If it ain’t broke-r, don’t fix it

If you’re a numbers bozo like me, you’ll probably find it handy to go and see a mortgage broker pretty early on in the house-hunting process.

Of course you can deal with banks directly and play around with online borrowing calculators – but I just felt more comfortable getting professional, independent (as in not bank affiliated) advice about home loans.

The broker I used for my first home purchase came via Aussie Home Loans. A couple of workmates recommended them to me, having just used one of their brokers and being happy with the experience. Given these workmates were also first-home buyers I decided to follow their lead, and the broker I got was great!

She helped me work out what I could afford to borrow (as opposed to how much banks were willing to lend me), she talked me through the different types of loans on offer, and she pretty much held my hand through the entire loan application process.

But these things are really what any capable broker should do, right? What actually made this broker so great for a first-home buyer like me was she never made me feel like I was asking a stupid question. (Even though I have no doubt I asked PLENTY of stupid questions.)

The mortgage broker experience when TG and I decided to buy together was completely different. The initial contact was a recommendation through friends, and he seemed decent. Unfortunately, he went AWOL in the lead-up to settlement and we ended up dealing with one of his colleagues.

This second guy asked us for documents we had already provided, he filled out application forms with incorrect details, and he even tried to tell us we’d have to pay lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI) every year on our loan. What the…??? (Hey second guy, take five minutes to read up on LMI, why don’t you?).

In listing these examples here, I know they might come across as little things. But lots of little things taken together put us at risk of a very big thing, which was not settling on time.

With less than four days to settlement, he still had not finalised the loan. And when our conveyancer started questioning whether this second guy knew what he was doing, we were definitely in trouble.

Ultimately we got a home loan with a great rate, but the stress was not worth it.

So what are the lessons?

Finding a broker that you get along with is critical. Buying a home is stressful, so when I had confidence in my broker’s advice and service, it meant I had one less thing to stress about. (On the flip side, when I didn’t have confidence in my broker, I was stressed out times a million.)

I also think word of mouth is still the best way to find a broker. Even though getting that great first broker was really a bit of pot luck – given how many brokers must work for that company – I wouldn’t have gone there if my workmates hadn’t recommended it.

And while word of mouth didn’t work out so great the second time around, that was mainly because we didn’t end up with the person who was actually recommended to us. 

In the end, one of the things that makes word of mouth so great is you can choose whether or not to pass the favour on. I’ve already mentioned my first broker to several of my friends, but you can be sure I’ll never be recommending the second lot.

Rollercoaster riding

I’m a big wussbag when it comes to roller coasters. And by roller coasters, I mean pretty much any amusement park ride that goes up and down (and up and down and up and down…) One time, I even bawled on the pirate ship. Seriously.

But every day this past week – thanks to Melbourne’s out-of-control heatwave – I’ve been on a crazy roller coaster ride with our garden that TG and I have dubbed the roller coaster of EMOTIONS. (Deep eh?)

The emotional roller coaster ride goes a little something like this.

It starts off nice and calm every morning when our herbs and veggies are looking pretty happy. (Those are zucchini plants at the front).

Then by late arvo when TG gets home, and after the veggies have been exposed to hours of 40-degree heat, I get pictures like this sent to me and my heart goes crashing. OMIGOD we killed the zucchinis!

But then, hurrah, I’m back on the up thanks to the amazing life-giving power of water. A good soak and they start perking right up again. Take a close look at this clip. These plants have just been given a good drink – can you see how the leaves start to move, straighten and fatten up?

With the cool change, thank goodness our emotional roller coaster ride is finally over (for now at least). And I’m definitely happy with how our garden looked yesterday morning after its first cool night’s sleep for the week. Look – our first zucchini flower!

Yes I own this ute. No I won’t help you move.

It’s such an awesome feeling to move into your own home, and I was lucky enough to do it twice last year.

The downside was the actual MOVING part. But one of the great things about hanging out with TG is he really knows how to move (house that is, not on the dance floor).

