Planet Cola » All blog entries from November 2008

Und es geht los – we are moving today and this weekend

November 28, 2008 - Australia & ENGLISH - (1) COMMENT

I might not be online for a few days…we still need to order internet for our new address and until then I will probably use the internet at uni, which is unfortunately now not around the corner anymore; more like a 30 minutes drive. Well, I will see. Don’t miss me too much. Haha!

We have been to our new home today, not really moved stuff in, we rather inspected it, took photos for the property condition report and so on.

Papa, Nathan carried me over the threshold, as you suggested. Felt very good….so -like.

I already met the opposite neighbours. A very nice old couple. Bob and Claire. Could be my new Australien grand-parents. *g* Very cute and friendly…Bob talks very strong Australian accent, but his smile is just to-fell-in-love-for-gorgeous. They drove with their camper van through Europe (also Germany) on their honeymoon…and when Bob told me that he smiled all over his face, so that it just reminded me of Nathan and me traveling all over the place, camping and….yeah. Well, I’m sure we will get along very well with Bob and his wife Claire.
Our direct next door neighbour (I didn’t understand his name) is very Australian, too. His car number plate says he might be from Queensland. He is over his 50ies, Australia’s sun gave him a good dark colour and he is very relaxed, mate. Very cool drauf, would I say in German. No worries here either.

When I picked Nathan up from work today to drive with him to our new house, we saw two cars parking in our front yard (on it). When we were inside the house Nathan saw that someone was getting into on of the cars and he jumped out to let them know that this is now our front yard. I heard them talking very almost over-friendly to Nathan, it was a woman’s voice….when Nathan came back inside the house I only said “don’t tell me you just met the American woman living opposite left of us?” and he nodded, wondering how I could know that?! Bob. He told me earlier this morning. This is a neighbourhood where everyone knows each other. Cool, that’s how I like it. Having a chat with the nieghbours over the fence or over the road.

What a great feeling we already have about our new home, before we even moved in really.
Tomorrow will be our main moving day. We will have the ute (small truck) from a good friend of mine. We probably only need two loads, because we only have two bulky armchairs (the green ones), one wardrobe that we transport in one piece, a bed frame and a small but heavy table.

It is almost ten at night. I have a headache, haven’t eaten dinner yet, and still need to pack all my clothes in a box to put what we can in the car, so that we can leave tomorrow morning early.
Nathan wants to be at Ikea at 8am. To avoid crowds. We will see if he really will leave his bed so early, because he has only slept 3 hours last night, and he is still at uni at this moment. We also plan to cook dinner and watch a movie…okay guys…the night is young….cya soooon!!!!

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November 26, 2008 - Blog & ENGLISH - (2) COMMENTs

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To do list before we move into our new house

November 25, 2008 - A-life & ENGLISH - (19) COMMENTs

This morning we signed the lease (the six month’s contract) for our new home in the suburb Wembley Downs! How exciting, we are one step closer to our new home! We cannot wait to move in!
We met with the property manager from the Real Estate agency and she went through all details with us. She is a very nice person and we are happy to have her as our property manager. It gave me a good feeling and I think I can speak for Nathan as well.

So now we need some furniture and home ware stuff:

a refrigerator/freezer (this is priority one)
a queen size mattress (at least priority two)
two pillows (well, we can sleep on our pullovers first)
a tall boy (zu deutsch: eine hohe Kommode mit zahlreichen Schubladen)
a dining table with chairs
a washing machine (urgently needed, I hate public laundry places)
pots and pans (yes, we need to cook with something…anyone experience with IKEA’s pots and frying pans???)
cutlery (Besteck..)
lamps
a 3 seater couch (maybe as a sleep couch, if not too expensive / anyone experience with IKEA sleep couches such as BEDDINGE??)
a lawn mower and some garden tools for trimming and maintenance
curtains maybe (there are vertical blinds, but we don’t like them; feels like being at a doctor)

Another thing that we need to manage is getting our new home hooked up with Internet as soon as possible. Yeah, I know everyone from home is awaiting us having fast internet so that we can finally skype and do what we want, because the traffic is not shared!

