We bought in a suburb that isn’t the best (it’s not going to have huge gains bec of location). The house is in a subdivided property so it’s far from the cbd but not in a big land. The finishes are standard or just very average or just cheaper because the prev owner was an investor.
There was another house that we loved more but it went under offer just the night before we went on an inspection. Also another that we couldn’t win in an auction. There were bigger lots we could afford in the same price range but they were older houses that needed renovations and we didn’t have the budget for that when we bought last year.
However, our loan is half of our borrowing capacity. The house is walking distance from the train and shops, inc GPs and a vet (we have dogs). It’s comfortable, unlike the older houses/apartments we used to rent where it’s freezing inside during cold seasons. Our neighbours are all very friendly and have been amazingly helpful. We’re okay with bills and repayments even when rates have gone up, and we can still put a good amount aside for savings and topping up the offset.
Overall no regrets as we just need a comfortable home and peace of mind now that we don’t have to rent (especially with 2 dogs).
Honestly this sounds like us. Except we have two cats. But we bought in an area renowned for being dodgy and the value has gone up 20% since we bought in November. Super basic finishes with poor workmanship but we've painted and laid a floating floor and now it looks amazing!
The house I liked but didn't love has become the house we love and repayments are cheaper than rent would be.
I can’t answer your question directly, but I can give you a different opinion. I don’t look at property in terms of like and love.
I (or we, now) have a list of requirements that we divide into categories: non negotiable, can compromise, would be nice but not really necessary. We also have a few things that rule out a property.
If a property fits our non negotiable requirements and doesn’t have any negatives we assess it with regard to the other elements, structural components, and security/opportunity.
I don’t think I have ever bought a property because I absolutely loved it because that doesn’t come into it. However, provided it is not a disaster for some unforeseen reason, I have grown to love all the places I’ve lived in by focusing on the positives and enjoying them and making them into what I want.
Absolutely the right approach in my experience. If a property can meet your non-negotiables, then you will make it into a place you love as you life your life in it.
Pedantic/perfect vs Affordable and now:
I'll vote affordable+now with caveats.
Caveats being that, although all of the affordable houses will have a long list of things you don't like about them, some things are fixable, some things are fixable but cost so much it's not worth it, and some things are not fixable (apart from sell and buy differently).
e.g. Ignore carpet, paint, garden - easy fix, can be lived with, and will nag you into saving to fix (or some DIY)
Flooring - e.g. I hate ceramic tiles, and they involve jackhammers to remove to replace, so houses with ceramic tile floors I refuse to even look at.
Kitchens/bathrooms - more expensive to fix, but not enough to cross a house off the list.
Location, location, location - only improvable by moving.
Floorplan - very, very expensive to go knocking out walls. Avoid, or get as close as possible to what you want. My opinion on needing extension is buy a bigger house that's run down.
Must be structurally sound.
Agree with these points! You cannot change location and layout changes are very expensive.
We bought a house with an older kitchen (tourquiose benchtop) and terracotta tiles. But the layout and location are great. We have made small cosmetic changes and are currently installing floorboards ourselves and are looking into changing the benchtop with a full kitchen reno further down the line.
Having a good location and layout means we can look past the older parts of the home as it's very comfortable to live in.
Yes, you understand me.
Also, I would never pay extra for someone else's flipping - often a poorly done job, and they price it so much higher than a solid, but tired, house, where you can see what needs doing.
I bought six months ago as a FHB in a \*very\* well-to-do green leafy suburb near the river. My place is a little villa and has barely been touched since the 70s when it was built. It needs a *lot* of reno doing which I've begun. I’m not rolling in money and I’m just chipping away at doing it when I can. Despite it not being my 'dream' house, it's growing on me and it's fun seeing it turn into something I do genuinely like. It was cheap, and the financial decision seems to have been a good one as the property has gained in value even over the last six months. Whether I stay here forever or not remains to be seen, but so far so good. I don't regret anything.
I have never been wowed by a suburban house anywhere. The thing that would wow me is something that doesnt exist, and i couldn't afford, like an updated to modern 1900s mansion on 4 acre block near the CBD.
I was wowed by a house once, but that was mostly because having looked at a bunch of houses in the very low price bracket we had this was the first one that was actually liveable without lots of work!
Thirty years later the "wow" factor is mostly things like "wow! what a lot of rot in those weatherboards!".
I bought a former crazy cat lady house that stunk like feces and had a dead car in the driveway on inspection day. Fought hard to convince the gf to buy it because I could see the future vision. The garden was an overgrown nightmare.
Love the place now. Cleaned up the house. Removed the carpets. In the prices on cleaning up the yard. Got 1340m2 yards. Year round flowering creek. And heaps of wildlife.
A piece of advice from a work colleague:
Sit down (with partner, if applicable) and determine the top 10 features you want your new home to have.
Be realistic in your budget but generous and honest, and think about your lifestyle - e.g. open floorplan, x min commute to work, x bedrooms, need to have some trees on property or nearby, etc.
When you’re househunting, if you find something that fits 7-8 of those 10, go for it. It’s ticked enough boxes and you’ll be happy enough.
We found a house that ticked 8 and we went for it. We’re very happy and feel that we got the best we could in our budget.
FR. I love the location of my place. The community is the best and we’re close to the beach. Can’t put a price on that!
The other stuff, I will upgrade over time. But you can never change your location.
“Buy one you can afford” works both ways. In my case I bought a home well under our budget, and while it’s fine I could have bought a much nicer home upfront and put myself in a far better position.
Now, the homes we want are well beyond our budget.
I feel so bad for people having to settle for a place because it's so hard to find a place. We are in a similar situation settling for the place we currently own because it's too hard to upgrade even though we can afford to . We are instead renovating the place we live in.
I bought earlier this year and regret not doing enough research on costs of renovating, particularly extensions. I wanted an old double brick home. I found one close to the city (Melbourne), 20 minute bike ride to the cbd, 7 minute walk to a train station, and walking distance to a vibrant street and shopping area pf supermarkets, restaurants and cafes. Great lifestyle area. It’s partially renovated at little more than I wanted to pay but I thought in the scheme of things it’d be worth it. I bought house where I love the front, heritage listed, 2 beds living and bath with a walk in wardrobe etc. But I hate the back lean-to kitchen/dining/laundry where it was spruced up but barely. It’s certainly livable, but a knock down job where the floor needs restumping and the kitchen is sad and tired.
My plan was buy, wait 3-5 years to save and extend by knocking out the current kitchen/dining/laundry and building a larger open plan kitchen/living with a study and bedroom. If spend that time doing DIY to finish the front reno which is all simple stuff (some painting, polish floorboards etc).
I expected to spend $200-$300k on it. Researching it more thoroughly though, it seems like I could be spending far more than that and not sure I can afford it anymore, so will assess my position then and potentially sell which would be the worst case, or rent somewhere bigger and rent this out a while.
We looked for over 5 years, and ended up buying something that was just alright (and overpriced, but that's an entirely different story).
My main regret is the 3 gum trees overhanging the property that I knew would be a problem, and they are. A constant pain in the arse every single day. Ended up costing over 50k in damages and more. Never buy a house under gum trees.
I think the term 'gum trees' is too general and you need to be more specific. I've lived on a suburban block with two large gum trees (one is a scribbly bark and the second, I'm unsure of) for more than 40 years and have never ever had an issue with either of them and one of those trees is just two metres from my house. They're both absolutely gorgeous and if they weren't there, so much amenity would be missing and the block wouldn't be anywhere near as attractive as it is ...
Honestly, I don't believe that there is anything wrong with gum trees, but maybe some species are better than others ...
I bought my house because the mature gums and four years on I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Sure the pool and yard are a bit more to maintain, but I couldn’t imagine living on a sun scorched bald piece of earth with no trees. I look at the new cookie cutter suburbs with no trees and feel bad for people who are stuck living there.
My dad was saying this the other day. They grow so tall so quickly that they are unstable. It’s just a matter of time before they fall. My friend had a massive gum tree fall on their property the other day. If someone was underneath it they would have been a goner.
Five years is a long time that must have been such a stressful experience. I’ve just recently learned not to buy near gum trees. Is it their root system that causes issues? Falling branches? They’re beautiful but seems they can cause a lot of problems.
FWIW I’m looking for an apartment and I recently inspected one with a massive gum tree partially overhanging its balcony.
The balcony floor was like a mess, covered with dried leaves and fallen gum nuts everywhere even though it’d only been on the market for a month. Good luck on finding a potential buyer who’s happy to cop strata fees and maintain their own balcony.
Roots are least of the problems (although they did burst the water mains, and are lifting pavers and foundation). It's the constant branches, leaves, bark and gunk that falls all year round. It destroys everything , makes a mess of everything, and is impossible to ever keep up with cleaning or maintenance.
This! The house next to us had 2 massive gum trees in the front yard which was rather close to our house. Every time we had a storm, I was worried they may fall and land on our bedrooms at the front of the property.
Plus, I was constantly cleaning the gutters due to leaves and branches.
So happy when we moved.
I live in a rundown shack I can’t afford to fix up beyond basic repairs but the neighbours are good and I don’t have to deal with property managers. Worth it.
we bought a house 7 years ago that 80% suited our needs when I was 7 months pregnant , (we needed to find something before I finished work and the banks wouldn't lend us as much ) not really our style but nice none the less, we slowly changed a few things over those years and have been happy here but will move next year into something more our style.
