We have Bradley & Shamini (Cam's brother & his wife& one of my closest friends) and Wayne & Tish (Cam's best friend and his girlfriend) coming in December. We are so excited and have been planning for this since the beginning of the year when they told us they were coming. Because we are currently renting a 1 & a half bedroom house we are unable to accomodate everyone in such a small and confined space. Although it won't be too much of a hassle we thought to make everyone comfortable we would just start looking for a three bedroom house to rent. And also because we were planning on being pregnant this year too, it just made more sense to get a bigger space. Looking at rental prices in Auckland we were just flabergasted and thought well, if we are paying that much for rent, let's just see how much we could pay for a decnt size, 3 bedroom house. So we went on the search for our first home in NZ. We searched online sites such as www.trademe.co.nz and realestate.co.nz and other real estate websites during the week and on weekends spent our days at open homes. It was a looooonnnng, tiresome search and we were almost at our wits end when we found a really gorgeous little house just down the road from where we're renting currently. We were quite excited and put in a conditional offer that was accepted. So we went about planning to have the conditions met. First off was getting a building report. Cameron called the building inspector we had been using (it was the second inspection we'd done on a house we were interested in), and he subsequently went about doing his thing. At first glance this house was PERFECT. It was three bedrooms, seperate bath & toilet, double garage, brick & tile and was in the same area we lived so we wouldn't have to change much of our lifestyle. BUt once the inspector dug deeper he found out that this house was a leaky home. NZ has a big problem with leaky homes. For most of you who wouldn't know what that is, let me explain. About 15 years ago, NZ builders went about building houses with untreated timber and alot of shody work had been done on these houses. As we're unfamiliar with timber houses we've had to learn the hard way! Also when houses were built in the past in NZ the walls would be built straight against the timber frame which would leave no room for water to pass through and as the timber was untreated the water would soak into the timber and cause it to rot. The buildings were constructed with plaster (a type of paint painted over the weatherboard)and this type of material would not hold back the moisture, so home would leak. So many people in NZ have bought homes that looked so good and within a few years the moisture would come through. This house, although it was predominantly brick & tile (a brick facade built over the timber framing) did have a small patch of plaster work in the kitchen. The building inspector found this and his moisture readings went balistic when he inspected the area. This scared us silly and so we thought it best to pull out of the deal. It would have costed us much much more if we had to try to fix it and there was no guarantee that the timber hadn't been affected which would mean the whole area in the kitchen would have to rebuilt! So with heavy hearts we pulled out of the deal and begun our search all over again, very reluctantly. But you know what they say, every cloud has a silver lining! And the scripture I hold so dear, really came into effect in our live, Jeremiah 29:11-13, '"For I know the plans I have for you", says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come & pray to me, & I will listen to you, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."' Just when we were giving up, saying oh well we'll have to make do with what we have at Christmas and just get through it somehow. Then Cameron decided that we should expand our search area, so we started looking in West Auckland. We lived there for a few weeks with friends when we first got to NZ so we are familiar with the area. He found a few houses and so come Saturday morning we were on our way to West Auckland looking at Open homes. The ones we saw we liked but still weren't head over heels for. Then he saw one on realestate.co.nz but it didn't have an address so he called the agent and arranged for a viewing that Sunday. Well, from the minute we walked into this house we fell in love, it was EXACTLY what we were looking for, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, double garage and to top it all off, it was built in 2010 which means it was not built in the time when leaky home were being built and subsequently was built under new laws which required all home to be built with a cavity, which just means that there's space between the frame and the walls which allows water to run through and not affect the timber framing or the walls, which means, NO MOISTURE. So we put in an offer, negotiated a bit and put in our conditions and started the ball rolling. We weren't hoildin our breath because we'd been let down before. Cameron called the inspector and he came around and looked at the property. He said to Cameron, and I am paraphrasing here, this is what you should have been looking for, this is what suits you & your wife. He found not one fault in this house, NOT ONE!! Praise God!!! Once that came through, we met the other conditions which weren't much and as we stand today, our offer in unconditional and our settlement date is September 9th with moving day planned for September 10th.
This is just a few pics of the house, will take more once we've moved and we have our own furniture in.
We are so excited and can't stop thanking God for blessing us with this home. It is in an area out west so we will have to find our new locals, like a barber for Cam and a new dairy (corner shop) and a new supermarket and stuff like that but that is so small in the big scheme of things. God has his hand on us and we are so excited.