He’s moved a ridiculous seven times in 10 years – that’s the equivalent of nearly once every 1.5 years.

And as a former ute owner, he’s helped more than his fair share of friends to move beds, sofas and bookshelves. If only he’d had this t-shirt back then.

So here, in no particular order, are five of TG’s best packing, unpacking and moving tips:

1. Buy boxes, lots and lots of boxes. 

In the past I’ve committed plenty of box-stalking while trying to hunt down freebies from the office/local shops/friends and family. But it’s definitely much easier to stack boxes and move them on trolleys when you have a range of boxes of similar shapes and sizes.

For my two moves last year, I stocked up at the Kennard’s Self Storage box shop, which sells new and used boxes. The new ones are more expensive upfront, but they work out cheaper then the second-hand ones if you sell the boxes back to them.

2. Invest in quality accessories

Surround yourself with plenty of good packing material, including a couple of fat, black markers, at least two rolls of strong packing tape, and a decent amount of packing paper or newspapers. Packing up house is significantly less stressful when you have all the tools you’ll need in front of you. And the last thing you want to do when you’re in the middle of a packing frenzy is go back to the shops to pick up another roll of tape.

Also, handy hint: when taping boxes closed, one strip of tape across the bottom and one across the top is enough, especially if you’ve invested in decent tape and boxes. Otherwise, you will spend way too much time trying to open and take apart your boxes.

3. Box everything

If it fits in a box, put it in a box. Don’t think carrying a few things at a time in your hands/green shopping bag/the back seat of your car will save you time and/or effort. It won’t.

4. Designate a box room

When unloading boxes at your new home, put all the boxes in one room (use your spare bedroom if you have one). You will be tempted to put your ‘kitchen’ box in the kitchen, and your ‘lounge room’ box in the lounge. Don’t do this! No one unpacks a house overnight, which means you’ll be sidestepping boxes in different rooms for days or even weeks as you unpack. If you put everything in one room, you can save on time and money with your removalists (as they can just dump everything in the one spot), you can take out one box at a time to unpack, and – most importantly – you can close the door on the mess.

5. Use removalists

If you can afford it, get a couple of professional moving men for the day. Doing it yourself doesn’t save you time and or money, especially when you factor in the cost of hiring a truck, the chiro/physio appointments that come from doing your back in, and buying all your mates food and beer for helping you out. (TG tells me five parmas and pots will set you back around $125, or $135 if they like extra gravy).

So there you have it, some ideas for your next move, with just one more piece of advice:

However long you think it will take to pack, double it!

Bamboo, but no pandas

Not too long ago, I was doing some random online mooching at home when I let out an almighty SQUEEE. Without skipping a beat, TG turned to me and said: “What? What? Baby panda does what?”

Like TG, those who know me well (plus anyone who is friends with me on Facebook) will know that I love animals – especially pandas. I also love baby animals – especially baby pandas.

So when I first saw the bamboo along the east side of our house, I was pretty happy. It gave us plenty of privacy. I had lovely green bamboo leaves to look at from the kitchen window. And it reminded me of pandas!

But the more I looked at it, the more I realised this was not so much a serene bamboo garden but a feral bamboo forest with leaves threatening to overtake our side path. It didn’t help that visitors kept telling me bamboo was a weed.

After a bit of Google-ing ‘how to kill bamboo’, we learnt the trick is to cut the bamboo stem close to the ground and then very quickly paint Round Up on the cut surface (see the ‘eradication’ bit here.)

We have yet to unleash chemical warfare on the bamboo. But what TG did do was go the hack with a trowel and a pair of $20 secateurs (the first $3 pair we bought broke after 10 minutes – an important lesson about getting what you pay for).

The difference is remarkable. The walkway is twice as wide and no longer feels like the scary side path. And we uncovered a little brick path hidden under all the months and years of dead leaves and dirt. We are rapt with the result.

Below: A feral bamboo forest becomes a (sparsely) bamboo lined brick pathway.

(PS. If you liked that baby panda photo, it’s a picture of a one-month old cub named Yuan Zai, more here.)