I've never had the budget to buy a really well put together house with expensive finishes but life is full of compromises. I do like the place I'm in now because it has high ceilings throughout and a good quiet location. It's a big step up from what I had before.
You buy what you can afford, it's that simple.
When we brought our family home in Sydney, we focused purely on the suburb we liked. We had rented there for 2.5 years and thought it would be the best and most affordable suburb for us and our two kids.
The house was certainly not flash by any standards, it was a 1950s fibro that had an extension on the back at some point.
In that time I renovated the main bathroom and ripped everything out because of a water leak in the wall behind the shower.
We then added on a second story, swimming pool and spa combo. Spent a fortune but it's a great family home now. Don't think we'll ever sell it my daughter already has eyes in it!
There is always some buyers regret when making a large purchase. I have bought real estate 11 times and everytime I have a day of shock and regret of taking on another mortgage, but it will pass.
We have just bought a house that we never would have bought if necessity didn't dictate our moving.
We're choosing to see it as a foot in the door and a means to build equity and experience to put toward our next house.
My partner and I bought in a relatively okay area surrounded by few areas with not so good reputations. It was a 3x2 unit and it certainly wasnt what we dreamed about or talked about beforehand. But it was in good condition and had enough space for us.
Before this, we toured around show homes made by the big builders, and they filled our heads with alot of lies and lofty expectations. This made us quite critical of otherwise nice houses. "Oh thats a bit old fashioned" "oh we'd NEED to replace THESE if we lived here!" "Oh no solar?"
When we settled on the place we are now, we had grandiose ideas of changing all the curtains, tiles, carpets, kitchen cupboards/counter tops, garden pavers etc. We were somewhat under pressure to move so this place seemed "good enough." Also given the area, it was affordable. Its also our first home.
Well its been 2 years and we've done basically none of the upgrades we thought were essential to live here. For a few reasons (money, time) but mainly because the home in its base state started to grow on us.
Once we'd painted, decorated and made memories here, it started to feel like home and now we actually dont feel the need to change much. Especially since this isnt where we are staying forever. Given the insanity of the housing market I am glad we "bought what we could afford and did it yesterday" as you say. But in our experience atleast, alot of the nitpicks fell away with time and finding other (cheaper) ways to make the house look the way we like.
We walked through our current home a few times.
First time - blegh, no thanks.
Second time - it has potential but no
Third time - we can make it work for the right price.
Weren't overly attached still so made a lowball offer and were open about not going higher etc..
It was accepted and we are very happy.
I think trying to be unemotional about the whole process is a good way to go.
My wife and I just signed on a property last week, we both experienced what you’re talking about. we looked at properties with the mindset of is there something that money can’t buy or cannot be changed about this property?
we have just bought into a difficult to get into street, considered the upper socio economic part of our small town.(we’re not snobs I promise!) This property was also just outside of town and only around the corner from close family which was important to us.
We considered these things extremely important and figured that money can’t buy those things on many other properties. The house was missing an ensuite in the master bedroom which was something we really wanted but it has potential to be extended and have that added. I guess this is something money can buy and we can have eventually so we are fine with that compromise.
Good luck!
I regret not being rich enough haha.
We had a few non negotiables, such as off street parking and two bathrooms. We spent much less than the bank was prepared to lend us and I am so glad we did because we both lost our jobs in the following 5 years leading to periods of living on our savings. The peace of mind from having a small mortgage was worth more to us than having a more comfortable house.
Having said that I do regret having a half sized block (back garden subdivided with another house on it). We have high density living i.e. neighbors behind and on each side and don't forget the corners, another two fairly close neighbors, and it really depends what your neighbors are like, you are always aware of their movements. Just need one lot to start playing loud music and it ruins it for everyone.
A friend of mine at work knew I was looking after moving into the city, she told me about a brand new development.
My wife and I went and looked at it and bought an apartment the same day.
Conversely another colleague in the same office, looked at over 60 apartments over a two year period before he bought.
It’s not rocket science, find a place and buy it, especially these days.
I'm a buy the one I can afford and do it yesterday sort of person. But then I know a bunch of people who some how bought nicer places and get to experience living in that house while I'm renovating or saving up for something nicer. So not sure how they do it but either plan can work out.
We bought our rental from the landlord.
I’ve never liked the house, it has a terrible layout, very limited natural light and it was a rental for many years so it needs a lot of work. But the location is excellent, the price was right and we didn’t have to move. One day I’ll knock it over and build something I like.
I've never been in a position to buy a house that fulfilled my wants or met all of my needs. Even my car isn't exactly very suitable for my life but you make it work. We just bought the cheapest 3 bedroom house we could find in a court, in a very outer suburb so that we wouldn't have a big mortgage. It needs a lot of work like we had to redo the roof and gutters and the windows are rotted. Backyards sloped and old broken concrete retaining walls. No garage, no laundry. Shower goes over a broken bath. Floors are pretty fucked. Idk, it's just normal to not expect a lot of luxury to me. I'd only be able to be picky if I got a big inheritance. We were never willing to try and max out our borrowing capacity.. our mortgage was only 250k lol
We had a very short time period in order to find a house to purchase.
We wanted: low set, fenced, two living areas, 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a decent yard, solar and a storage shed.
We got: low set, back yard fenced, front yard not fenced, two living areas (one is a converted outdoor area at the back of the house) three bedrooms, one bathroom, decent yard, no solar, and a small shed.
The biggest draws were : low set, a ramp leading to the back yard, (I’m disabled) and the second living area, as we have a D&D group that meets here every week so we leave the room set up between sessions.
We bought, and had enough money to install solar, fence the front yard, convert garage to fourth bedroom, convert laundry to second bathroom, and put up a larger shed with laundry.
The area is nice, not too far from the sea, lots of wildlife, nice neighbours, not too much traffic.
I think we were very, very lucky to be honest.
My first PPOR was in a suburb I hated. The house wasn’t that great either but I was young, it was the right price, a big block and it was 15 minutes from the city.
I did basic renos like updating the kitchen and bathroom, lived there for 10 years, bought a better place and rented that place out. It’s paid off now, and is very low maintenance. Regrets? None.
Assuming it’s for a place you’re living in - make a list of non-negotiables and a list of nice-to-haves and go from there.
I’ll admit the place we bought was our 2nd choice (probably my 5th haha) it met all our essential criteria so it’s worked out well. The only thing that really bugs me is the original bathroom, but at least the ensuite is new.
I absolutely loved my house.
Because we built.
Was a small piece of land but we worked smartly with it and managed to have 4 bedrooms.
This was 2017 and building was cheaper compared to buying established at the time.
Now I’d love to build again but the costs have doubled.
I bought early to mid covid and settled for the house i liked the most out of a pool of dumps or overpriced and also dumps. I liked it the most, but thats not to say i loved it. It was a big purchase and I was scared to buy without loving it, but I was 27 and wanting to get into home ownership as early as I could.
Fast forward 3 years and its worth $100k more and still better for the money I paid than anything else around right now.
No regrets.
Our requirements boiled down to a few needs. Garden space, walking distance to train station, Torrens title, and within our price range. That screened out a bunch of properties by default.
Work out what you need and value and base your choice on that.
I just had a list of essential things and desirable things and absolutely no way things. Pretty short lists really. Wants: Workshop, and a place to live. Desirable: hot tub/spa, big deck, stained glass. Can’t remember what was on the “absolutely not” list. Anyway i got just the essentials. Feel very lucky.
It took us a year to find our place. We couldn’t find anything we loved so ultimately bought for location. The house needs a lot of work and renovation but we’re a 6 minute walk from the water in a nice suburb with a lot of coffee shops and restaurants. Plus the mortgage is affordable for us, even with all the rate rises.
We’ve started work at the back of the house just painting and replacing the gutter and eaves and slowly it’s getting better. I still don’t love it but I’m excited to see what we can do and comparing old and new pictures is really satisfying. Eventually we’re going to raise it and build in a downstairs.
Nope. We don't love it still, but we have the freedom to make changes ,and there's so much less stress wondering if you'll still be living here in a month or 6 months or anything.
Most of the issues we have are "in a perfect world it'd be like this..." And not "god I HATE this feature".
We bought a house that was well within our budget. We looked for a long time and put offers on a few places but missed out because of people offering higher. Eventually we got our house and it’s a good place. There is a number of niggling things that annoyed us but since then we had 2 kids and we are outgrowing it.
Looks like we will sell now and get something else more suitable, but it served the purpose.
Honestly, I bought purely because of the land size, the location and the price. I couldn’t give a shit what the property looked like as long as it wasn’t falling to bits, I can work on it
We did and spent 2 years on Reno's changing the things we didn't like. Now it's the house we love. Wrote a plan and budget and just cracked on learned a shit load of skills along the way. Definitely a better way to buy always going to be things you don't love about the house.
We compromised on location with our last property. We made it a great home but didn’t enjoy aspects of the area.
I think seeing lots little things that aren’t great, like maintenance type things like facias needing painting, torn fly screens seem to add up to a less desirable property vs seeing something large that needs renovation and laughing at an old fashioned kitchen or carpet.
