Sea Change/Tree Change

Greg said:

Ghotib - What a great story and with a very similar outcome to the one we're hoping for. Well done.

Tink, Logique - I'm warming to the idea of renting out my place and really trying out the new location before buying into the local market. The only problem with that model is that I had planned to put the "surplus" cash from my house sale to boost the super to a point where we become financially self-sufficient. If I rent my place Melbourne and then pay rent on the Sunshine Coast I won't have that lump sum in super to make the income work. But I am hearing the whole "proceed with caution" thing, thanks..

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Hi Greg. It is a good outcome, but there are cautionary notes I think I should add.

The biggest is that this place cost a lot more than we intended to pay. We went ahead with it partly because we got utterly fed up with looking and partly because we fell in love with it... NEVER fall in love with real estate. We've placed ourselves in a position where we have to make the property pay at least its own running costs - this could be a useful motivator but it's definitely not what we planned.

The other is that it's missing one big item from our essentials list - a good garage and workshop. That would be OK if we hadn't paid more than we intended, and will be OK in a year or so, but right now it's a pain in the proverbial... NEVER fall in love with real estate.

Best of luck,

Ghoti

Logique said:

Nice choice. Upmarket chic. Although with the climate, when the Mars mission is being prepared, NASA should hold a training camp in Bowral, so they'll know what to expect on Mars.

But, Bundanoon is Brigadoon, and how big has that event grown, must be starting to outgrow the capacity of the place.

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I haven't been to Brigadoon for a few years now, but the local paper seems to suggest that numbers were down a bit this year. OTOH, it was a mighty big crowd for a little town last time I went. Love those massed pipes and drums!!

As for the climate, it has its compensations: no more lawn mowing till late October.

ghotib said:

As for the climate, it has its compensations: no more lawn mowing till late October.

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You don't have to live in a miserably cold climate to get this benefit.
In the upper part of SE Qld we probably mow twice between beginning of May and beginning of September.

Julia said:

You don't have to live in a miserably cold climate to get this benefit.
In the upper part of SE Qld we probably mow twice between beginning of May and beginning of September.

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Feeling miserably cold isn't just a matter of temperature though. I've lived in Sydney for over 40 years, and in every single one of them I got surprised and offended when the weather turned cold. Here we'd be surprised and offended and very uncomfortable in our thermal underwear if we weren't getting frosts.

Cheers

And in the warning advice:
Bought the perfect large acreage in view of early retirement in Killarney (border SE Qld/Northern NSW);
Great location, 5km township (with Gp,post office, bank and shop), 30 km Warwick , water, rainforst, mountains, wildlife: looked ideal;
But got a mentally ill neighbour (that can happen...) and then experienced the uttermost incompetent council: Southern Down council;
Unable to have anything done, even to build access road at my own cost -> the whole shire fully nonfunctional;
We sold back and since then GP has closed, local key employer closed, and I do not expect much in the coming years;

No regret: imagine the disaster if Ihad built there...
Something as simple as the way the council works ( or does not work) is enough to make the difference between dream and nightmare;
I agree: rent first if you can;
And why not sell in melbourne, get 6.5% at ubank on the cash; rent in the chosen place:
Real estate is not going to go up soon in these areas

ghotib said:

:...Here we'd be surprised and offended and very uncomfortable in our thermal underwear if we weren't getting frosts...Cheers

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Yes you get that wonderful seasonality with the leaves turning in autumn, a stunning place to live.

yep, here in Melbourne the autumn leaves are just beautiful this time of year