House hunting

Now that the seed has been planted of moving to the country before retirement, we have both been cruising the websites and day dreaming ... and the biggest cure for house daydreaming is a day of open homes! So on Saturday we visited the five most likely candidates, and it has been - well - eye-opening. Reality is indeed a bit different from day dreaming. 

We want a decent sized house on  maybe 20 acres or so within about 45 minutes drive from work, so there are a lot of options. We saw two out in Wamboin - this was when we realised we don't want a house in the bush away from the road, as we bumped our car up half a mile of track that no ambulance could ever get up, let alone a removal van. This house had the most stunning view, but was incredibly weird inside ... they had just kept adding granny flats or studio apartments; we counted five kitchens. The second one nearby was theoretically much better - sensible layout and good driveway - but the setting didn't grab us. This might be when we realised we didn't really want a bush block, but more open country. Not so keen on the trees.

We saw another one out in Carwoola near the first one we saw - another incredible view - but this was where we realised we didn't want to put any work into the house. It was a very sketchy reno that they must have done themselves - our favourite was the external wall where they'd given up painting about three quarters of the way across. The real estate agent said he thought they'd run out of paint. Anyway, a lovely location for a young family with energy to live in for a while then build their dream home. We are too old and tired. The bad furniture photoshopping on the online listing is probably a good indicator.

There was one further out in Primrose Valley that was a nice tidy house and a good amount of open land with a lovely view - this was where we realised the edges of our search area. And that a bad road was a real problem, especially in our little car, and we wouldn't be doing that trip twice a day for the next few years. 

And the last one was only on the list to rule it out - absolutely all the things we didn't want - only a hectare of land, in an estate, close to the highway with road noise and no mystery and neighbours ... and of course we really liked it and can't stop thinking about it. I don't think we'll buy it because we are not  mentally there yet, but after the day we had, seeing a driveway and flat land and fences and a four-lane road about 100 metres away were all good things!!!!

So there you go. My husband and I had a lovely day driving around the countryside mocking other people's interior decor. We stopped for a nice lunch. The photos are from my walk around the lake yesterday, it was hot and summery.