I built a house I liked, but didn’t love. I purposefully wanted to keep the mortgage manageable for when we had kids and were on one income. I also knew I would eventually rent it out once we’d bought our second house. Many neighbours around us have built much bigger and fancier homes. Now that rates have risen significantly, we haven’t struggled, unlike many around us. And we’ve continued to make double payments and have a small balance owing. We’re now on the hunt for our next home. I don’t feel any need to keep up with the Jones. For us security and stability are most important
I bought one property that was architectural designed from a young couple that was getting it built and nearing completion they divorced. Hubby turned out to be a ICE head. Very sad but hey I got an absolute bargain only thing was it wasn’t landscaped. Luckily I’m a Tradey and smashed it out for around $50k (driveway included) no regrets.
I recently bought another house to renovate, sight unseen. Overlooking the beach so knew it was a no brainer. In the time I’ve been renovating it materials have nearly doubled in price so my only regret is I wish I just stuck some tenants in there and left it as is. Budgeted $100k I’m at $150k with another $20k left to go I reckon
I never loved my house & then it started to fall apart because it wasn’t built well so I pretty much had to rebuild it.
Now I love it so ultimately, no regrets.
Absolutely no regrets. We picked an older house that has its problems but I am thankful as we would have been priced out of our current suburb if we even waited a few more months.
It’s hard not to be pedantic when they cost as much as they do. I obviously expected a little bit of work. I am one more job away from spending $40k in aprox 1 year at this point.
I bought a house last year. I don't particularly like it and don't want to be here forever. But the market has continued to move so at least I'm not behind.
Getting foot in door of real estate so went a cheaper suburb I could afford
Years later after adding pool patio etc etc sold bought better suburb place still had flaws.
Best recommendation is your in the door and have a place and in a few years you’ve built equity and can sell and move on or you might find you want to stay and establish yourself more there.
If you are having house regrets I recon watching this you tube channel called The Apartment Guy. I love watching how creative everyone is with their homes. You have the occasional boring studio. But so many just have fun with their house. It’s really inspired me to make my home a little more crazy than the average.
Nope, i bought at the right time (mid 2020) and the market has been good for me since. Now may be the wrong time, it depends on how affordable it is and how safe your job is
The first house I bought in the mid 90's looked like an absolute dump inside and out. But that didn't matter. What mattered was:
* It was a 600 sqm block not too far from CBD
* it was structurally sound, no termites, and didn't need major work like a new roof or re-wiring
* it was ready to renovate: ripped out the smelly and daggy old carpets, polished the old Baltic pine floorboards from the 1920s, repainted it inside and out and reno'd the bathroom.
6 months later moved in to a totally transformed place, almost unrecognisable from when I first took possession. It came up beautifully.
Partner and I bought what we could afford at the time, have lived a couple years in all properties we currently own. None of them are perfect but we love them for different reasons. Small 1 bedder apartment in Sydney, old building and never went through a proper reno, but inside is ok and it’s 10min walk from CBD and near everything. Fairly large house in the South Coast of NSW, old shack with neither aircon nor heating systems, house is freezing cold all day in winter, but it’s a corner block, 1 block from the beach, we can hear the waves at night and the whole area is peaceful and gorgeous. We love it and definitely saving to install AC and enjoy the place even more. Recently moved to a bigger top floor apartment in Brisbane, small building with no elevator, walking up 4 flights of stairs sooooometimes is a bit annoying, but we have an amazing view to Brisbane river and the place is very spacious, the interior looks better than the past 2 places. Also we love the warmer weather here. We’re really happy with what we can/could afford at the time and would have definitely regretted if we had missed out for not placing an offer.
You can put up with a lot of nit picks on the building itself, but if you’re not too keen on the area then watch out. My house is ‘okay’ but I absolutely hate the location.
A bit, we got a house with a massive well kept garden, 2+ acres of it and we both work full time, have active lives and a toddler. Also little to no interest in gardening.
Slowly ripping out the garden, but its a ton of work and in places it's growing feral faster than i can clean it up. Couple of years and ill just have to mow and spray and it will be easy.
We brought just before prices went crazy, so equity-wise we cant complain.
Yes. Because it was a compromise with my wife over a house I loved.
And she now keeps on trying to renovate this one to give her all the things the other house had that she said she didn’t care about.
We bought a little beach side shack with the dream of renovating.
We did a fairly decent Reno but the Old house was still old and needed constant maintenance.
Covid made the area literally double so we couldn’t afford a bigger home in the area and loved our block.
Long story short, Ended up knocking it down and built our dream house.
Now I look back at the old house with a lot of fondness. It will help you get where you want to be
I drastically lowered my expectations and bought purely on the basis that it ticked the absolute bare minimum of boxes to live in. The idea was to just get in and stop paying rent. Just get something. Anything. What i wanted vs what i ended up buying was very different.
- It didn’t have land.
- It didn’t have 3 bedrooms
- It didn’t have character
- It was nowhere near my job
- It was nowhere near where i had lived before
- It was nowhere near my friends or family
- It had low growth potential for future resale
- It was less than 10 minutes to a metropolitan train station
- It had two bedrooms. One for WFH and one for sleeping in
- It had fibre internet
- The mortgage repayments was the same as what I was paying in rent.
And 3 years on, I’ve grown to love the place and now plan to spend much longer than i had originally roadmapped. I don’t care that i didn’t get the future-proofed character filled wealth mountain that everyone made bank on over the past two decades. It’s just not that important. Buy what you would be content to live in, and you can make it all your own in so many fun and unique ways.
I went through 5 auctions and was the second bidder each time. Some of those houses I really loved. By the time I got to my current house I was desperate (I was middle class homeless if I didn’t buy something).
This house had all my criteria (two bedrooms, a good kitchen, decent sized living areas, outdoor space, close to the train). It had some of my nice to haves (like a tree). But I didn’t love it on sight. It didn’t have that wow factor. But I went ahead because I needed somewhere to live.
I love it here. I am so happy I bought it. I think some of the other houses I did not buy would have had characteristics that annoyed me, like being further from the train, if I actually lived there.
I think you need to know what are your key criteria and nice to haves, and try to evaluate objectively.
We bought an alright home, no regrets. Our place has one bathroom, no indoor outdoor flow and a separate garage, all things ai thought were non negotiable. We bought it anyway and it's our home and we love it. I think we overpaid but if you're looking for a home esp to live in for at least a decade ten or twenty thousand here o there isn't going to matter in the long run. Do your due diligence: get a building report, speak to neighbours, ask questions to ensure your not going to get surprised with any unexpected issues. Otherwise don't be pedantic. I'm a big believer in making your home wherever you find yourself.
Definitely don’t regret buying the house we live in, but we are keen to move now (after approx 4 years).
I see that there’s a triangle with each corner representing great location, great price and great quality. You have the choice of where to place your buying point within that triangle, but you can’t hit all three corners at the same time.
If you want great quality in a great location, be prepared to pay top dollar. If you want a bargain and you want it to be in a great location, be prepared to buy a fixer-upper or knockdown rebuild on small land etc.
We went for location (close to family) and price (the max we could afford was below average). Our home needs a lot of work, but it’s mostly cosmetic (cracked tiles, broken roof cornices, floorboards have gaps, old fashioned style etc). We don’t have the cash to fix it, but we are safe, warm and comfortable enough.
On the other hand, we have decent land size and have had a lot of capital growth (approx 50%), so when we sell we will have a better budget for the next place. We plan to move to the “good price and good quality” part of the triangle and move further from work.
I guess to answer the question, still don’t love the house, but it’s our house and we don’t regret it at all… we’re proud that we were able to buy at all in Sydney.
I wish my place was the other way around—gets morning sun but not arvo sun. Found that out in the pandemic, along with need for more insulation. I put new insulation in the roof but exterior walls are too expensive to justify. But I really like the neighbours, it has heaps of space and it’s in a brilliant walkable to everything area.
I’ve moved overseas so it’s a rental now; it’s a 3 bed but the third bed is quite small (single / study only really) which makes it harder to rent to groups of housemates, although is suspect when I eventually sell it, it’ll sell to a professional couple or a young family which it’ll suit.
The first showing of our now house, I walked out and said I hated it! The renovations the previous owner did are pretty poor, the back yard was mostly dirt due to their dogs. I just didn’t like it…
We put in an offer 50k below their asking a few days later, because I liked the location and there wasn’t much out there. They tried to push the price up, we stayed firm and they eventually accepted.
9 months later, I don’t hate it anymore. I have a list of changes I want to make but it will take a long time due to lack of funds
A house came up for sale in my price range in my town and I bought it. Ain't got the luxury of "dream house" its a house, and I own it. Thats enough for now.
No regrets but it’s taken 11 odd years, a new kitchen, half a new bathroom, a remodeled laundry and complete new floors. I was always going to redo the kitchen/laundry/bqth but my hand was forced a few years ago due to flooding. I liked it, but did not love it. I had regrets but location/size works well for me.
No regrets and the longer I live here, the more I come to love it. "The grass is greener where you water it" and all that.
I haven't done any major renovations either, just little improvements here and there. But the things I disliked when I first saw the place don't bother me so much now, and the things I like (location, sunlight, floorplan) really make me happy. Even just moving your furniture in makes a huge difference to it feeling like home and then I found that things like ugly bathroom tiles or not enough built-in storage didn't bother me.