So far friends recommended the internet provider “iinet” and “amnet” to me. Most people mentioned Iinet though. Amnet would be interesting only, because a friend said they have student discounts, what I could not find out so far.

I wasn’t sure if we shall have a fixed phone line, so that our families and friends from Germany and the States have a better way to call us cheap. But the phone lines are quite expensive; it would be $30 just for the phone line plus the calling costs. Internet will be around $60 to $80 already.
Now, that I found Sven’s blog where he explains how he uses a German phone number in Sydney, I’m curious if I can set up the same for us here. I must admit that I need some more deep readings to fully understand how it works.
I just shipped my Fritzbox WLAN 7050 dsl modem over from Germany, hoping that I can use it here. I have never used my Fritzbox modem together with my regular phone as VOIP phone…so I might need some help from experienced guys/girls out there! Ha, so far we don’t even have a phone…I guess, this need to be put on our “house stuff list” as well. Which phone should we buy? Do I need to choose a special phone that supports VOIP? Any help is very much appreciated!!

I think I already have a SIP account with my GIZMO account (a similar tool as skype). Will this work?

Okay, I have to decide soon if we want to go with iinet or amnet for our internet.
Both are ADSL 2+:
*AMNET > $60/10GB peak + 15GB off peak | or naked dsl $80/10GB peak +15GB off peak
* [Amnet peak: 6am to 11:59pm | off peak: 12:00am midnight to 5:59 am]

*IINET > $60/10GB peak+20 GB offpeak including iinet’s VOIP (15c local+national calls, 7ct/min to Germany/USA) | without iinet’s VOIP plan $60/7GB peak or $70/15GB peak | or naked dsl at $70/15GB peak + 20GB off peak or $60/8GB peak+ 8GB off peak.
*[Iinet peak: surfing from 12am/noon to 2am | off peak: surfing from 2am to 12am/noon]

Am I right that we need a previous phone line with Telstra to be able to get the naked dsl? I don’t really get the difference between the ADSL2 and naked dsl. For iinet’s broadband plans, I can choose “no phone but Voip” and then there is also the “naked dsl“. Is this not the same?

If there are any Perth people reading this, and if you have an advice, please chuck it into the comments below.
We are looking for no fixed term contract (if possible) and need probably about 10GB traffic (off peak)?! How can I find out how far our home is away from the company’s closest DSL reception point or whatever it is called?

EDITED marked as *

House hunting stories special edition

November 20, 2008 - Australia & ENGLISH - (4) COMMENTs

There has happened so much in the last days and weeks that I don’t know where to start.

You remember my last post about our house hunting? If not, I advise that you go back and have a quick read here.
Oh, I wrote that entry in German. Well, then watch the pictures, because I will talk about two of the presented houses.

The second house (with the most photos) was not in the best shape, but we fell in love with that place. We filled out the application and then Nathan stopped and all of a sudden had a bad feeling with the policies of the contract, because it said that “The Applicant acknowledges having inspected the Premises and if the Option is exercised, will accept possession of the Premises in the condition as at the date of inspection”. That means, we would accept the condition of the house without any changes, e.g. renovation. But there was a little bit of mold on the ceiling in the bathroom, which we wanted the owner to remove. And the lady who made the viewing said that the butterfly paintings in the second bedroom might be painted over by the owner. Might. Yes, and also these were just words, not written on paper. I’m very careful with this…Nathan, too. But still, I wanted the place and went two days later to the office of the agency to have a personal chat about the conditions of the contract.
First I spoke to the woman who made the viewing and she immediately said that I’d better speak to the boss/manager, because she is his assistant only. Okay, that already means that all things she has said during the viewing are worth nothing. The boss came and I mentioned my interest in applying for the house, but beforehand would like to know if the owner would renovate the bathroom with the mold and the flaky wall paint and maybe also overpaint the second bedroom. He was very nice (for a real estate agent/manager) and said that he supposes not, because the house will be only available for a six months lease and it will be demoished right after. DEMOLISHED! Arghhhh! I said things like ‘oh no, they can’t do this, it is such a nice place, just a little renovating and it’s fine’, he said ‘yes dear, I know, it is not in my hand, the owner decided to do this’…and I had to close my open mouth and try to find my voice, because I was very surprised to hear this. The house wasn’t that bad from its condition. Well, I was thankful that the boss told me the kind of hidden 6 months lease fact, because as soon as you apply for it (would have cost $300 for the Option Fee), and they chose you, you need to move in or you loose your Option Fee.

