We bought the house!! :)

Shirley Hort, the daughter and grandaughter of the original house builder, came for a visit to look at the house with her carer today! She's now a sprightly spring chicken of 90.

Her aunty lived here for the longest time

And the alcove thing in the yard under a tree, she confirmed was the outhouse

 

Was that the precursor to a granny flat?

 

We received a letter from the grand daughter of the original owners of our house. She was able to provide the original house name 'Kirribilli', which we will end up getting a name plate made and installing.

 

Hey @Gockie , I just love how 2 years on, you're still besotted by your house.

We go on all the time here about property investing, but sometimes it's about so much more than the money.

Merry Xmas!

 

I was wondering who was in the lodge these days

apparently means "good fishing spot"

 

One of our other IPs I discovered was originally called "Pistonbroke", a real money pit which has driven me to drink.

 

Shirley remembered our house name is “Rockleigh”, and she said she remembered going down the steps in our house when she was younger. Those stairs used to lead to the outhouse. She didn’t dare go down them today though! They are carved out of rock and aren’t level.

I just love coming home here every day! I never had any thought we could own something like this home. And to be completely honest, I had no idea homes like this existed in this area. I always lived in the local area but I had never seen Rockleigh till the open home that December day in 2015. Crazy as we’d drive across this street all the time on the way to our previous home. It was just luck that I happened to be driving to my sister’s place that day to visit them for their “pool warming” lunch event and decided to follow that open house sign for a look.

I love the spaces, the quiet streets in the neighbourhood (good for unicycling ), the way the house stays cool on a really hot day. And a bonus I didn’t expect, we often also get cool evening breezes into the living room in summer, because the living room balcony is on the south side! I just love the little things like the stained glass detail. The friendly neighbours. The skylights that open on demand. We can sit out on the porch at the front of the house in winter, read a paper and bask in the sunshine. In summer the eaves cover the porch so we can still enjoy that part of the house and stay out of the heat of the sun. The bush/nature surrounds when I look out the window or sit outside, it doesn’t feel like suburbia. Being a walk or easy ride to the station with minimal traffic. But geez, I just can’t beat the fact that this is a heritage sandstone cottage.

Yep, homes are an investment, but you can enjoy them, and take real pleasure in your home! Just amazing.

Hahaha Merry Christmas!

 

The dunny alcove would be too small! I have hinted to the other half to install a granny flat/studio out the back, but he doesn’t want to do it. Oh well.
This land is apparently still possibly subdividable, it’s over 1000sqm and it’s a corner block so it wouldn’t be a battle axe, it could be a very clean and easy subdivision just cutting off the back yard where the garage is. (I’m assuming anyway!) Originally this house had 2 acres of land but it was subdivided in the past.

 

Get a stone mason in to take out the steps carefully, turn them over, clean them up and they will look good as new for another 100 years.

 

My gosh I love my neighbourhood. There's a local unicyclist, who also canyons with her husband (ps. She's older... I'd love to be as fit as she is at her age!!). Anyway, recently I found another canyoning nut who just lives up the street too!

Anyway, the first neighbours know of a local place just in North Epping you can abseil. So we did skills practice after work today.

So... locally there's Unicycling/biking tracks
Running tracks (did a 5km bush run 2 days ago, so damn close to home!)
Walking tracks
An easily accessible place to abseil in the bush (with lovely views too!), good overhang space. Oh, and I can unicycle there too).
Gorgeous local wildlife
Outdoors loving people.

Love it here!

 

Hi I just bought a place that's heritage overlay, does that allow me to touch the sides of the house? Or is anything visible from the street considered "the front"?

I want to put a new window on the side, as well as render it (again side only). But I'm afraid anything that can be seen from the street would be considered against the rules.

 

Congrats, PPOR?

 

Nice, how much did you pay for it and how much would it be worth today

 

Well, how much we paid for it was under the median price for Epping homes at the time. I think given everything, we got a bargain! Note, it was early December 2015 when we saw it and made the offer. Market had cooled in Nov.

Sale now, that's a very hard question, because honestly, I don't think there are any comparable sales. There are house sales in Epping, but I have not seen any sandstone houses come onto the market. As far as I know, are are only 2 sandstone houses in Epping. So it's impossible to say what it's worth really. One thing to note, many houses in Epping are getting around 2.2 mill now.

 

If we want to do anything, the rear is the best bet. Even if it means solar panels would be on the south side of the house...

 

Yup, after 15 years of renting. I could have bought a better property from a CG perspective this was better as my PPOR. After so long it's hard to separate from my investment mindset. Every time I think about renovations I think...is this going to provide a good ROI? Then I have to shake myself from it and say who bloody cares! Just enjoy your money for once would ya??!

I probably would have been fine to continue renting but since I've maxed out my serviceability I figured it was time to be a little (just a little) reckless since I didn't really have any other plans for my surplus cash.

 

I'm thinking of risking it and just going ahead and making the changes. I'm going to take "front" to literally mean the front of the house, not anything visible from the front. Surely this must be the rule, otherwise it would be impossible for people to extend these types of properties. Fingers crossed!

 

I would 1000% be seeking formal approval. Perceiving conservation/ heritage conditions incorrectly is a very expensive exercise.

 

WOW! This was a blast from the past. I remember when you bought this house. So exciting!

 

I've added a new feature. A spinning pole!!!
It's sure to add 20k to the value of the house