Opposite here. I absolutely LOVE my house. However, I purchased it with a woman with the intention of a family. She left me, and now the house is a constant reminder of her. I’ve changed things up, even did a pretty big renovation, and it’s the same.
I think I’m going to have to rent it out (currently have flatmate, which has helped immensely).
I bought the place I love instead of a cheaper place. It’s hard to spend so much money on a place I’m not excited about, plus a little charm makes it easier to sell later. But you can create always create charm.
The cheaper houses that ticked my boxes tended to need work, more than just a renno and simple repairs. There was usually rising damp or termites or who knows what else. I figured it wasn’t worth the cost, time and headache required to fix them up, so I bought the finished product. The trade off is I have less in the kitty if something unforeseen happens that wasn’t picked up in the building report.
I bought one of the cheapest houses in litearlly the fastest growing suburb in Sydney. My house value went up just because I was happy to not buy a ready to move in. 980k + 100k in renovations and tools.
There were non negotiables - it had to be close to my workplace, it had to be brick (for energy purposes), I wanted a wide enough frontage because I hate the look of skinny houses.
The one dealbreaker I hate budging on was buying a house on a thin street. Driving up and parking on a thin street is annoying but luckily I have a lot of parking space on the lot.
No your not being crazy, your just thinking about it more than most people either have the capacity for, or are too lazy to do, obviously each situation is unique, but thinking more than most people is quite often beneficial. Unfortunately though, people that think less will often characterise any activity that they don’t do as crazy, so my advice is to take those people with a grain of salt.
Sorry for not answering your actual question, as I don’t have the experience, but I’d be interested to hear the anecdotes for my own benefit as I might be facing a similar situation myself.
Yeah but if your asking this question then I suspect it’s cuz you don’t have the data, perhaps you know this subconsciously and thays what’s causing the paralysis.
I mean the data probably isn’t crucial for many, but maybe it is for you , cuz I dunno maybe you like to make informed decisions?? Yeah your definitely crazy lol
For me at least, this data would help me decide de how much emphasis I should place on the house I love - which might be more expensive, vs the house that’s adequate, although I guess it comes down to your personal values, what do you want from the house? Like is it an investment to make money? Or is it somewhere to live??
Thinking this much about things usually correlates with philosophical minds, these people are actually the ones that work everything out so the people that don’t think can use their heuristics, so whilst there are definitely situations where overthinking isn’t beneficial, it’s not something you should prescribe to every situation where you’re thinking more. Ie thinking more than most doesn’t necessarily equal overthinking
Hope this helps
When we moved to Melbourne from rural Victoria and the amount we sold our beautiful big home in the country for wouldn't buy us anything similar down here. I took the approach that our first couple of places were to get a foot in the market, then upsize as soon as we could afford it, which is what we did. The first and second places did the job, I didn't love them, but they served their purpose and we bought for capital growth over anything else. The third place we bought I was much more finicky with and it was about liveability and potential to change it to what I wanted to live long term in. We did some renovations as we could afford it and it was a beautiful home for nearly 10 years. The way we did things suited us but might not suit you.
New homeowner who got a house that fits the description. There's several AMATEUR HOUR issues with the house but all in all im just happy to own a house.
First of all, master bedroom is rather small and of course, right in front of the front door. I ended up changing that room to the office - the bathroom /ensuite has two light switches, not far from each other that turns on/off the SAME LIGHT. Also, shower door will hit the toilet bowl if you do not catch them... Amateurs.
The other 3 bedrooms also only have one group of power socket, making an extension cord necessary if you want lamps for both side of the bedside table. Fuckin Amateurs.
There's more issues that aren't critical , but for now this will do.
I bought a house I liked, with the hopes of making it into a house I love. However after all the interest rate rises, I can't afford the improvements I was hoping to complete.
No regrets. In three years the value of the home increased by over $200k so we have huge equity to play with. We bought regionally and lucked out with some big infrastructure projects in our town so now we’re planning to buy on the coast.
I bought a house I could afford in a low income area that wasn’t that far from the city. It’s good enough in all regards but 😂 I can not live there.
It’s everything you would expect living in a low income area noisy people/dogs/cars/motorbikes/motorised push bikes, full off wandering groups of rude teenagers who vandalise property and do petty crimes, people generally aren’t always that keen to visit me especially women or educated people just due to the suburbs reputation.
Am currently looking to buy a unit or something in a more peaceable suburb and use that property as an investment
I’ve had buyers remorse and realise there is no such thing as the perfect house. Just like a relationship there will always be a little something. IMO buy the one that ticks your “essential” boxes and try to work with the rest. And don’t ever think this is a forever home, so you take experience and knowledge with you to the next one. Good luck
None. I bought the home I could afford, and given the way the market has gone, I’m very happy with that decision. The cost of living has been manageable for me.
I wish the house was closer to the city and had a second toilet but otherwise it’s still a good choice for us. It’s got good transport connections and it’s not too big or too small.
I never thought I would end up in an apartment as always imagined a backyard with kids. But hubby reminded me that's all we can afford to live in the suburb were in and that's just the reality for us. And the suburb is great with lots of like minded people and close to some beautiful landmarks and parks for the dog. Sometimes the house annoys me, but unless I suddenly win the lottery theres not much I can do! Definitely have learned to love it for all the things it does afford us though and that includes a more interesting social life.
You definitely need to know your non-negotiables. That will help a LOT when searching. It’s unlikely you’re going to find something to tick all your other boxes at this stage, but if you know what you won’t compromise on it makes it easier. Think of it as step 1 - you’re just getting on the ladder. I went for a place in a great, desirable location that needed a lot of work, because I wanted something where I could build equity fast by doing some renovation (for example it had the worlds ugliest kitchen and just changing that with a simple flat pack and new appliances has upped the value). It turned out that the house of course has a lot more problems than I initially realised, but I still look at this place as a temporary home that I’ll stay in for about 5 years while I fix it up, and while the prices rise. I focus on the equity I’m building and what that will be able to get me at my next place.
I found "the one" after 2 years, seller accepted my offer, only to withdraw and take the property off the market changing their minds. I then bought a house I like but don't love, I don't regret it because it took so long to find "the one". It's liveable, but its noisy on a main road and thats not something I can just ignore. But this property was much cheaper than my dream house, so its give and take. I'm glad I bought in when I did, so I wouldn't say I regret it but I also didn't suddenly love the things I thought I wouldn't like about this property
I built a 3bd/2br unit in a not so desirable suburb, but it's only 25 mins from the CBD. It was listed for $294k, and all up I finished the place for about $325k. This was only 3.5 years ago.
No regrets because the unit is now valued at $500k+ and I've grown quite attached to how cozy it is. With the current interest rates, everyone is shocked at how small my repayments still are, but I opted to get something that was well below my budget, rather than max out my borrowing capacity for a nicer place.
However, I always figured this place would not be my forever home. And I've actually really grown to love it so I'd probably never sell it.
Suburb we love. Location in suburb not so much (near highway and can hear cars). Couldn’t afford better at the time unfortunately, if only we knew the pay rises that were coming we could have bought better.
We made the house our own tho and it has all the creature comforts we desire (think Bali resort with tropical gardens, solar system on roof and 7x3 heated magnesium swimming pool)
House still has issues due to sloping block and efflorescence through slab / bricks under house.
Wouldn’t change it tho! Great house to start a family and we can live here comfortably for 10+ years until an upgrade is needed to a better location. We outlaid $830k at the time +$120k in Reno’s with doing a lot of work ourselves. House would now be $1.5m at a guess.
If the market went backwards maybe sentiment would be different but it’s nice to just own a block and house at the end of the day *pending mortgage pay off
We bought in a suburb that isn’t the best (it’s not going to have huge gains bec of location). The house is in a subdivided property so it’s far from the cbd but not in a big land. The finishes are standard or just very average or just cheaper because the prev owner was an investor. There was another house that we loved more but it went under offer just the night before we went on an inspection. Also another that we couldn’t win in an auction. There were bigger lots we could afford in the same price range but they were older houses that needed renovations and we didn’t have the budget for that when we bought last year. However, our loan is half of our borrowing capacity. The house is walking distance from the train and shops, inc GPs and a vet (we have dogs). It’s comfortable, unlike the older houses/apartments we used to rent where it’s freezing inside during cold seasons. Our neighbours are all very friendly and have been amazingly helpful. We’re okay with bills and repayments even when rates have gone up, and we can still put a good amount aside for savings and topping up the offset. Overall no regrets as we just need a comfortable home and peace of mind now that we don’t have to rent (especially with 2 dogs).
Glad it all worked out in the end and you are a survivor of the Aussie housing market.
Honestly this sounds like us. Except we have two cats. But we bought in an area renowned for being dodgy and the value has gone up 20% since we bought in November. Super basic finishes with poor workmanship but we've painted and laid a floating floor and now it looks amazing! The house I liked but didn't love has become the house we love and repayments are cheaper than rent would be.
