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I bought a Brisbane home and regretted it - I was trapped in hell; What a sucker I had been, thinking that happiness lay in home ownership
Topic Started: 19 Aug 2013, 01:27 PM (29,797 Views)
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I bought a house (and regretted it)

August 17, 2013
Georgina Galbraith

The night before I signed the contract on a one-bedroom flat in inner Brisbane, I dreamt I was at the bottom of a shaft. As far up as I could see were walls of rammed dirt that led to a glimpse of sky. But as I scrambled to get out, the earth fell in around me.

On waking, I brushed off my psychoanalytic tendencies and went to meet my real estate agent. He arrived in a gleaming top-of-the-range BMW and with gleaming top-of-the-range dental work. I recognised him from the billboard hanging over the roaring traffic of Milton Road.

He bought me a cappuccino and I signed the contract, next to the helpful arrow sticker. I felt a twinge of unease as the agent, flashing his giant white teeth, congratulated me for my good taste and astute business sense. But mainly I felt adult and proud. I was a young woman with a good income and I had purchased 50 square metres of prime New Farm art deco real estate. No more would a rental agent demand I put my pot plants in a holder or restrict my use of Blu-Tack. Finally I could contribute to my friends' conversations about interest rates and property prices. Yes, I would nod sagely, I totally get it.

I felt this way until settlement day. But on my first night in my new home I lay awake in horror. Until now I had enjoyed meditating twice a day in my rental apartment, also in an art deco block, but one with glorious double-bonded brick walls. These walls, however, were paper thin. I was being aurally assaulted on every side. The tenant above me was mincing around in high heels; the people next door were having a loud and banal conversation to which I could have contributed if I wanted.

It hit me instantly: I had bought a lemon. And I was contracted to pay for it for the rest of my life. In my hasty pseudo-independence I had declined offers from people who knew better, like my father, to inspect properties, pre-sale. The building and pest inspection man who had told me I could get better for my money, I had concluded, did not appreciate the art deco era. Now it was obvious I was trapped in a Sartre-like "huis clos" - a "no exit" hell of my own making.

By night, my efforts at meditation became an inventory of my neighbours' activities: toilet trips, coughing fits and conversations about things I didn't need to know. By day, my mail, in letters with plastic windows, offered a different sort of checklist - bills for water, for rates, for body-corp-orate fees. Letters from the bank reminded me I owed them a six-figure sum. It seemed my pre-sale budget calculations hadn't made allowances for extravagances like Danish butter and Grey Goose vodka, so I took to eating quite a bit of soup chez moi and reacquainted myself with cask wine.

It was the body-corporate fees, at $900 a quarter, I resented most. If my unit had boasted a pool, or a lift, or an immaculate topiary garden, then I wouldn't have minded so much. But as far as I could tell, this "body corporate" was comprised of people I paid to do nothing. They were like the Freemasons, secretive and impenetrable. My attempts to talk to the relevant people on the phone led me down labyrinthine paths, and the management committee wouldn't talk to me because my strata fees were overdue. I couldn't even talk to my neighbours about it, as they were all renters and blissfully unaware of the burden of strata fees.

What a sucker I had been, thinking that happiness lay in home ownership.

Read more: http://www.dailylife.com.au/life-and-love/real-life/i-bought-a-house-and-regretted-it-20130816-2s0t4.html
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peter fraser
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It hit me instantly: I had bought a lemon. And I was contracted to pay for it for the rest of my life. In my hasty pseudo-independence I had declined offers from people who knew better, like my father, to inspect properties, pre-sale. The building and pest inspection man who had told me I could get better for my money, I had concluded, did not appreciate the art deco era. Now it was obvious I was trapped in a Sartre-like "huis clos" - a "no exit" hell of my own making.


poor Georgina's not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Any expressed market opinion is my own and is not to be taken as financial advice
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John Frum
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peter fraser
19 Aug 2013, 01:39 PM


poor Georgina's not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Yes, although sadly for the ponzi party they're a dying breed these days.

