Saturday 20th December 2014

And another 6 weeks or so since my last update!

So much has happened, and the coming months are looking like they will be some of the craziest I have known...

I've been house hunting since last Christmas, but haven't found anything that we have even wanted to put an offer on.  It was starting to get quite disheartening!
The area that we live in is one of the "less desirable" suburbs around the city, and our house was cheap as chips, which in turn, means the mortgage is pretty small - hence why I haven't had to go back to work at all!
Anyway, the "better" area in Lower Hutt city is a mere 7 minute drive away, but the house prices are, at the very least, double what you can find here in Wainuiomata.
We were facing a dilemma... we could buy a mansion here, or move "over the hill" to a smaller house on a smaller section for more than what we could get a big place (and big section) here!
Of course we could get a big house on an OK size section in Lower Hutt, but we looked at that, and the mortgage would be TRIPLE what we are paying now!
The fact that I have NO INTENTION of ever going back to work, would mean that we simply couldn't service a mortgage of that size, so we decided to look locally....

We wanted to put the house on the market sooner rather than later, as selling it would mean that we could be a "cash buyer" should we find something we liked... we weren't expecting anything to happen before Christmas, so we would get in to seriously looking in the New Year when everyone seems to list their houses...

Well, we signed up with the agent on Friday 21st November, which meant I had 6 days to de-clutter, clean and get the house looking spic and span ready for the photos to be taken on Thursday 27th!
I cleaned and cleaned and de-cluttered like a mad woman!  I polished and vacuumed and mopped and scrubbed and worked my ass off...
OUR WEE HOUSE :)
The photos were taken on Thursday morning, the house was officially listed "for sale" on the internet on Friday, and I was given a week off, as the first open home was to be on the following Sunday.
Phew!!
YEAH RIGHT!!!
Well..... we had two groups through on Friday afternoon, then one lot came back on Saturday morning.  By Saturday evening we had an offer of our full asking price!!
I was stunned!
Of course we accepted, there were minimal conditions, and it was to go unconditional in 5 days!
They wanted settlement to be the 9th of January, but since we are going away for 2 weeks for Xmas holidays (on Tuesday), we managed to extend that out to the 23rd January!
Then everything else started to fall in to place....

I have always wanted to build a house - in fact, I've been carrying around a set of house plans for a few years now, hoping that we would be able to build it before we were both too old to enjoy it!
So we started thinking about doing it now....
Jeremy was working on a new subdivision (in Wainuiomata) and there was a great section there - almost 800 square metres!
It's now ours!
My "dream house" plans are currently with the architect and are being modified to include some alterations we wanted, and should be ready to go to council for approval in January, as soon as they re-open!
The hold up will then be getting permits so we can start the building process, but HOLY SHITBALLS - it's happening!
We are building our "dream home", complete with everything that I have ever wanted in a house, on a big section!
And the best thing?
It will still cost a hell of a lot less than buying an existing smaller house in Lower Hutt!

Anyway - the down side to all of this, is that we now have to move out of here and in to a temporary rental property until our new house is complete.
Throw Christmas in to the mix, and the fact that we only get back from holiday on the 5th of January, and you have a semi freaking out Joanna!
Fingers crossed, we will be able to move in to one of Jeremys Dads rentals, but we wont know that until the New Year!
If that falls through, I will have 2 weeks to find somewhere to live, plus get us all packed up and ready to move!
Luckily it will be the school holidays and I can bribe Rhian in to helping me pack boxes :)

So, there ya have it - that's our exciting news!
Not only do I get a new house next year, but Jeremy is completely happy with me NEVER going back to work!
To be honest - I'm not completely sure that I wont ever "want" to go back to some kind of work, but for now I'm just happy in the thought that I don't "have" to!

I'll be sure to show you the house plans once I have them - I'm so excited!!!

Happy Christmas everyone!!!

Catch ya in 2015!