Since today ~2:30pm we are now really the proud owners of our own little place with keys and everything.
Let the moving begin!
Since today ~2:30pm we are now really the proud owners of our own little place with keys and everything.
Let the moving begin!
This short sentence does not do the whole process justice.
This was a roller coaster of an experience that partially still goes on.
Will we get document X on time, will the solicitor send document Y on time to the bank.
Can the loan bank confirm that they got everything?
Will the settlement happen before Christmas?
Will everyone agree to the 19th?
The vendor’s (seller) solicitor would like an earlier settlement.
A surprise meeting between the seller and us when we did our “final” inspection of the apartment shows that she does not know of the 19th and would like to settle on the 6th of January because she has some friends stay there between the 2nd and the 5th of January.
Then we are told the 19th is called of.
The I tell our solicitor that we told the seller we agree to have her friends stay in the apartment and it is either the 19th of December is OK or we settle on the 16th of January.
Then we have the settlement on Friday the 19th of December, 2008.
But we don’t have all keys.
I rented a minivan that might or might fit into the garage. and before the settlement I filled it up with boxes from Greenknowe and after I got the keys it was passed 16:30 and a security guard kept me from bringing up the boxes.
And I was told I cannot move in on Saturday either.
Instead we buy a couch.
We buy all the new/missing kitchen appliances (oven, hob, dishwasher).
We buy the kitchen cabinets.
The high cabinet is 1,5cm to high for the ornamental strip on the top of the wall.
And all the plumbers and stonemasons are on holiday and screw up our planing
Then we learn that we are not allowed to replace the kitchen replacement without having approval from the owners corporation.
(We found out later that this is not true, by law, but we decide to play along for those times when we actually need the approval. )
Then we leave the apartment for three days so that the seller’s friends can stay.
In the meantime, Westpac the bank we are at is just completely incompetent.
We do not have our loan with them, but have it with MyRate, backed by ING.
Westpac on the other hand gave us a credit card when we did not want it and do not give us one when we did.
When I received a statement and a PIN for a credit card that I wanted to get but have not received yet, I called in and was told to try to pick it up.
When I was there I was not given the card because I did not have all the paper work that I was not told to bring with me in the first place.
One of the things was a “group certificate” which is a term that has not been used in about 8 years and when I asked what that is, I was asked how long I live in Australia in a very disbelieving way.
(This is from the bank that has my income on file for the last 2 years.)
They accused me indirectly of (“you must have misunderstood the form”) passing incorrect income data.
We try to change to our address with them several times but they still are not going through.
Later, when I gave up and just picked up the card with all the papers they got. I asked about why I have no credit left on my credit card (there was a hold of 3000$ from Emirates airline that I could not know about, since these are not shown anywhere).
Again I was treated with suspicion.
And in the process I mention that the hold must be an error, because the tickets to Austria already have been paid and the hold came after the tickets were already deducted. This lead to me being told that I have to tell them when I go to other countries and otherwise the card will be locked when I use it.
I am told this is always the case with credit cards.
(I have been using credit cards across the world and never heard such a think).
We ask for additional cards for Martina and it took about 4 weeks to get them.
Westpac is a mess.
this makes me want to move into the desert and live off the earth! and do karate and get girls pregnant all day!
this makes me want to re-read my comments before I post them!