House: Clip show, Year 3 and 4
I missed the update for last year (but there’s year one and two), but it’s probably for the best as not that much major has happened. We have opted to stay with the current lender, as their rates are still quite competitive and there’s not much out there that’s going to give us a cash-back that won’t ruin the rate. We could save about a tenth of a percent if we’re lucky (and lock-in our equity, which is currently sitting at a hair over a third of the value of the house).
Shortly into our third year, we got a new washer + dryer (and removed the broken “hills hoist”). We also installed a surveillance camera sweeping the driveway, and later a video doorbell. We mostly finished the TV wall where the bar used to be. Rounding out year 3, I finally renovated my office, and had two ethernet drops installed there.
Year four saw even less activity - we dug out the stones on the front of the property and started establishing a lawn, which still looks like a disaster area. This was not helped when NBN had to trench it to upgrade us to fiber internet. We moved Sabriena and Duncan’s desk out to the “formal dining area”, and put our dining table in the sun room where they were formerly. Finally, I didn’t really blog about it but the remains of the intercom system is completely gone, and all the holes are patched except the one outside where the doorbell is.
And that was about the end of it. Our to-do list has dwindled slightly:
- We may still look at lining the shed that the “gym” is in.
- We’ve been planning on extending the back patio, and cementing the floor of it.
- We still want to replace the two HVAC systems with heat pumps, and then add additional solar and potentially batteries.
- A few rooms need plaster repair and painting still.
We’ll definitely be doing the last one, but the other points got relegated to “maybes”. Why? Well it occurred to us that we’re rapidly running out of time that Duncan will be in school. We don’t know what he will do when he’s done, but it’s not guaranteed that he will be able to do the things he wants to do and stay in Horsham. If he does, great - we have zero reason to move in such a case.
But if he can’t, and has to move closer to a capital city, then there is not enough stuff in Horsham to keep us here. Coupled with the fact it’s several hours drive to Melbourne if we want to attend some event or another, and basically it would make zero sense to stay here if Duncan moved away. If we have to move, then large capital expenditures are likely to amount to just improving someone else’s house - we would almost certainly not get the costs back if we sold up.
So for that reason, those two big projects can wait… if Duncan lands a job near here, we’ll spend the money, but otherwise we’ll just keep slamming it on the mortgage on the assumption that the equity will go towards the next place.
Anyway, that segues nicely into the financial bits: things got a bit tight for a little bit, 2023 saw interest rates basically double from when we bought it, and other expenses coming up meant we had a few months where we didn’t make much more than the minimum payment (there were several months in 2024 where our extra payment for the month was $36!). We got back into the swing of things the last part of the financial year and it’s looking good going forward that we’ll be able to keep this up.
We now own roughly 64% of the house, as of the valuation two years ago. We have not bothered to have it revalued, as we’re not refinancing, but I don’t expect it to have moved much. More importantly, we’re steadily creeping into the territory where the interest declines quicker with each payment, and if we can continue the way the last few months have been going and nothing else goes wrong, we’re looking at around about 7 to 10 years left to pay the place off. That goes out the window if we have to move, but I’m excited!
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