Saturday, October 20, 2007

Half A Million Doesn't Buy You Much These Days

House hunting. Gosh, I think back five years ago when $150k seemed like a lot of money to pay for a modest house. Last weekend we had a bit of free time and had a look at a few places. First one was in slightly sought after Victoria Park. It was only two bedrooms, had terrible fitout (the kitchen cupboards were more for display than function) but it had a large block. Could do something with it but the interior would need to undergo a radical rejuvenation. And so would my mortgage.

Next was a hilltop three bedroom place which appeared to be owned by the real estate agent. It had terrible fireside shelving desperately in need of replacing, no built-in robes and the exterior brick veneer was falling off. Very shabby proposition with a complete makeover of the kitchen and thirty years old wallpaper a necessity. The agent asked me what I thought and I said that, "A D9 would be a good idea." He understood. The asking price was $479k - $499k.

Last place we viewed was in St James, I think. The tenant was still at in residence during the home open, which is not acceptable behaviour, and so all the lights were turned off inside except in the room that he occupied for most of the time. Talk about dark inside. There were also cracks in the walls. The backyard wasn't huge but sizable enough. None of the three bedrooms, one of which was in a sleepout, had closets and once a the bed and a clothes hanger were installed there was very little room in any of them. One visitor took less than a minute to decide that the property was unsuitable before high tailing it out of there. And they were expecting $499k for this dump?

Like I said, you don't get much for half a million dollars these days. How on earth are ordinary working class people still able to afford to buy houses?

3 comments:

Susan Ham said...

They don't. They get into horrendous debt, and their marriages etc, fall apart, as they do. The greed in the real estate market is mind boggling.

Anonymous said...

Here in the US they steal them at police auctions, join the maffia like the (Sophranos show), sell drugs and they even have nasty prostitutes. The lucky few have good paying jobs due to college degrees or they inherit it. I want a house too but, it is too damn expensive. Annette I am not willing to become a criminal either. You could also be very frugal and cut expenses or build your own. That way you just buy a lot of land and build it with your boy over time. Good luck Annette

Anonymous said...

You could also continue to get more famous and buy whatever you want. Hell design your own place with a custom Hammy play room. You will get your dream home just don't be too hard on yourself. Annette Have a good week.