paisleylass

Now pool has reached a balmy 27 degrees, and since the pool blanket went on 3 days ago we only lose 0.5 degree at night. Ace. Only issue is we have a few days before the blanket gets its final trim and is attached to the reel while it settles and to allow for shrinkage, making it difficult to move. So a few days before full functionality yet! But it was lovely getting home early at the start of September for a comfortable float and swim at home!

I forgot about this! Got home Thursday and thought, ooh, I'll download Casualty to watch at the weekend. Little message pops up about TV licence. Without thinking, I just hit "yes, I have a TV licence" then thought bugger, what if it asks for a number or something? Well, it didn't, that was that, got my Casualty. Business as usual.

As Bungo says, just use your real address. We've had pur Australian address(es) with the bank and electoral roll no problem.

Thermostat would do the trick - heating won't run when pool temp is above target. Did you know you can get a pool cover designed to reduce heat by blocking out the sun? Abgal Oasis Koolcover, designed for tropical climates!

Nice, PB!! Heh! I'm a real water baby, love both relaxing and exercising, and the sensation of floating. I hate looking at a pool that's too cold to get in, so excited to get ours warmed up!!

PS we almost bought a house with pebblecrete lined pool, I was worried about scraping my fingers n toes! Re-lining would be a big expense when starting out in a new home. Pool we have is tiled, am a bit concerned about slipping but pool shop guy says PH affects whether tiles are slippery, can't remember which way. But I'm clumsy so might put a handrail in by the steps!

You can have a heater added any time, as it can go inline with your existing pump setup. The installer must plumb it between the sand filter and chlorinator though! Heater can be installed independently if you have separate pipes, but this would mean having an extra pump running. Ours is inline, so we need to monitor chlorine levels carefully especially with using a blanket. The heater we bought is Evo Heat DHP30R, it's a local company that will deliver and install across Australia. They even arranged an electrician to come out and put a 15 amp socket in. Oh, and I have a phone app to monitor and control the heater, sweet. Will report on how things go when the heater starts running!

Got the electric pool heater installed today! It's a very modern one that should be cheapish to run, free when we get solar power. Very quiet too! Just need the pool blanket to be delivered and we're in business, hopefully swimming in the next few days! Can't wait!

Moved in today! Fantastic moving firm, Brisbane City Removals, highly recommended! Now chilling having had a lovely spa bath, bed is made, sipping the champagne Ray White real estate supplied! Feeling super chilled in spite of a horrid cold. And our cat seems happy after a stressful day, we kept him shut in a room at our old place while removals happened, then let him out for a run. He looked soooo shocked to see all the stuff had gone!! Poor kitty. Anyway, all done, we're here!!

Yeah, being a prospective renter can be a pain. But you might find demand for apartments in Brisbane CBD a lot lower than Sydney? There is already an oversupply and many ads offer incentives such as free rent periods. One like this might suit? http://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-qld-brisbane+city-418903758 As a little side story, when we came to inspect our current rental, other people were put off by the two toilets being manky with limescale. I just thought, dump in some chemicals, scrub a bit, no bother! I believe we were the only people to apply. Fast forward two years, we break lease and have a couple of open for inspections. First one, about 10 couples turn up, half take applications. Second inspection cancelled! The difference? No manky toilets lol. I suppose the moral of the story is you could luck out if other people are put off by a small thing that can be easily fixed. Good luck!!

I did see your thread but apart ftom suggesting the obvious - search realestate.com.au - I don't know of any rental apartments. I think you would have to take a longer term let on that budget, but when I had a quick look there were plenty of 1 bed apartments, some furnished, around 400/week. We're about to move house and no longer have spare furniture, a week ago you could have had our queen bed for free but it was in a shabby state as the cat used it as a giant scratch toy!! Try Lifeline furniture stores, and gumtree. Plenty of ute-with-driver services out there if you need delivery, again on gumtree :-)

Google GM Tax, they can help!

I've completed my part of the census and started hubby's part, but he needs to fill in the rest! Nothing too intrusive there, and as someone who works in statistics I understand why most questions are asked. We actually got two letters as we are between homes, and I worried about being fined for not completing for our new address that we don't occupy until the 12th. In the end no bother, I just submitted an online query to declare that the address associated with the login number will be unoccupied.

