Time to surround myself with the experts.

Well l'm really on this property buying road now! Why have I decided to share my journey? I figure I'm not the only woman taking on an adventure like this, and I have lots of questions. There's so much I don't know, I don't even know the questions to ask. I guess if I can find out some answers I can pass them on to others. 

After my initial visit and realising where I am taking my life now and just how much I had to do I spent the next couple of weeks not sleeping very much. I would wake in the middle of the night and stay awake for hours worrying about all the logistics and just how much I had to do and how much I didn't know. I knew this couldn't continue so I've decided to set myself up with a backup team of people I trust and can get information from when I am unsure. So now my back up team are Carl and Trevor from Neville Richards Real Estate for any details and questions relating to the land. 

Richard from Hotondo Homes for any house stuff. 

My conveyancer Carol from Exchanging Conveyancing for all the legal stuff that I have no idea about.

But now I also have to start thinking about getting my house ready for sale by the beginning of 2020. Because to pay for my new house and land I have to sell my current house. So, I contacted Nicole Rowe from Ian Reid Vendor Advocacy for help in that respect down the track. 

Next, I decided I had some questions only the banks could answer. So, I made an appointment with a consultant at Westpac Eltham. 

My questions were regarding bridging finance, just in case it was needed. The answer was no I am not able to get it as it can only be used when you are selling one house and buying an existing house. The Westpac guy kept apologising that he couldn’t help. But as I told him That was fine, I just needed to know the answer and now I can continue with my plans. So, I'm pretty happy with my back up team at the moment. 

Oh my, I'm Building a House!

My meeting with Richard from Hotondo Homes went really well and I felt comfortable with him, which means a lot to my intuition. I was excited but quite nervous about this meeting as I’ve never gone through the process of building a house where I make all the decisions. Throughout the several hours I spent with him he ran through all the information he needed to tell me, we looked at the layout, inclusions and standard of the houses already built by Hotondo Homes. Looking around I was impressed with the standard, not that I’m an expert. I also ran through the three pages of questions I had prepared. It was pretty weird writing my questions as I didn’t really know what questions to ask.

Seachange Estate

During this initial meeting I also made some preliminary decisions on things like roofline, lighting requirements and extras I really knew I wanted. Although nothing is set in stone until much further in the process. I was then required to pay a $1000 refundable deposit. He also advised that the title of the land would not come through for 12 -15 months as it is only a paddock at the moment. That takes it well into the tail end of 2020, but that doesn't worry me as I have to have time to get my current house organised and sold. Then it was a short drive to checkout my piece of land. It took exactly 3 minutes to drive to the beach. 

Lot 614 - This is where my new house will stand

Oh I'm thinking there might be a little bit of fishing done from this pier

Oh, my giddy aunt my head was spinning when I left. I can't believe I am actually buying a new house.

House Decision Made

My next decision was the house. I spent lots of time looking at the real estate websites getting a feel of what's available and where the prices sat. On one of my drives down to St. Leonards I drove around the area where a new housing estate was being built. After a bit more searching, I came to the conclusion that I could get a house and land package for a lot less than an established house. I realise there will be a lot more work setting up the outside but I wouldn't be buying someone else's problems (if any) and I could get exactly what I want. At 66 I'm way past the whole renovation/repair thing. So, then I started looking at the house/land packages which was huge. 

At the beginning of this whole process I had decided to really listen to my intuition. 

So as soon as I saw the one, I knew that was the house for me. 

The house I chose is a Hotondo Home, so I contacted the company and set up meeting with Richard Barton the salesman. Prior to the meeting I did a lot of surfing the web checking all the feedback people had given on Hotondo Homes. I probably read in excess of 50 feedback notes and out of that there were only two negative ones. So, I thought that was a pretty good track record. So, I have now started on this journey, I was/am pretty much just travelling blindly at that moment. 

Live Life

Today (Tuesday) I had an experience that has really made me think about life, death, the stuff in our lives, our loved ones, friends and just how important it is to cherish and make the most of each and every second we have on this earth. The experience that I saw was a man around my age, collapsed on the ground being given CPR and electric shocks by regular people and paramedics trying to bring him back to this world. I did look at his face and could just tell that he was no longer with us. I looked at his bag of shopping he had just bought laying there discarded. His clothes that had been cut off him thrown aside so he could be treated. It made me sad to think he probably had loved ones that had no idea of what was going on. He may have had plans to do something else later today, this week, this year but will no longer have the chance to do it. He may have had something he had put off and thought "I should do that", but now the opportunity is lost. I have never seen someone be treated this way in real life before and it has really affected me. It reconfirmed to me that we just don't know when our time is up. We really need to live every moment to the fullest. If you have something in your life you are not happy about, get rid of it, change it. Don't store your best dinner set in the cupboard, use it. Above all tell the people in your life just how much they mean to you, give out lots of hugs and "I love you's". Throw away the "I should's" and replace them with the "I am's". I really hope this poor stranger made it but in my heart I don't think he did. RIP stranger. ❤️❤️

Location, Location, Location??

Now that I have decided to move, the next question is where to????