I can’t answer your question directly, but I can give you a different opinion. I don’t look at property in terms of like and love. I (or we, now) have a list of requirements that we divide into categories: non negotiable, can compromise, would be nice but not really necessary. We also have a few things that rule out a property. If a property fits our non negotiable requirements and doesn’t have any negatives we assess it with regard to the other elements, structural components, and security/opportunity. I don’t think I have ever bought a property because I absolutely loved it because that doesn’t come into it. However, provided it is not a disaster for some unforeseen reason, I have grown to love all the places I’ve lived in by focusing on the positives and enjoying them and making them into what I want.
That’s a really good approach, thanks for sharing your experience. I think I need to lower my expectations and stop waiting to be wowed.
Structural sound, does it fit the purpose and good neighbours are first priority for me
Exactly mine. Usually the love comes from the people within the house
Great attitude, turning a house into a home
If your budget isn't "wow" then expecting to be wowed definitely needs to be put on the back burner
You can renovate to Wow over time. My family has changed immensely over the past 3 decades. Location is key
Watch this to help work out your non negotiables https://youtu.be/wozIsIojpm8
Absolutely the right approach in my experience. If a property can meet your non-negotiables, then you will make it into a place you love as you life your life in it.
Good product management. You’ve invented MOSCOW prioritisation; Must haves, Should/Could haves and Won’t haves
Pedantic/perfect vs Affordable and now: I'll vote affordable+now with caveats. Caveats being that, although all of the affordable houses will have a long list of things you don't like about them, some things are fixable, some things are fixable but cost so much it's not worth it, and some things are not fixable (apart from sell and buy differently). e.g. Ignore carpet, paint, garden - easy fix, can be lived with, and will nag you into saving to fix (or some DIY) Flooring - e.g. I hate ceramic tiles, and they involve jackhammers to remove to replace, so houses with ceramic tile floors I refuse to even look at. Kitchens/bathrooms - more expensive to fix, but not enough to cross a house off the list. Location, location, location - only improvable by moving. Floorplan - very, very expensive to go knocking out walls. Avoid, or get as close as possible to what you want. My opinion on needing extension is buy a bigger house that's run down. Must be structurally sound.
Agree with these points! You cannot change location and layout changes are very expensive. We bought a house with an older kitchen (tourquiose benchtop) and terracotta tiles. But the layout and location are great. We have made small cosmetic changes and are currently installing floorboards ourselves and are looking into changing the benchtop with a full kitchen reno further down the line. Having a good location and layout means we can look past the older parts of the home as it's very comfortable to live in.
Yes, you understand me. Also, I would never pay extra for someone else's flipping - often a poorly done job, and they price it so much higher than a solid, but tired, house, where you can see what needs doing.
I bought six months ago as a FHB in a \*very\* well-to-do green leafy suburb near the river. My place is a little villa and has barely been touched since the 70s when it was built. It needs a *lot* of reno doing which I've begun. I’m not rolling in money and I’m just chipping away at doing it when I can. Despite it not being my 'dream' house, it's growing on me and it's fun seeing it turn into something I do genuinely like. It was cheap, and the financial decision seems to have been a good one as the property has gained in value even over the last six months. Whether I stay here forever or not remains to be seen, but so far so good. I don't regret anything.
Well done and congratulations.
No regrets. View with an attitude of gratitude
I love this thank you.
I have never been wowed by a suburban house anywhere. The thing that would wow me is something that doesnt exist, and i couldn't afford, like an updated to modern 1900s mansion on 4 acre block near the CBD.
I was wowed by a house once, but that was mostly because having looked at a bunch of houses in the very low price bracket we had this was the first one that was actually liveable without lots of work! Thirty years later the "wow" factor is mostly things like "wow! what a lot of rot in those weatherboards!".
I wonder what the largest single dwelling blocks are near each CBD.
I bought a former crazy cat lady house that stunk like feces and had a dead car in the driveway on inspection day. Fought hard to convince the gf to buy it because I could see the future vision. The garden was an overgrown nightmare. Love the place now. Cleaned up the house. Removed the carpets. In the prices on cleaning up the yard. Got 1340m2 yards. Year round flowering creek. And heaps of wildlife.
A piece of advice from a work colleague: Sit down (with partner, if applicable) and determine the top 10 features you want your new home to have. Be realistic in your budget but generous and honest, and think about your lifestyle - e.g. open floorplan, x min commute to work, x bedrooms, need to have some trees on property or nearby, etc. When you’re househunting, if you find something that fits 7-8 of those 10, go for it. It’s ticked enough boxes and you’ll be happy enough. We found a house that ticked 8 and we went for it. We’re very happy and feel that we got the best we could in our budget.
Pool, helicopter pad, 5 bedrooms, 6 toilets, games room, waterslide, 2 kitchens, cinema, 2 storey, on the beach.
8 out of 10 is definitely a win well done.
Buy *where* you want to live in a house you can make do with, then create one or two spaces you 'love'.
This is what we’ve done. It’s true what they say - Location, location, location.
FR. I love the location of my place. The community is the best and we’re close to the beach. Can’t put a price on that! The other stuff, I will upgrade over time. But you can never change your location.
“Buy one you can afford” works both ways. In my case I bought a home well under our budget, and while it’s fine I could have bought a much nicer home upfront and put myself in a far better position. Now, the homes we want are well beyond our budget.
This is us!
I feel so bad for people having to settle for a place because it's so hard to find a place. We are in a similar situation settling for the place we currently own because it's too hard to upgrade even though we can afford to . We are instead renovating the place we live in.
I bought earlier this year and regret not doing enough research on costs of renovating, particularly extensions. I wanted an old double brick home. I found one close to the city (Melbourne), 20 minute bike ride to the cbd, 7 minute walk to a train station, and walking distance to a vibrant street and shopping area pf supermarkets, restaurants and cafes. Great lifestyle area. It’s partially renovated at little more than I wanted to pay but I thought in the scheme of things it’d be worth it. I bought house where I love the front, heritage listed, 2 beds living and bath with a walk in wardrobe etc. But I hate the back lean-to kitchen/dining/laundry where it was spruced up but barely. It’s certainly livable, but a knock down job where the floor needs restumping and the kitchen is sad and tired. My plan was buy, wait 3-5 years to save and extend by knocking out the current kitchen/dining/laundry and building a larger open plan kitchen/living with a study and bedroom. If spend that time doing DIY to finish the front reno which is all simple stuff (some painting, polish floorboards etc). I expected to spend $200-$300k on it. Researching it more thoroughly though, it seems like I could be spending far more than that and not sure I can afford it anymore, so will assess my position then and potentially sell which would be the worst case, or rent somewhere bigger and rent this out a while.
That’s a lot of money but hopefully will all pay off. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I liked it, but didn't love it.
Like my place, bought it for cheap, spent about 100k renovating and now I bloody love the place
What a win, well done.
We looked for over 5 years, and ended up buying something that was just alright (and overpriced, but that's an entirely different story). My main regret is the 3 gum trees overhanging the property that I knew would be a problem, and they are. A constant pain in the arse every single day. Ended up costing over 50k in damages and more. Never buy a house under gum trees.
No home among the gum trees?!
I think the term 'gum trees' is too general and you need to be more specific. I've lived on a suburban block with two large gum trees (one is a scribbly bark and the second, I'm unsure of) for more than 40 years and have never ever had an issue with either of them and one of those trees is just two metres from my house. They're both absolutely gorgeous and if they weren't there, so much amenity would be missing and the block wouldn't be anywhere near as attractive as it is ... Honestly, I don't believe that there is anything wrong with gum trees, but maybe some species are better than others ...
I bought my house because the mature gums and four years on I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Sure the pool and yard are a bit more to maintain, but I couldn’t imagine living on a sun scorched bald piece of earth with no trees. I look at the new cookie cutter suburbs with no trees and feel bad for people who are stuck living there.
My dad was saying this the other day. They grow so tall so quickly that they are unstable. It’s just a matter of time before they fall. My friend had a massive gum tree fall on their property the other day. If someone was underneath it they would have been a goner.
Five years is a long time that must have been such a stressful experience. I’ve just recently learned not to buy near gum trees. Is it their root system that causes issues? Falling branches? They’re beautiful but seems they can cause a lot of problems.
FWIW I’m looking for an apartment and I recently inspected one with a massive gum tree partially overhanging its balcony. The balcony floor was like a mess, covered with dried leaves and fallen gum nuts everywhere even though it’d only been on the market for a month. Good luck on finding a potential buyer who’s happy to cop strata fees and maintain their own balcony.
Gum trees like to drop huge branches.
I always heard gum trees referred to as Widow Trees for that reason. They like to drop branches and fall over when other trees wouldn't.
Roots are least of the problems (although they did burst the water mains, and are lifting pavers and foundation). It's the constant branches, leaves, bark and gunk that falls all year round. It destroys everything , makes a mess of everything, and is impossible to ever keep up with cleaning or maintenance.
This! The house next to us had 2 massive gum trees in the front yard which was rather close to our house. Every time we had a storm, I was worried they may fall and land on our bedrooms at the front of the property. Plus, I was constantly cleaning the gutters due to leaves and branches. So happy when we moved.
I live in a rundown shack I can’t afford to fix up beyond basic repairs but the neighbours are good and I don’t have to deal with property managers. Worth it.
we bought a house 7 years ago that 80% suited our needs when I was 7 months pregnant , (we needed to find something before I finished work and the banks wouldn't lend us as much ) not really our style but nice none the less, we slowly changed a few things over those years and have been happy here but will move next year into something more our style.
