Housing Crisis
I guess it’s official enough: I’m looking for my next home ownership experience. I spent a significant part of Saturday running around the inner west, checking out houses for sale. Last weekend, I’d see a place at the far end of Petersham – really only another five or ten minutes by public transit from where I am now, at least in non-peak hours – with a terrific garden, gas cooking, one bedroom. It’d work, but the renovations were incomplete, requiring probably a few grand to finish, and the bathroom is outside, which would mean going out in the weather (whenever there is weather, like most of last week) at all hours. Still, it would be quiet, close to transport, and not far to shopping. Most importantly, I could afford it, so long as the price doesn’t get jacked up insanely during the auction.

Auctions, now that’s a problem. There’s a lot of competition out there, too. I saw three properties on Saturday: a very small one-bedroom in Newtown (with a non-existent garden; I’m not even sure my furniture would fit), a complete renovation job in Macdonaldtown (apparently a deceased estate, but how anyone lived there in their declining years seems hard to imagine), and a weirdly panelled (walls and ceiling) house in Camperdown, my present suburb. There is a place in Newtown that isn’t open yet (appointment only) and that is being sold directly, but I’m thinking I might go for the auction in Camperdown. It will probably go low 400K’s, so it’s not only affordable, but I could even manage a little extra on the loan to pay for the minor renovations it would require, mainly painting and pulling down and replacing the built-in wardrobe in the bedroom. Well, and also tearing out the second toilet, a cubicle in the back garden (yeah, weird, I know). The garden’s no great shakes, but there’s plenty of room for the potted plants already in my possession. Still, there were a lot of people through, mostly couples, probably with two incomes, so there’ll be competition. It would be nice to stop renting, though.