The positive news though is these brainwashed FHBs have been replaced with even stupider people, with access to more money to buy bigger and better properties to let, rather than inhabit.

This of course means there will be a good 2-3 year window where where renters like me can look forward to some fantastic deals as landlords struggle with anaemic wage growth putting a cap on rents as they await their pot of gold to appear at the end of the magical property rainbow.
"It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races." - Mark Twain on why he avoids discussing house prices over at MacroBusiness.
"Buy land, they're not making any more of it." - Georgist Land Tax proponent Mark Twain laughing in his grave at humourless idiots like skamy that continually use this quip to justify housing bubbles.
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Shadow
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Most of Georgina's problems stemmed from her decision to buy a unit rather than a house.

For the same money she could have bought a bigger house on its own block a bit further out and probably been a lot happier.

I only buy freestanding houses. The value is in the land not the building, and you don't get much land with a unit.

And yeah, get a building inspection and listen to their advice.

I know people who failed to get a building inspection and only found out after the first heavy rain after buying that the house floods - it's at the bottom of a gully and gets all the run-off from multiple properties higher up the hill. They've had to replace the carpets four times in the past couple of years, plus repair other ongoing water damage.

If they try to resell they'll have to hope the next buyer doesn't get an inspection...
Edited by Shadow, 19 Aug 2013, 02:41 PM.
1. Epic Fail! Steve Keen's Bad Calls and Predictions.
2. Residential property loans regulated by NCCP Act. Banks can't margin call unless borrower defaults.
3. Housing is second highest taxed sector of Australian Economy. Renters subsidised by highly taxed homeowners.
4. Ongoing improvement in housing affordability. Australian household formation faster than population growth since 1960s.
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I was trapped in a Sartre-like "huis clos" - a "no exit" hell of my own making.
Lucky she didn't buy this haunted house in Indooroopilly.

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/mythoto/927551160/

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Trojan
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If you don't do your due diligence before purchasing, there is a high chance you will regret your decision.

If a person doesn't do their due diligence before borrowing to purchasing their first BMW, and then later on discover it it was a shoddily repaired write off wreck, then the feeling would be pretty similar.
I put trolls and time wasters on my ignore list so if I don't respond to you, you are probably on it ....
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peter fraser
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19 Aug 2013, 02:51 PM
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I was trapped in a Sartre-like "huis clos" - a "no exit" hell of my own making.
Lucky she didn't buy this haunted house in Indooroopilly.

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I would buy that if it was priced well.

To hell with the ghosts.

Any expressed market opinion is my own and is not to be taken as financial advice
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It could have been worse for her. She could have bought in Sydney, or perth. At least Brisbane might see an uptick in prices in the years to come and she can get out. But I agree, a total numpty.
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John Frum
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peter fraser
19 Aug 2013, 03:24 PM
I would buy that if it was priced well.

To hell with the ghosts.
Crrrreeeeak....YOU RANG??
"It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races." - Mark Twain on why he avoids discussing house prices over at MacroBusiness.
"Buy land, they're not making any more of it." - Georgist Land Tax proponent Mark Twain laughing in his grave at humourless idiots like skamy that continually use this quip to justify housing bubbles.
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Sydneyite
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I'm not sure she even really got the so-called "art deco" flat that she thinks she did? Art-deco era blocks should *all* have been built with double brick walls? And should not have big problems with neighborly noise? What she describes sounds more like an 80s build Meriton piece of shit high-rise....

Anyway, this article is a good illustration of buyers remorse - it happens. She should either rent her place out and live somewhere else while figuring out what to do, or just bite the bullet and sell it, take the costs etc on the chin as a "lesson in life", and next time listen to her father, building inspectors, and others. Oh - and check the construction standards, and design/layout of the building if buying a flat - some designs ensure no common walls at all between apartments on the same floor - so if you get top floor in such a building, no neighbor noise at all. :D
For Aussie property bears, "denial", is not just a long river in North Africa.....
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