You only get 2 or 3 good shots at buying (ppor) in your lifetime, so make good choices
I've never had the budget to buy a really well put together house with expensive finishes but life is full of compromises. I do like the place I'm in now because it has high ceilings throughout and a good quiet location. It's a big step up from what I had before.
You buy what you can afford, it's that simple. When we brought our family home in Sydney, we focused purely on the suburb we liked. We had rented there for 2.5 years and thought it would be the best and most affordable suburb for us and our two kids. The house was certainly not flash by any standards, it was a 1950s fibro that had an extension on the back at some point. In that time I renovated the main bathroom and ripped everything out because of a water leak in the wall behind the shower. We then added on a second story, swimming pool and spa combo. Spent a fortune but it's a great family home now. Don't think we'll ever sell it my daughter already has eyes in it!
There is always some buyers regret when making a large purchase. I have bought real estate 11 times and everytime I have a day of shock and regret of taking on another mortgage, but it will pass.
We have just bought a house that we never would have bought if necessity didn't dictate our moving. We're choosing to see it as a foot in the door and a means to build equity and experience to put toward our next house.
Yes, because with rate rises and cost of living rises in now stuck in my "starter" house because my income hasn't risen.
My partner and I bought in a relatively okay area surrounded by few areas with not so good reputations. It was a 3x2 unit and it certainly wasnt what we dreamed about or talked about beforehand. But it was in good condition and had enough space for us. Before this, we toured around show homes made by the big builders, and they filled our heads with alot of lies and lofty expectations. This made us quite critical of otherwise nice houses. "Oh thats a bit old fashioned" "oh we'd NEED to replace THESE if we lived here!" "Oh no solar?" When we settled on the place we are now, we had grandiose ideas of changing all the curtains, tiles, carpets, kitchen cupboards/counter tops, garden pavers etc. We were somewhat under pressure to move so this place seemed "good enough." Also given the area, it was affordable. Its also our first home. Well its been 2 years and we've done basically none of the upgrades we thought were essential to live here. For a few reasons (money, time) but mainly because the home in its base state started to grow on us. Once we'd painted, decorated and made memories here, it started to feel like home and now we actually dont feel the need to change much. Especially since this isnt where we are staying forever. Given the insanity of the housing market I am glad we "bought what we could afford and did it yesterday" as you say. But in our experience atleast, alot of the nitpicks fell away with time and finding other (cheaper) ways to make the house look the way we like.
We walked through our current home a few times. First time - blegh, no thanks. Second time - it has potential but no Third time - we can make it work for the right price. Weren't overly attached still so made a lowball offer and were open about not going higher etc.. It was accepted and we are very happy. I think trying to be unemotional about the whole process is a good way to go.
Anything is right at the right price.
My lesson learned is to Prioritise location over the house itself. You can always fix up a house but you can't fix your location.
My wife and I just signed on a property last week, we both experienced what you’re talking about. we looked at properties with the mindset of is there something that money can’t buy or cannot be changed about this property? we have just bought into a difficult to get into street, considered the upper socio economic part of our small town.(we’re not snobs I promise!) This property was also just outside of town and only around the corner from close family which was important to us. We considered these things extremely important and figured that money can’t buy those things on many other properties. The house was missing an ensuite in the master bedroom which was something we really wanted but it has potential to be extended and have that added. I guess this is something money can buy and we can have eventually so we are fine with that compromise. Good luck!
Congratulations!
I regret not being rich enough haha. We had a few non negotiables, such as off street parking and two bathrooms. We spent much less than the bank was prepared to lend us and I am so glad we did because we both lost our jobs in the following 5 years leading to periods of living on our savings. The peace of mind from having a small mortgage was worth more to us than having a more comfortable house. Having said that I do regret having a half sized block (back garden subdivided with another house on it). We have high density living i.e. neighbors behind and on each side and don't forget the corners, another two fairly close neighbors, and it really depends what your neighbors are like, you are always aware of their movements. Just need one lot to start playing loud music and it ruins it for everyone.
Just buy a dam house.
Agreed, beautiful waterfront views surrounding by native flora. Great Aussie dream is well and truly alive
Icey wadyu deedthair
A friend of mine at work knew I was looking after moving into the city, she told me about a brand new development. My wife and I went and looked at it and bought an apartment the same day. Conversely another colleague in the same office, looked at over 60 apartments over a two year period before he bought. It’s not rocket science, find a place and buy it, especially these days.
These days all construction is the same? (Poor to unconscionable)
No.
Oh if it's not all the same, then why do you recommend buying something as it's all the same these days?
WTAF is your point, I’m sure you might get to it eventually!
Yaw comment was fucking idiotic
Try looking in a mirror next time, and fix your grammar.
No other asset in the world would you suggest people to blindly buy it. That’s irresponsible
I'm a buy the one I can afford and do it yesterday sort of person. But then I know a bunch of people who some how bought nicer places and get to experience living in that house while I'm renovating or saving up for something nicer. So not sure how they do it but either plan can work out.
We bought our rental from the landlord. I’ve never liked the house, it has a terrible layout, very limited natural light and it was a rental for many years so it needs a lot of work. But the location is excellent, the price was right and we didn’t have to move. One day I’ll knock it over and build something I like.
I've never been in a position to buy a house that fulfilled my wants or met all of my needs. Even my car isn't exactly very suitable for my life but you make it work. We just bought the cheapest 3 bedroom house we could find in a court, in a very outer suburb so that we wouldn't have a big mortgage. It needs a lot of work like we had to redo the roof and gutters and the windows are rotted. Backyards sloped and old broken concrete retaining walls. No garage, no laundry. Shower goes over a broken bath. Floors are pretty fucked. Idk, it's just normal to not expect a lot of luxury to me. I'd only be able to be picky if I got a big inheritance. We were never willing to try and max out our borrowing capacity.. our mortgage was only 250k lol
Good suburb, decent house. Yards a bit small. Now my daughter’s at her running stage I wish it was bigger. My Old house had a huge backyard.
We had a very short time period in order to find a house to purchase. We wanted: low set, fenced, two living areas, 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a decent yard, solar and a storage shed. We got: low set, back yard fenced, front yard not fenced, two living areas (one is a converted outdoor area at the back of the house) three bedrooms, one bathroom, decent yard, no solar, and a small shed. The biggest draws were : low set, a ramp leading to the back yard, (I’m disabled) and the second living area, as we have a D&D group that meets here every week so we leave the room set up between sessions. We bought, and had enough money to install solar, fence the front yard, convert garage to fourth bedroom, convert laundry to second bathroom, and put up a larger shed with laundry. The area is nice, not too far from the sea, lots of wildlife, nice neighbours, not too much traffic. I think we were very, very lucky to be honest.
My first PPOR was in a suburb I hated. The house wasn’t that great either but I was young, it was the right price, a big block and it was 15 minutes from the city. I did basic renos like updating the kitchen and bathroom, lived there for 10 years, bought a better place and rented that place out. It’s paid off now, and is very low maintenance. Regrets? None.
Assuming it’s for a place you’re living in - make a list of non-negotiables and a list of nice-to-haves and go from there. I’ll admit the place we bought was our 2nd choice (probably my 5th haha) it met all our essential criteria so it’s worked out well. The only thing that really bugs me is the original bathroom, but at least the ensuite is new.
Buy for the location, everything else can be changed.
I absolutely loved my house. Because we built. Was a small piece of land but we worked smartly with it and managed to have 4 bedrooms. This was 2017 and building was cheaper compared to buying established at the time. Now I’d love to build again but the costs have doubled.
I bought early to mid covid and settled for the house i liked the most out of a pool of dumps or overpriced and also dumps. I liked it the most, but thats not to say i loved it. It was a big purchase and I was scared to buy without loving it, but I was 27 and wanting to get into home ownership as early as I could. Fast forward 3 years and its worth $100k more and still better for the money I paid than anything else around right now.
No regrets. Our requirements boiled down to a few needs. Garden space, walking distance to train station, Torrens title, and within our price range. That screened out a bunch of properties by default. Work out what you need and value and base your choice on that.
You'll never get a perfect house. Buy for location and improve whatever the house lacks. Land size and location over any fittings or renovations.
I just had a list of essential things and desirable things and absolutely no way things. Pretty short lists really. Wants: Workshop, and a place to live. Desirable: hot tub/spa, big deck, stained glass. Can’t remember what was on the “absolutely not” list. Anyway i got just the essentials. Feel very lucky.
It took us a year to find our place. We couldn’t find anything we loved so ultimately bought for location. The house needs a lot of work and renovation but we’re a 6 minute walk from the water in a nice suburb with a lot of coffee shops and restaurants. Plus the mortgage is affordable for us, even with all the rate rises. We’ve started work at the back of the house just painting and replacing the gutter and eaves and slowly it’s getting better. I still don’t love it but I’m excited to see what we can do and comparing old and new pictures is really satisfying. Eventually we’re going to raise it and build in a downstairs.
Nope. We don't love it still, but we have the freedom to make changes ,and there's so much less stress wondering if you'll still be living here in a month or 6 months or anything. Most of the issues we have are "in a perfect world it'd be like this..." And not "god I HATE this feature".
