Although I wear a rock on my ring finger and have done for the past one and a half years, people have only recently noticed that my girlfriend and I are, in fact, building a life together. Yes, my beloved and I have decided to enter suburbia, til death or mortgage repayments do us part. Not that we aren’t eternally grateful to her uber patient mother, who has housed us through uni but there are times when five people in the one home is three too much. With much enthusiasm, we entered the land of real-estate agents and the home-open…
Being a foster-child, I have long dreamt of living in a place that is wholly mine, to open the door of a home that I know is infused with my, not others, familiar scent. It’s a dream that is, one can imagine, close to my heart. So when my girlfriend proposed: ‘Let’s buy a house together’ I immediately entered dreamland (my favourite destination) and I was blissfully unaware of the words ‘investment property’ that followed. Fast forward to last Sunday afternoon, both of us sitting glumly in Mia Cafe.
The problem with looking for a home that is both love-nest and Good Solid Investment is, as they say, location, location, location. New villas are coming up all over my current suburb of choice, Nollamara. Being a buyers’ market at the present time, they are ripe for the picking. However, Nollamara is a suburb recovering from the hangover of a bad reputation. I always did go for the rebel!
Staying close to the nest, Dianella is also a pertinent choice. A quiet suburb, it’s close to the city and so well established that the nickname for Dianella Plaza is Geriatric City. I am in two minds…on the one hand; my girlfriend describes me as an 80 year old living in a 27 year old woman’s body, so I’d probably fit right in. On the other, there is an uprising happening in Nollamara and other previously untouchable suburbs (i.e. Northbridge becoming a hub for young artistes and boutiques) and I want to be a part of it. There’s that rebellious side again!
I am confused and this weekend’s house hunting looms large. Affirmatively, I am told that a friend has lived in Nollamara for ten years and never had a problem. State housing has just been knocked down too (although I feel a little disloyal to my roots for considering this a benefit). So, I have it on good authority; (from my supervisor at work who buys houses like handbags) that Nollamara is good investing. Yet, this morning on the radio, they were speaking of a recent, violent home invasion. It’s serious business, buying a home.
I am a true believer in synchronicity, so, if my angels have the sense of humour to perplex me by broadcasting crimes in Nollamara on the same day as they give me excellent reasons to buy there they must have a divine plan… Hence, armed with our trusty clipboard full of notes (yes, we are that geeky organised) we will dust ourselves off and head out into suburbia’s current bumper crop of home opens. We may not end up exactly where we imagined but, I have the inkling that, like your true love, your first home is different than expected. It’s better. And I know that whether we buy in Nollamara, Dianella or Wyalkatchem, we will find our perfect home. Soon, you may hear the patter of tiny feet and turn the corner to find us at the front of our new home, puppy in hand, glowing contentedly as newlyweds.
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Maia Muir
