Grace Removals came over this morning to check out the size of my fishtank and to work out how to move it.

They were supposed to be at my place at 8:00am, but rocked up at 8:45 as I was riding out the driveway to go to work.

I will have to contact them next week to work out what they thought about how many people they will require to move the tank.

I received a notice from my conveyancer today which was originally from Kyogle Council saying that they are in the process of getting a work order to ensure that the septic tank on the property is replaced within 6 months.

Basically, because of the area the house is in a traditional septic tank is no longer adequate and could pose a health risk.  After talking to the council they have advised that I am required to upgrade to a system that will provide secondary treatment, but they would prefer one that allows of tertiary treatment as this allows the water to be reused in the toilet.

I called BioCycle and got contact details for a local installer and I will be organising a quote during the coming week.

I got a call from my mortgage broker to tell me the bank has approved my loan and that I should receive some paperwork in the next couple of days.

We’ve decided to aim for settlement on the 10th of November, which means I should have the keys that evening!

I’m so stoked!

I’ve decided that the bathroom in my new house needs to be improved.  I could do this before I move in and have to pay for the renovations, get someone else to do it and rent my current house for a bit longer; or I could add an ensuite and walk-through robe to the house, just have to buy the bits and get a plumber and electrician to do a few bits and save myself a heap of money.  Then at a later date I can redo the main bathroom.

I’ve decided to do the ensuite, so being the sort of person I am, I’ve put a bid on a shower unit on eBay.  I’ve also got my eye on a vanity unit and some slate for the floor.  Then all I will need is to build a couple of walls, get some wall tiles and get to building!

I kinda forgot to get images of my house while I was out there yesterday, so I figured while the property is still on the Internet I should download the images and put them on my blog.  Here they are…

Front of the house

Front of the house

The garage

The garage

Kitchen

Kitchen

Outdoor Entertaining Area

Outdoor Entertaining Area

BBQ in the Entertaining Area

Lounge Room

The Wood Fire

Enclosed Verandah

Backyard

I’ve had a few communications with my mortgage broker about the house.  The bank has decided not to perform its own valuation on the property and is happy to accept the purchase price as the valuation.

I also received my notice of assessment from the tax office and the bank just requires a certified copy of the first page of the contract and of my birth certificate.  Looks like I’ll hopefully have the whole mortgage finalised this week; once I’ve got the mortgage finalised I’m going to try and bring the date of settlement forward as far as possible so I can start moving everything.

Ok, so on Thursday I bought a house, I have no idea how I managed to get it all done, but it happened!

I called the agent in the morning to organise taking my Dad and step-Mum to see the house; shortly after we hung-up he called back to say that the owners had dropped the price and that they were waiting for a contract to come back from South Australia to sell the house.  This freaked me out because I wanted the house and was just waiting until I could finalise the mortgage aspect of it.

Anyway, I called my Dad to see if he would back-up my house purchase if something went wrong with the mortgage; I also called my mortgage broker to find out how quickly we could push my mortgage through.  Anyway, Dad came good with backing up the purchase so I made a formal offer on the house at midday and it was accepted.

The agent then pulled out all stops and rushed around to pick-up the contract from the vendor’s solicitor; organised the vendor to meet us at my conveyancer’s and he then came to my conveyancer’s premises.  At the conveyancer’s I signed the contract and the vendor’s signed theirs and by five past 4 the agent was on his way back to the vendor’s solicitor to exchange the contracts.

We agreed on a 42 day (6 week) settlement, but the vendors are happy to reduce this if possible.

Now I’m stressing about organising moving house and all the associated tasks.

We few of us went to the Bellowing Bull in Wollongbar for dinner tonight.  The Lamb Shanks are amazing, somehow I managed to eat an entire serve (and have dessert)!  If you’re in the area it’s definitely worth the night out.

I took my parents out to see my new house this morning.  There’s so much potential.  My step-mum seemed mainly interested in the garden where she found pineapples, onions, tomatoes and peaches or nectarines or something.  I’m going to have to do some research on gardening so I can keep the things alive.

My Dad and step-Mum came over for the weekend.  We met in Byron Bay for dinner and went to a restaurant called Fish Heads.  The food was great and the service not to bad either.  We had a great view over the bay and it was an enjoyable evening.