Homes and houses

I am a home body. Always have been, probably always will be. I'd much rather people came to visit at my house, than going to visit at theirs. I'd much rather be home than anywhere else. I love my home.

As a child, growing up, we used to move home every year or two. I've lived in about 17 different dwellings in my life! I'm sure you can appreciate, therefore, that I have the nesting syndrome pretty badly. I'm tired of living in rented accommodation. I'm tired of living in other people's spaces. I want my own place, my own space, somewhere to set down roots and create an environment that is mine and mine alone.

My dream has always been to buy a plot and build my own home. As we were planning to return to SA, I started investigating the costs and looking at plots. It didn't take long for me to realise that buying a plot and building would cost us twice what it would to buy an existing house and make minor renovation changes. I was gobsmacked to find that plot prices are often higher than plots with houses on them! That makes no sense to me whatsoever, but there you are.

Feeling more than a little disappointed, I took a reality check and (once Graeme had found a job) started looking at houses within our budget. I found my dream house (or rather, a house I love that I can renovate into my dream house). It's beyond our budget. Bang goes another dream.

Continuing the house search, I was beginning to get downhearted about ever finding something that would tick all the right boxes for us, in our price range. But I am happy to announce that today we made an offer on a house! Now the wait begins.... we should know by Friday whether or not the seller has accepted our offer. (If he does, then the next hurdle is to sell our house for the required amount, otherwise the sale could still fall through.)

(Note to Brits - thank God we don't have gazumping here! It's bad enough knowing that if we don't sell ours at the right price, we still might not get this house. I can't imagine being in the position that, even with the money in hand, and the seller having accepted our offer, we could still lose the house! Scary stuff.)

So let me tell you about this house. It's not my dream house, but it will become our home. It sits on a 1070 square metre plot (so - HUGE). It needs A LOT of work doing to it. I mean, A LOT. The garden has never been landscaped - it's one huge field (not even a lawn present!). At present, it is used as a scrap heap - rusting cars and trailers and bits and pieces of equipment... a scary sight indeed. The house is small, although it has 3 bedrooms, a small bathroom and kitchen, plus an open-plan living dining room. It has wooden floors and aluminium window frames (both of which are a major bonus to us), and a double garage. It's also in a cul-de-sac (YAY! seriously quiet road where my kids can ride their bikes without fear of getting run over!). The suburb is ok - it's not where I want to live, but it's a quiet suburb, where crime isn't as bad. It's a bit further to travel to shops and work, but it's not the end of the world - an extra 5 minutes (or 10-15 mins in rush hour).

It's a great bargain. No doubt about that. If the sale actually takes place, then the fun begins. We're planning to renovate before we move in. (My dad will be doing the renovation for us, so it will be cheaper than getting other commercial builders.) This means we can create the house of our dreams (well... maybe not, but pretty close - budget dependent!)

It's a very odd feeling knowing that in a few months we may own this property. Very weird indeed. The first time we bought a house it was sight unseen, while we were in London. That was very unreal for us, because it all happened at a distance. This time it's happening in the flesh, so it almost feels like the first time we're buying a house. Plus, we're taking on a big project, and that feels scary, but also very exciting! I get to build the house of my dreams (almost), and design my garden from scratch, and it all (hopefully) falls within our budget. Wow! Isn't that amazing?

If we do manage to acquire this house, it will be called 'Weltevreden' (Afrikaans for 'well contented'), which I think is a fair assessment of how we feel about it all.