How did I pick the location I'm going to move to? For a number of years, I toyed with idea of moving but had no idea of where that could possibly be. I have really enjoyed living in my current town but my house is old and even though in good condition will soon need maintenance, that as a 66-year-old woman I can no longer do. I thought about staying in the area but financially I just couldn't afford to get what I want for the price I want. So, I started looking further afield and I started asking myself some questions. 

1.     I really don't want to be any further than 2 hours from my daughter Rachel and her family. My son lives a full day’s drive from me so I'm always going to have to drive to him. The village I have chosen is 2 hours from her. ✅

2.     If I'm going to really challenge myself and move away, why not move closer to the water. Whether it be ocean, beach, river or lake? 

So off I went on a bit of a reconnaissance mission to various townships to see which ones sat comfortably with me. The township I decided on sat well with me straight away. While driving around, I took notice if people kept their gardens and houses neat and tidy. I think that says a lot about the type of person that lives in a village. I checked what facilities were available. How far was it to drive to major supermarkets, Doctors, hospitals? I felt really comfortable there and on each subsequent visit I felt more comfortable. Right from the beginning of this journey I have been consciously listening to my intuition and my intuition was telling me this is where my next home would be. OK, now that the location was decided do I buy and established home or do I really challenge myself and build a new home? 

This will be the pier I sit and fish from.

This will be the beach I paddle in. 

My Latest Adventure - Property Adventure

I have been very quiet on the blog front on over the past few months. 

The reason why? Interesting question, I tell myself I’ve had nothing to say. But if I am honest with myself, I’ve had plenty to say I’ve just been procrastinating too much. I also feel there is a real fear of the blank page for most us. So, this week I have challenged myself to actually get started and invite you to come along on my latest Adventure.

I have decided to sell the house I have lived in for some 30 years and have a new home built about 2 hours away. My current house is situated in a beautiful treed town. I have always loved living here and still think it is beautiful, but it has just become to busy and it's time for me to move onto the next phase of my life. My new home will be 2 hours south in a small beachside town. I will be doing all the financial stuff, selling requirements and buying of land and a house on my own and at the moment have no idea of the what's, where's or how's. I thought I would document my journey with it's high, it's pitfalls and the things I learn, because surely, I'm not the only woman out there doing it? As a 66 year old woman some may say "what the hell are you doing?" To be totally truthful I have asked myself the same question. But I have decided to step out of my comfort zone, go with my intuition and challenge myself. Maybe I can be of help to someone else or maybe I can even pick someone's brain. 

Escher x nendo at National Gallery of Victoria

Last week I finally started my 2019 Adventure Days. 

What are my Adventure Days? 

Each week I spend one day exploring somewhere or some thing in my home town Melbourne. 

So last week I took myself off to the National Gallery of Victoria to view the Escher x nendo exhibition. We have had some really hot and humid days in Melbourne lately, but wouldn't you know it as soon as I got off the train we got a huge downpour. I knew it wouldn't take long to pass, so I just hung out on Flinders St. Station for a while. 

The seagulls were up bright and early having a bath

The moat at the front of the NGV was getting a clean out.

 Maurits Cornelius Escher or MCE as he signed his work was born in 1898 to a prosperous family in the Netherlands and in1972 at the age of 73. He was a graphic artist who produced some amazing mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints. After training and working in Italy for a number of years his departure from Rome prompted him to shift focus away from the external world to his inner, imaginary world. He began using his refined skills to produce ingenious and complex optical illusions, tessellations and impossible realities. 

M C Escher created this self portrait of himself sitting in his living room

Japanese design studio nendo has created and immersive environment for more than 160 prints and drawings of Escher's work. Nendo is a design studio founded in 2002 by Oki Sato, one of the worlds most well-known and prolific designers. Based in Tokyo and Milan, nendo (meaning clay in Japanese) designs graphics, products, furniture and interiors that seek to surprise people in subtle and playful ways. 

While walking through this piece of art I got an amazing sense of 

peacefulness, even though there were quite a few people. 

The optical illusion of this tunnel was deceiving 

as it looked long but was quite short. 

Interesting small piece of art

Dragon : 1952 

Print of a wood engraving depicting a folded paper dragon sitting on a pile of crystals.

 I love the detail in this piece. 

Bond of Union : 1956

Inspired by the novel Invisible Man by H G Wells. 

The floating spheres of Escher and his wife Jetta enhance the suggestion of infinite space.

Plane Filling 11 : 1957

The more you look at this piece the more you see.

Belvedere : 1958

In Belvedere, we perceive a two story building that could not possibly exist in the

 real world because the orientation of the second floor contradicts that of the first floor. 

I have been intrigued by Esther's work for many years. Back in the 90's I bought a diary that featured Escher's works and they just intrigued me. 

Ascending and Descending : 1960

A closer look at the staircase in Ascending and Descending. 

Does the staircase go up or down?

 Does it go anywhere. 

The way Escher played with perspective and impossibilities is just amazing. No matter how many times you look at a piece of his art, each time you notice some other quirky portion. 

Snakes : 1969

This piece depicts a disc made up of interlocking circles that grow progressively 

smaller towards the centre and towards the edge. 

I really love the detail in this piece of art. 

Seeing I hadn't had breakie, by the time I had finished at the 

NGV I was pretty hungry. So it was a big bowl of 

Won Ton Noodle Soup for Davine.