actually, that’s not quite true for ALL realestate agents. Just most of them. There have been a couple of nice ones – genuinely professional, which has made such a difference either to an open, or to actually dealing. Please note that when I mean a couple, I mean that literally.

At the moment, we are waiting on ONE place. And we have been waiting for close to a month for a final contract. We even got to the stage of putting in a written offer and yet nada. This time round it is not the realestate agent’s fault. He has been one of the two nice ones – the vendor seems to be a little kooky in the head. Why is it one of the other? Why can’t this already complicated process not be be made more difficult by eccentric personalities? I swear, when I spoke to the agent on the phone yesterday and I said “but it’s been a month!” my voice actually cracked with emotion.

Ah yes, the first home owner’s grant that has pushed prices up as well as played a part in our anxiety levels. It’s a tough game this one – you have to consider grants, interest rates, value, location, price fluctuations and take a big gamble with your life savings. Despite how thoroughly I had been warned, I was NOT prepared for this. Buying your first home stress should be a real medical condition. Symptoms include heart palpitations, cold sweat, insomnia and inability to focus on anything else. OCD traits may also appear, but levels may be higher for those with existing condition. I really should have a medical certificate for the length of time I’ve been house hunting.

Other side effects of house hunting are:

1) Neglect of your current living space whilst your focus is on a non-existant living space
2) Neglect of physical health and social activities *I need to go look at a house so I can’t go cycling / have lunch / hang out / be a fun person*
3) Neglect of eyesight – certain realestate and home decoration websites are always open, even whilst at work, in bed, eating, on the toilet etc …. just kidding. No not really.

Really, this phenomenon is bad. BAD BAD BAD. I realised that I live in a perfectly nice space at the moment, and instead of sitting around twitching nervously from waiting for phone calls from real estate agents, I can actually pay some attention to where I am right now. What have I been trying to practice the last year or so anyway? And yes, meditation has gone to shits during this trying time. Sitting sessions have been few and far between and my mind has been gleefully taking over pressing all the red alert buttons that it can find.

So, the current solution would be to try and focus on where I live right now. We are attempting little remodels to the current space. For me, a good start would be actually putting clean my clothes back into my wardrobe instead of piling them on top of my laundry basket and trying to find the floor in my room. Last night, we moved some of the shelves and chairs around so the place actually feels a little bit different. I am quite enjoying this. We have a mosaic project planned for the old IKEA glass coffee table that we are currently using and that should be exciting. There’s nothing to prove that we aren’t already in the place we are supposed to be right now. Stupid brains telling us otherwise.

So whilst yes, I am still anxious and frustrated in the background I have decided that it would be much more useful to refocus. I will try posting pictures of the current space because yes, I have been addicted to inspired by apartmenttherapy.com.