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Selling before you buy… patience is a virtue!

April 6, 2016 Leave a Comment

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When clients came to talk to us recently about organising finance for the purchase of their next family home, it was time to action the “slow and steady wins the race” approach.

Leah and Brett bought their first home in a sleepy lakeside suburb of Lake Macquarie, with the plan of giving it a bit of a facelift while they lived in the granny flat out the back.

Before: front
Before: front
After: front
After: front

“We built the granny flat so we could live there while we gave the house a cosmetic makeover,” says Leah. ‘But once we started to pull things out we realised it was more of a project than we realised – and my husband is a builder!’

So what began as a freshen-up quickly escalated into a complete renovation, with the home stripped back to its foundations before any new work could begin. What was to be a three-month job for Brett blew out by six months and as for costs…

But nine years down the track it’s (almost) a fond memory for the couple. “We lived in the granny flat for three years,’ Leah explains. “It was great!”

With two small children and a yearning for some more space, the family is moving on and has put their home on the market. And, despite already finding their next dream project, after chatting with us they have chosen to sit tight and wait until they sell their home before making an offer on the next.

“It’s hard to wait,” Leah says. “We’ve found a place that’s perfect for us. But once we sell this place, we’ll know where we stand, we’ll have our finance in place and we can make an offer from a position of strength. I just hope it all works out!”

Before: front
Before: back yard
After: back yard
After: back yard

Even though Brett and Leah are probably in a position in which they could organise a bridging loan, after working through their options, they decided to take our advice and wait it out and try to sell their own home first before doing anything else.

This way, they will know just how much money they have to offer and it also means they won’t be tempted to take a lower price on their own home just to relieve the financial pressure of a bridging loan. The worst case scenario will be having to find somewhere to live if they miss out on the home they want to buy.

While there is a good cased for bridging finance for a lot of people, it just wasn’t the approach the couple wanted to take. Bridging finance is no longer as expensive as it used to be and if you have the means to service the loan, most lenders should negotiate with you on a rate that is usually pretty well in line with the current home loan offering.

However, it can be expensive to set up and you will have to service two home loans until you sell your existing home; which may put you under financial pressure and tempt you to sell your home for less than it is actually worth just to ease the stress.

— Paul is the Director of CVG Finance, a leading brokerage offering financial services across all areas. 

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I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new @madeinaustshow in Sydney this August.

🦘🐨Forget every tacky association you ever had about touristy Australian made and prepare to see a showcase of the best of home, lifestyle, fashion and beauty made right here. If the pandemic has made you appreciate buying local even more, this is for you.

It's the first business to business trade event connecting retailers with Australian made products to champion our local makers🙏

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A big fat NOPE! 💧 

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Doesn't matter what they tell you or how many times it's sealed, I'm not sure it's a great idea in a room which is so, well, wet!

I love having the warmth of timber in the bathroom and it's a beautiful piece, but timber on the top? Never again.

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But I'm so pleased with this solution, I have to say! Took the plumber less than an hour to remove the sink, install the top and connect the sink back up. We didn't need to move the tap and it isn't too close to the basin.

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Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than F Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than French onion?

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Get to know me! I haven't done one of these in YE Get to know me!

I haven't done one of these in YEARS so there's possibly thousands of you who don't know my back story. Here's a few things you may not know about me!

✔️ I'm English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and I moved here (just for one year) back in 2008😆 

✔️ I can't end the day without a bath, even if I get home really late or on a really hot day. It's a mental health thing and my happy place. 🛁 

✔️ Before becoming a blogger and running my own small business, I was a journalist from the age of 18. My favourite news gathering times were as a newspaper crime reporter (bit different to interiors!) 📓 

✔️ I once worked at New Scotland Yard in London 🚔 

✔️I had an interview at Oxford (didn't get in!) but chose not to go to uni at all after being offered a job on the local paper #universityoflife 😁

✔️ My mum died when I was 3, I have an excellent dad and one sister (younger) in the UK ❤️ 🇬🇧 

✔️ At school, my favourite subject was French 🇫🇷 and I was head girl 🤓🤓

✔️ I'm addicted to ☕️ , long hot baths and💄 (been wearing it since I was about 14!)

✔️ I'm not a phonecall person and will never ever pick up an unknown number. Ever. They can leave a message 😁

✔️ My favourite cuisine is Japanese 🍣 🍜 and Damian and I honeymooned in Tokyo and Venice 

✔️ I have zero design qualifications. I just started blogging about my passion, which is trying to persuade everyone to #heartyourhome That was 11 years ago...

✔️ My favourite tipple is a good GnT or🍷 

✔️ Cheesy as it sounds, 💁‍♀️being a mum is my absolute biggest joy in life 🧒👦

✔️ I will never give up my old school paper diary! Has to be A5 and week to view 📖 

✔️ My official surname isn't Bishop. I kept my maiden name for work after I got married but changed it for everything else. Often confuse myself!

✔️ I didn't get my Ps until I was 37 and I'm still a terrible parker 😯 🅿️

Hope you feel like you know me a bit better 😘

📸 @vanlowvanlow
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About Olivia Shead

When she's not writing for Interiors Addict, Olivia is now a TV and radio news producer. She's a journalism graduate of UTS Sydney.

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