Okay, on with the second favourite house. The one in Glen Forrest. If you check the last post (see link above) you will find the photos at the end of the entry.
We already drove around quite a bit to viewings or just to see houses from the outside and the neighbourhood to see if we would like to live there. We got a good feeling for the suburbs, which we liked and which we didn’t favour. Glen Forrest was quite a bit too far away and we decided to rather move closes to the ocean than closer to the hills and the wild forrests, where it is supposed to be very hot in summer as there is no wind.
Still, there was the viewing and we were close to that area that day anyway, so we wanted to see it at least (well, my will was stronger than Nathan’s, but my convincing always wins).
When we finally, after a long day driving around and already have seen other places, reached the Glen Forrest house, we couldn’t believe what we saw. There was a paper sign on a tree in the driveway that said “Viewing cancelled. Owner decided to sell. Sorry for any convenience.” !!!!!!!!!!
We gasped and I was angry that they didn’t mention it on the website, where they advertised the viewing already for weeks! I thought about all the other intersted people who probably also drove a long way up in the hills to see this place. Well, Nathan was kind of relaxed while I was still disappointed. I just wanted to see what it looks like and how nice one can live in the woods here, even when we already decided not to live there.
A few minutes later at the local shopping district we saw the office of the agency from that place. We talked to one agent and she said that the owner contacted them the night before to let them know that he sold the place on his own. The agency lady seemed to be quite furious.

Summary: One house with only six months lease, then demolishing, the other one not for rent anymore, because already sold.

Then we saw a nice house in a suburb called Eden Hill, which is close to the river, but not close to anything else. We missed the viewing and could only see the outside (house and garden).

I arranged a new viewing where I could only go alone, because Nathan had to work. The house was not as nice as it looked from the outside. It was very dark inside, the wooden floor was in a very bad shape, the kitchen and the bathroom gave me a depressive feeling. The house was probably from the time around the early 20th century, and it seemed that the people who lived there or the owner hasn’t really taken care of the place. I thought about things that could be changed to make it more livable, but as the agent said, the owner needs to agree to all my wanted changes (paintings, renovating, fixings, etc.).
On the photos the place looked better than it was. The flash makes everything look fine. Nathan still wanted to see the place and said he would even move in straight away. We had quite a few arguments about this place, because it didn’t like it at all. It was cheap rent, that’s all. I also didn’t like the neighbourhood and other things.

Before we already have seen other houses in Dianella, Nollamara, Scarborough, Stirling, Bassendean, but nothing seemed to be to our liking. There was this townhouse
in one of our favourite suburbs close to the river and close to a train station, but at the viewing (where I again went without Nathan) the agency lady said that the price online is a mistake, it is actually $20 more a week. Argh…! And there was no garden, just a small outside sitting area, which wasn’t very special and also right next to the road (behind the fence) . A nice two storey house, but the bedrooms were very small and the house was sitting in a secure complex of 10 houses close to each other and with an electric gate what made the whole living atmosphere weird (prision-like). I knew Nathan would not like it. Not much privacy, no garden, great bathrooms, nice kitchen, but every room quite small and too expensive if we compared it to other places we’ve seen.