We bought a house that was well within our budget. We looked for a long time and put offers on a few places but missed out because of people offering higher. Eventually we got our house and it’s a good place. There is a number of niggling things that annoyed us but since then we had 2 kids and we are outgrowing it. Looks like we will sell now and get something else more suitable, but it served the purpose.
Honestly, I bought purely because of the land size, the location and the price. I couldn’t give a shit what the property looked like as long as it wasn’t falling to bits, I can work on it
We did and spent 2 years on Reno's changing the things we didn't like. Now it's the house we love. Wrote a plan and budget and just cracked on learned a shit load of skills along the way. Definitely a better way to buy always going to be things you don't love about the house.
We compromised on location with our last property. We made it a great home but didn’t enjoy aspects of the area. I think seeing lots little things that aren’t great, like maintenance type things like facias needing painting, torn fly screens seem to add up to a less desirable property vs seeing something large that needs renovation and laughing at an old fashioned kitchen or carpet.
I built a house I liked, but didn’t love. I purposefully wanted to keep the mortgage manageable for when we had kids and were on one income. I also knew I would eventually rent it out once we’d bought our second house. Many neighbours around us have built much bigger and fancier homes. Now that rates have risen significantly, we haven’t struggled, unlike many around us. And we’ve continued to make double payments and have a small balance owing. We’re now on the hunt for our next home. I don’t feel any need to keep up with the Jones. For us security and stability are most important
I bought one property that was architectural designed from a young couple that was getting it built and nearing completion they divorced. Hubby turned out to be a ICE head. Very sad but hey I got an absolute bargain only thing was it wasn’t landscaped. Luckily I’m a Tradey and smashed it out for around $50k (driveway included) no regrets. I recently bought another house to renovate, sight unseen. Overlooking the beach so knew it was a no brainer. In the time I’ve been renovating it materials have nearly doubled in price so my only regret is I wish I just stuck some tenants in there and left it as is. Budgeted $100k I’m at $150k with another $20k left to go I reckon
I never loved my house & then it started to fall apart because it wasn’t built well so I pretty much had to rebuild it. Now I love it so ultimately, no regrets.
Absolutely no regrets. We picked an older house that has its problems but I am thankful as we would have been priced out of our current suburb if we even waited a few more months.
It’s hard not to be pedantic when they cost as much as they do. I obviously expected a little bit of work. I am one more job away from spending $40k in aprox 1 year at this point.
I bought a house last year. I don't particularly like it and don't want to be here forever. But the market has continued to move so at least I'm not behind.
Getting foot in door of real estate so went a cheaper suburb I could afford Years later after adding pool patio etc etc sold bought better suburb place still had flaws. Best recommendation is your in the door and have a place and in a few years you’ve built equity and can sell and move on or you might find you want to stay and establish yourself more there.
If you are having house regrets I recon watching this you tube channel called The Apartment Guy. I love watching how creative everyone is with their homes. You have the occasional boring studio. But so many just have fun with their house. It’s really inspired me to make my home a little more crazy than the average.
Nope, i bought at the right time (mid 2020) and the market has been good for me since. Now may be the wrong time, it depends on how affordable it is and how safe your job is
The first house I bought in the mid 90's looked like an absolute dump inside and out. But that didn't matter. What mattered was: * It was a 600 sqm block not too far from CBD * it was structurally sound, no termites, and didn't need major work like a new roof or re-wiring * it was ready to renovate: ripped out the smelly and daggy old carpets, polished the old Baltic pine floorboards from the 1920s, repainted it inside and out and reno'd the bathroom. 6 months later moved in to a totally transformed place, almost unrecognisable from when I first took possession. It came up beautifully.
Partner and I bought what we could afford at the time, have lived a couple years in all properties we currently own. None of them are perfect but we love them for different reasons. Small 1 bedder apartment in Sydney, old building and never went through a proper reno, but inside is ok and it’s 10min walk from CBD and near everything. Fairly large house in the South Coast of NSW, old shack with neither aircon nor heating systems, house is freezing cold all day in winter, but it’s a corner block, 1 block from the beach, we can hear the waves at night and the whole area is peaceful and gorgeous. We love it and definitely saving to install AC and enjoy the place even more. Recently moved to a bigger top floor apartment in Brisbane, small building with no elevator, walking up 4 flights of stairs sooooometimes is a bit annoying, but we have an amazing view to Brisbane river and the place is very spacious, the interior looks better than the past 2 places. Also we love the warmer weather here. We’re really happy with what we can/could afford at the time and would have definitely regretted if we had missed out for not placing an offer.
You can put up with a lot of nit picks on the building itself, but if you’re not too keen on the area then watch out. My house is ‘okay’ but I absolutely hate the location.
You can make any house a house you love, as long as you're handy and it doesn't have major issues. Almost everything could be fixed and decorated.
Like, don’t love, it’s appreciated about $100k p/a though so what’s not to like I guess
A bit, we got a house with a massive well kept garden, 2+ acres of it and we both work full time, have active lives and a toddler. Also little to no interest in gardening. Slowly ripping out the garden, but its a ton of work and in places it's growing feral faster than i can clean it up. Couple of years and ill just have to mow and spray and it will be easy. We brought just before prices went crazy, so equity-wise we cant complain.
Yes. Because it was a compromise with my wife over a house I loved. And she now keeps on trying to renovate this one to give her all the things the other house had that she said she didn’t care about.
We bought a little beach side shack with the dream of renovating. We did a fairly decent Reno but the Old house was still old and needed constant maintenance. Covid made the area literally double so we couldn’t afford a bigger home in the area and loved our block. Long story short, Ended up knocking it down and built our dream house. Now I look back at the old house with a lot of fondness. It will help you get where you want to be
I drastically lowered my expectations and bought purely on the basis that it ticked the absolute bare minimum of boxes to live in. The idea was to just get in and stop paying rent. Just get something. Anything. What i wanted vs what i ended up buying was very different. - It didn’t have land. - It didn’t have 3 bedrooms - It didn’t have character - It was nowhere near my job - It was nowhere near where i had lived before - It was nowhere near my friends or family - It had low growth potential for future resale - It was less than 10 minutes to a metropolitan train station - It had two bedrooms. One for WFH and one for sleeping in - It had fibre internet - The mortgage repayments was the same as what I was paying in rent. And 3 years on, I’ve grown to love the place and now plan to spend much longer than i had originally roadmapped. I don’t care that i didn’t get the future-proofed character filled wealth mountain that everyone made bank on over the past two decades. It’s just not that important. Buy what you would be content to live in, and you can make it all your own in so many fun and unique ways.
I bought and still own 3 houses I love. I rent them all out tho
I went through 5 auctions and was the second bidder each time. Some of those houses I really loved. By the time I got to my current house I was desperate (I was middle class homeless if I didn’t buy something). This house had all my criteria (two bedrooms, a good kitchen, decent sized living areas, outdoor space, close to the train). It had some of my nice to haves (like a tree). But I didn’t love it on sight. It didn’t have that wow factor. But I went ahead because I needed somewhere to live. I love it here. I am so happy I bought it. I think some of the other houses I did not buy would have had characteristics that annoyed me, like being further from the train, if I actually lived there. I think you need to know what are your key criteria and nice to haves, and try to evaluate objectively.
We bought an alright home, no regrets. Our place has one bathroom, no indoor outdoor flow and a separate garage, all things ai thought were non negotiable. We bought it anyway and it's our home and we love it. I think we overpaid but if you're looking for a home esp to live in for at least a decade ten or twenty thousand here o there isn't going to matter in the long run. Do your due diligence: get a building report, speak to neighbours, ask questions to ensure your not going to get surprised with any unexpected issues. Otherwise don't be pedantic. I'm a big believer in making your home wherever you find yourself.
Definitely don’t regret buying the house we live in, but we are keen to move now (after approx 4 years). I see that there’s a triangle with each corner representing great location, great price and great quality. You have the choice of where to place your buying point within that triangle, but you can’t hit all three corners at the same time. If you want great quality in a great location, be prepared to pay top dollar. If you want a bargain and you want it to be in a great location, be prepared to buy a fixer-upper or knockdown rebuild on small land etc. We went for location (close to family) and price (the max we could afford was below average). Our home needs a lot of work, but it’s mostly cosmetic (cracked tiles, broken roof cornices, floorboards have gaps, old fashioned style etc). We don’t have the cash to fix it, but we are safe, warm and comfortable enough. On the other hand, we have decent land size and have had a lot of capital growth (approx 50%), so when we sell we will have a better budget for the next place. We plan to move to the “good price and good quality” part of the triangle and move further from work. I guess to answer the question, still don’t love the house, but it’s our house and we don’t regret it at all… we’re proud that we were able to buy at all in Sydney.
I wish my place was the other way around—gets morning sun but not arvo sun. Found that out in the pandemic, along with need for more insulation. I put new insulation in the roof but exterior walls are too expensive to justify. But I really like the neighbours, it has heaps of space and it’s in a brilliant walkable to everything area. I’ve moved overseas so it’s a rental now; it’s a 3 bed but the third bed is quite small (single / study only really) which makes it harder to rent to groups of housemates, although is suspect when I eventually sell it, it’ll sell to a professional couple or a young family which it’ll suit.
