//20.8.2005 7:35:58 AM
House Crisis
alright, finally i have got the time to sit down and type out this entry about that major thing that has been going on in our lives. one word - house.
nope, not that witty, US #1 medical thriller drama tv series which i like to watch very much.
i am talking about the real HOUSE. the one you live in, the one you sign your life away for 30 years paying for it. i guess it most probably be the only thing that i will ever pay so much for.
readers be warn, it is going to be a long story.
our current lease ends on 8 September. we initially thought that we would be able to extend it to the end of the year and slowly search for a house to buy. we have not started researching what, where and how to buy a house. but about a month before the end of the lease, the property manager called me on 5 August that the owner wants to take back our current place as his daughter wants to move in. one good thing is the daughter said that she can extend our lease for one more week.
that sent me into a frenzy as the usual house buying process takes about 30 days. if you do the maths, it means that we have to get one before 15 August. 10 days to buy a house!! it was just a bad timing to have this happen to us. i am in my audit busy season. i am going to toowoomba for the last week of august. mervin is busy with the company's conference seminar thingy and he will be in sydney for the first week of september. mervin's parents and a ging gang of friends and relatives are coming in the month of september for holidays. and we have a house crisis!!!
we started searching the web for houses for sale. there were so much that we had to think about. which suburb to stay in, whether to get a unit, townhouse or a house, how young must the house be, how much can we afford, etc etc...we started calling the real estate agents and made appointments to view the places we have shortlisted. every weekday night we had at least one viewing. on the weekend, we conquered about 7 viewing at one go. it was so tiring. every night, both of us would just collaspe on the bed, totally drained out.
we finally saw one house that we liked. we were about to sign an offer letter on it in the first week of house hunting when we saw in the house plan that there were storm water pipes running underneath the house and the city council has a right to come in any time to fix the pipes. but the issue is the house is concrete and if the city council is to do work on the pipes, they would have to dig up our bedroom or living. we had to talk to many people about this issue and finally decided not to make an offer.
that sent us into another frenzy coz time is running out. i was stressed out and had problem eating and sleeping. that is why i said i am a woman of little faith. we prayed about it but i was still worrying about it.
we found another one. we made an offer and the owner came back with an offer and also a covenant attached to the letter, saying that if we want to get the house, we will have to sign the covenant as well. so we had to talk to our lawyer about this whole matter. at the end of it, the lawyer did his stuff and ensured that what we would be signing was alright. our financial broker who had been very nice and helpful about our whole house buying process, said that he has not seen an offer with attachments such as the storm water pipe plan and the covenant for a long time. and we had to tackle issues like that on both the houses we liked, in a span of 2 weeks!!
and so now, we have a place of our own. not everything is finalised yet as we are still waiting for the bank for the loan approval. when that is done, the place is officially under our names.
we have to thank God for his wisdom, love and blessings. and yet again, through this episode, we are reminded that He is good and He is able. as we looked back, we can see His hand on this whole matter and we are just so amazed and in awe of His greatness and goodness.
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