A lot of places were overpriced. Some suburbs didn’t attract us. Some contracts would not have got a signature from us.
I was kind of down that it wasn’t as easy as I thought. There are more people who look for a place to live than actually places to live in, which makes the market though. We would have loved to rent from a private owner, but we could not find places in our price range and in our preferred suburbs. Maybe we didn’t know where to find the private advertisements? There is the Quokka and gumtree. We didn’t check the daily newspapers. Too much of a hassle…life is nowadays ONLINE.

House hunting goes on. Who said it will be easy? Sigh…

We started looking for houses in the beginning of November, so no rush (I said to myself to calm me down). I looked almost every day for new advertisements or open homes (viewings) online, and it seemed that there are not many new good places. I knew we are not in a rush, but I also knew that our lease for our room in our shared house will be up in less than six weeks, which means either we are out by then or we sign another lease for six months. Breathe in, breathe out…

Then we had a viewing for a house (duplex) in Wembley Downs, which is a beautiful area close to the beach and right in the middle of many parks. A good location! They call the house an older style home, but compared to the first house we looked at (the one with the wild garden and the red kitchen in Inglewood), this was new.

A lot of other interested people turned up for the viewing last Monday.
Yes, it was was a beautiful place, the perfect living area, cheapest rent we’ve seen (especially for that popular well-located suburb), nice neighbourhood…so we took an application with us (forms that one needs to fill out).
We also had a chat with the tenant who was there during the viewing. She lived there for more than two years and very much liked it. Her reason to move out: she is expecting a baby and needs more space as she already has one child and the house is a 2 bedroom only. She also said that the neighbours are nice, the neighbour usually mowed her front lawn, the agency is good, no problems at all. She looked for a new place in the same suburb and couldn’t find anything similar for the same price. Seems to be a bargain, she said. Everything sounded very good. Except that the house has carpet, what Nathan didn’t like that much, but I guess you cannot have everything. At least the bathroom had a shower and a bath and was clean, the kitchen had lots of cupboard space and was in a kind of retro style (dark wood, but ok). And then there was a large fenced backyard and enough parking space for two cars in the drive-way or under the carport.

Back in the car I called another house that I’ve seen online and that was only a few minutes away (suburb Trigg) to ask the tenant if we could have a quick viewing (this is how it was advertised online, normally only agencies do the viewings). Ben, that was the tenants name, said we could come, so we did. What a nice villa! We were amazed how cozy and homey it was. Very Mediterranean style. No garden , but a cozy outside sitting area. Ben said we were the first viewing people, which encouraged us even more to apply immediately.

The next day (last Tuesday) we handed in our application for the house in Wembley Downs at about 10 o’clock in the morning. The agency lady recognised us and said she already has 3 applications, and another man just popped in, so it we were the fifth application. Uh, the house was popular. Until the afternoon or the next day there would be probably many more applications. I thought this will be tough or even impossible.

Then we drove to Cottesloe, a suburb where the other agency from the Trigg house has its office, to get the application papers, fill them out right there, give them our copied files and the application fee. But again, Nathan hesitated when we were so in a rush to fill out the papers, because he was already late for work and he didn’t feel comfortable not having read the conditions in a quiet moment. We decided to take the papers home and bring them in early the next day.
In the afternoon Nathan called from work and said he changed his mind and asked me to drop off the application “right now”. We both knew that our chances with the Wembley Down place were not the greatest, because of the many applicants. With the Trigg-place we are the first applicants and they said that they immediately check the first application. Most agencies wait until they have a few, which they can compare. In a hurry, I drove back to the agency in Cottesloe and dropped off the papers and the money.

The only bad thing that can happen, is when both agencies accept us as the new tenants on the same day/at the same time, which means we would loose one application fee (around $300), because if you are accepted and you reject the application then, you don’t get your money back. Of course you can only move into one house. It is better to apply only for one place at a time, but who is actually doing this? It’s all a big gambling…and it stresses me out but in the same moment it is sooo exciting!