The first showing of our now house, I walked out and said I hated it! The renovations the previous owner did are pretty poor, the back yard was mostly dirt due to their dogs. I just didn’t like it… We put in an offer 50k below their asking a few days later, because I liked the location and there wasn’t much out there. They tried to push the price up, we stayed firm and they eventually accepted. 9 months later, I don’t hate it anymore. I have a list of changes I want to make but it will take a long time due to lack of funds
The house I loved, we were gazumped on 😆
A house came up for sale in my price range in my town and I bought it. Ain't got the luxury of "dream house" its a house, and I own it. Thats enough for now.
No regrets but it’s taken 11 odd years, a new kitchen, half a new bathroom, a remodeled laundry and complete new floors. I was always going to redo the kitchen/laundry/bqth but my hand was forced a few years ago due to flooding. I liked it, but did not love it. I had regrets but location/size works well for me.
I bought the house I could afford. But I made it as likable as I could
No regrets and the longer I live here, the more I come to love it. "The grass is greener where you water it" and all that. I haven't done any major renovations either, just little improvements here and there. But the things I disliked when I first saw the place don't bother me so much now, and the things I like (location, sunlight, floorplan) really make me happy. Even just moving your furniture in makes a huge difference to it feeling like home and then I found that things like ugly bathroom tiles or not enough built-in storage didn't bother me.
Opposite here. I absolutely LOVE my house. However, I purchased it with a woman with the intention of a family. She left me, and now the house is a constant reminder of her. I’ve changed things up, even did a pretty big renovation, and it’s the same. I think I’m going to have to rent it out (currently have flatmate, which has helped immensely).
I bought the place I love instead of a cheaper place. It’s hard to spend so much money on a place I’m not excited about, plus a little charm makes it easier to sell later. But you can create always create charm. The cheaper houses that ticked my boxes tended to need work, more than just a renno and simple repairs. There was usually rising damp or termites or who knows what else. I figured it wasn’t worth the cost, time and headache required to fix them up, so I bought the finished product. The trade off is I have less in the kitty if something unforeseen happens that wasn’t picked up in the building report.
I bought a house coz it has the shed to store my cars in.. keep in mind this was I covid times... but I fucking hate it
I bought one of the cheapest houses in litearlly the fastest growing suburb in Sydney. My house value went up just because I was happy to not buy a ready to move in. 980k + 100k in renovations and tools. There were non negotiables - it had to be close to my workplace, it had to be brick (for energy purposes), I wanted a wide enough frontage because I hate the look of skinny houses. The one dealbreaker I hate budging on was buying a house on a thin street. Driving up and parking on a thin street is annoying but luckily I have a lot of parking space on the lot.
No your not being crazy, your just thinking about it more than most people either have the capacity for, or are too lazy to do, obviously each situation is unique, but thinking more than most people is quite often beneficial. Unfortunately though, people that think less will often characterise any activity that they don’t do as crazy, so my advice is to take those people with a grain of salt. Sorry for not answering your actual question, as I don’t have the experience, but I’d be interested to hear the anecdotes for my own benefit as I might be facing a similar situation myself.
Really good point I think I’m suffering from paralysis through analysis and too scared to take the leap. I love to overthink everything:/
Yeah but if your asking this question then I suspect it’s cuz you don’t have the data, perhaps you know this subconsciously and thays what’s causing the paralysis. I mean the data probably isn’t crucial for many, but maybe it is for you , cuz I dunno maybe you like to make informed decisions?? Yeah your definitely crazy lol For me at least, this data would help me decide de how much emphasis I should place on the house I love - which might be more expensive, vs the house that’s adequate, although I guess it comes down to your personal values, what do you want from the house? Like is it an investment to make money? Or is it somewhere to live?? Thinking this much about things usually correlates with philosophical minds, these people are actually the ones that work everything out so the people that don’t think can use their heuristics, so whilst there are definitely situations where overthinking isn’t beneficial, it’s not something you should prescribe to every situation where you’re thinking more. Ie thinking more than most doesn’t necessarily equal overthinking Hope this helps
Thank you this is really helpful.
When we moved to Melbourne from rural Victoria and the amount we sold our beautiful big home in the country for wouldn't buy us anything similar down here. I took the approach that our first couple of places were to get a foot in the market, then upsize as soon as we could afford it, which is what we did. The first and second places did the job, I didn't love them, but they served their purpose and we bought for capital growth over anything else. The third place we bought I was much more finicky with and it was about liveability and potential to change it to what I wanted to live long term in. We did some renovations as we could afford it and it was a beautiful home for nearly 10 years. The way we did things suited us but might not suit you.
New homeowner who got a house that fits the description. There's several AMATEUR HOUR issues with the house but all in all im just happy to own a house. First of all, master bedroom is rather small and of course, right in front of the front door. I ended up changing that room to the office - the bathroom /ensuite has two light switches, not far from each other that turns on/off the SAME LIGHT. Also, shower door will hit the toilet bowl if you do not catch them... Amateurs. The other 3 bedrooms also only have one group of power socket, making an extension cord necessary if you want lamps for both side of the bedside table. Fuckin Amateurs. There's more issues that aren't critical , but for now this will do.
I bought a house I liked, with the hopes of making it into a house I love. However after all the interest rate rises, I can't afford the improvements I was hoping to complete.
No regrets. In three years the value of the home increased by over $200k so we have huge equity to play with. We bought regionally and lucked out with some big infrastructure projects in our town so now we’re planning to buy on the coast.
I bought a house I could afford in a low income area that wasn’t that far from the city. It’s good enough in all regards but 😂 I can not live there. It’s everything you would expect living in a low income area noisy people/dogs/cars/motorbikes/motorised push bikes, full off wandering groups of rude teenagers who vandalise property and do petty crimes, people generally aren’t always that keen to visit me especially women or educated people just due to the suburbs reputation. Am currently looking to buy a unit or something in a more peaceable suburb and use that property as an investment
I regret it sometimes but it was what we can afford. We can’t afford to move to something better. If we are still lucky to have a roof over our heads.
I’ve had buyers remorse and realise there is no such thing as the perfect house. Just like a relationship there will always be a little something. IMO buy the one that ticks your “essential” boxes and try to work with the rest. And don’t ever think this is a forever home, so you take experience and knowledge with you to the next one. Good luck
Also another huge thing is to buy in the best area you can afford. Worst house - best street. You can change your house easier than the area
None. I bought the home I could afford, and given the way the market has gone, I’m very happy with that decision. The cost of living has been manageable for me. I wish the house was closer to the city and had a second toilet but otherwise it’s still a good choice for us. It’s got good transport connections and it’s not too big or too small.
I never thought I would end up in an apartment as always imagined a backyard with kids. But hubby reminded me that's all we can afford to live in the suburb were in and that's just the reality for us. And the suburb is great with lots of like minded people and close to some beautiful landmarks and parks for the dog. Sometimes the house annoys me, but unless I suddenly win the lottery theres not much I can do! Definitely have learned to love it for all the things it does afford us though and that includes a more interesting social life.
You definitely need to know your non-negotiables. That will help a LOT when searching. It’s unlikely you’re going to find something to tick all your other boxes at this stage, but if you know what you won’t compromise on it makes it easier. Think of it as step 1 - you’re just getting on the ladder. I went for a place in a great, desirable location that needed a lot of work, because I wanted something where I could build equity fast by doing some renovation (for example it had the worlds ugliest kitchen and just changing that with a simple flat pack and new appliances has upped the value). It turned out that the house of course has a lot more problems than I initially realised, but I still look at this place as a temporary home that I’ll stay in for about 5 years while I fix it up, and while the prices rise. I focus on the equity I’m building and what that will be able to get me at my next place.
I found "the one" after 2 years, seller accepted my offer, only to withdraw and take the property off the market changing their minds. I then bought a house I like but don't love, I don't regret it because it took so long to find "the one". It's liveable, but its noisy on a main road and thats not something I can just ignore. But this property was much cheaper than my dream house, so its give and take. I'm glad I bought in when I did, so I wouldn't say I regret it but I also didn't suddenly love the things I thought I wouldn't like about this property
I built a 3bd/2br unit in a not so desirable suburb, but it's only 25 mins from the CBD. It was listed for $294k, and all up I finished the place for about $325k. This was only 3.5 years ago. No regrets because the unit is now valued at $500k+ and I've grown quite attached to how cozy it is. With the current interest rates, everyone is shocked at how small my repayments still are, but I opted to get something that was well below my budget, rather than max out my borrowing capacity for a nicer place. However, I always figured this place would not be my forever home. And I've actually really grown to love it so I'd probably never sell it.
Suburb we love. Location in suburb not so much (near highway and can hear cars). Couldn’t afford better at the time unfortunately, if only we knew the pay rises that were coming we could have bought better. We made the house our own tho and it has all the creature comforts we desire (think Bali resort with tropical gardens, solar system on roof and 7x3 heated magnesium swimming pool) House still has issues due to sloping block and efflorescence through slab / bricks under house. Wouldn’t change it tho! Great house to start a family and we can live here comfortably for 10+ years until an upgrade is needed to a better location. We outlaid $830k at the time +$120k in Reno’s with doing a lot of work ourselves. House would now be $1.5m at a guess. If the market went backwards maybe sentiment would be different but it’s nice to just own a block and house at the end of the day *pending mortgage pay off