Puh, that day was very hectic and now it meant waiting for the phone calls.
The next morning I had a missed call and it was the office from the Trigg house. Waaahh, in my excitement, I drove up to the uni’s hot shop where Nathan was blowing glass and asked him if he got a call. Yes, he did, but he didn’t hear it. They left a message on his phone.
Guess what…they (the owner) took the house off the market! The application fee will be transfered back into my account by this Friday. Pardon??!! They can’t do that! We were sooo close! We would have got it…DAMN!!!! It was such a great place. Another disappointment.

Well, the Wembley Downs will be a hard one…too many applicants and Nathan and I only have one previous rent reference in Australia, which is the place where we rent at the moment.

Then, last night, Nathan got a call from the agency for the Wembley Down house. The lady said that we are shortlisted (which means we are under the best candidates) and she wants to know how soon we could move in. Nathan agreed that next week, the 28th (as they would like it) would be ok for us. This put us under the top two applicants!!!! The lady said that she will now hand us and the other applicant over to the owner and it is out of her hands. She said it was very tough. She had six applications, but we had very good references. Besides our landlord we also had to give personal (character) references. We don’t know if they contacted them as well. We only know that they contacted our landlord and Nathan’s boss from his work in Scarborough.
The agency lady also said she will give Nathan a call about the decision later that night (how great is that service?) or the next morning, which would have been today.

To finalize our house hunting stories in one simple sentence:
Nathan got a call this morning and: WE GOT THE HOUSE IN WEMBLEY DOWNS! The owner chose us!

Unbelievable, how we really did succeed in this hard case as we thought.
Honestly, it was our first application that we handed in and they really chose us from all the applicants. Even with only one reference. Wow! Speechless. House hunting is over. Puh, relax, breathe…

Here is a map from where we live now (marked as B) and where we will live from next week on (marked as A): See our old and our new home now on google maps

We reached our goal to live closer to the ocean!!!
Now we can even walk to the beach. And the new home is close to one of our favourite parks (Bold park) and many others that we still need to discover. Also close to Nathan’s work (Scarborough Beach) and close to Osborne Park for the industry park (shopping). Close to almost everything. Better location than where we live at the moment. Yeah, we are very happy!!!!

The best is, we only pay $50 ($25 each) rent a week more (compared to our room in the shared house) for having our own home/house!!! The bills (water, electricity, gas) are extra, but as I’ve heard it is around $25-35 a month. Ridiculous. Nothing compared to German bills. We will see.

Now we need to buy a fridge, a mattress, a washing machine, some lamps, pots and pans, cups and mugs, plates, cutlery, curtains, etc. Ikea, we’re coming

Oh wait!
What I forget to tell you. In the middle of the ache of house hunting, this good stuff happened:

We are the new owners of this

queen size bed from Ikea (looks like new), complete with slatted frame and every single screw:

and these cosy pals:

These two green armchairs are so comfy and huge! When Nathan is sitting in it, he looks very tiny.

All three items were free !!! because Nathan found them on the side of the road a few houses up the road with a sign that said “free”. We carried everything over to our house. The bed was not taken apart, so we we’re running with the whole bed in our hands down the road. Must have looked funny.

Nathan is good with free furniture findings.
We already have a coffee table, a nice leather arm chair, a DVD player, a radio, …I probably forgot a few things.
He also recently got 10 Bistro chairs (nearly new) from his work, which are great for the garden and a beautiful heavy terracotta steel table also for outdoors.
Today, he said we might get more stuff since his boss knows that we found our new place and we don’t have much furniture. Yay yay, how great is that? The world means it good with us! *relieved*

Australia, I heart you!

Ah, I almost forgot. We will move into our new place on Friday the 28th, which is in 8 days!!! EIGHT!

Next Tuesday at 11 o’clock in the morning we will meet our real estate agent to sign the contract (lease) and pay what we need to pay.

As soon as I have more photos from our new home, I will post them.
I already have some pictures from inside the house, but they have the private belongings from the old tenant on it, so I should not publish them. The place will look much nicer with our stuff anyway.