We have a 100% offset facility so we'll save interest anyway, and the plan is to chuck extra cash at the mortgage whenever we feel like it! We may review payment frequency and amount once everything's more settled and we know better what we can manage. The tentative plan is to pay it off in half of the 30 year term! Or less!!

Settled on Tuesday without a hitch, moving next Friday! We'll miss our rental in a few ways, but it's not ours! And the new house is a lot more well-finished and has luxury touches we've never had before like a huge spa bath! We'll be like pigs in muck in a few weeks time! Also got an appointment with a guy from a pool heating company, so he can look at the setup and work out what model will give us 28 degrees all year, yay! Next up, solar power going in. Looks like the first mortgage payment is actually 1 October, which is ages off! Considering we only pay rent til mid August, that puts us in a pretty solvent situation, so we'll probably make a voluntary extra repayment to offet interest charges.

If the first payment is a month after settlement, that will certainly help cash flow. Can't wait til the mortgage account appears in my banking app, that makes it really real! Oh, and getting the keys too!

So close now, settlement is Tuesday! Eeee!! And good news - we informed our real estate on Monday that we need to break lease. They were great, did the paperwork and we did an open home yesterday. Someone has already been approved to take the lease, and we effectively save a month's rent, hooray!! So happy! So, funny question. After settlement, does anyone know when our first mortgage payment should go out? We've set up a monthly direct debit. Cheers!

What a great saving tink! Fantastic :cute: a couple of grand saved a year pays for the system pretty quickly! We're probably looking at a 4 or 5 kw system, will see what kind of consumption we'll have with a pool heater.

I believe the best value in solar power is running energy-gobbling appliances in daylight hours where practical, thereby using most of the power generated. The less sent to grid, the better! Feed in tariffs are pathetic, I'd be gutted if we fed loads to the grid! In the next few years powerwalls should come down in price somewhat, making solar even more worth the investment!

Thanks! Yep rates and higher insurance are in our sights, and initially higher electricity bills until we get solar! All worth it, and woo we get to use the waste transfer vouchers that ratepayers get too! You're right about RE lady, ha, and it was an easy sell! She said she was still getting calls on the day the listing was altered to say 'under offer' (when we got finance approval), it was a very popular listing. Gonna be a fun summer!

Unconditional now. Yay! And a bit scary! Never dealt in such high monetary figures in my life! But the mortgage repayments are only slightly higher than current rent, which makes it seem much less intimidating. Will be so nice to update things, put stuff on walls, plant things. Really excited, and phone calls from the real estate lady only get me more hyped! She seems more excited than me! Heh!

It's an utter shambles, and disgusting that those who campaigned prolifically have walked away. Ultimately I think the timing was terrible - could have been worse, but UK had a way to go in post GFC recovery. Could have at least waited until interest rates had risen. Now looks like interest rate will reach a new historic low in the next few days. What a mess.

So far so good, building and pest reports were good, just need mortgage approval now! I've been in touch with a pool heating company, so will get that in motion as well as solar power right after settlement. Can't wait to spend some big cash on new toys! May even look at updating the kitchen in the next year or so, though it is perfectly functional in the meantime. One of our favourite things is the low maintenance garden. Only a small lawn and a few bedding areas for plants, we'll probably remove some and switch for things we want like alstroemeria, my fave flowers of all time. Best of all, no mature trees or bamboo, even over neighbours walls, so very few leaves getting dumped in the pool. Yay!

The GBP I need to move to Aus was left to me by my brother who died. I find it upsetting that it has devalued so rapidly, like I'd be doing him a disservice moving it over now! Silly maybe, but I know he'd be horrified both at the referendum outcome and the devaluation - he put off plans to move to Australia post GFC and eventually never made it. I did move some over when the rate was almost 1.8, which seemed crap at the time, but it's only getting crapper now!!

Yes, we can handle a few defects, just not to the scale of the last place we had inspected - a few major defects and many, many moderate and minor! Inspection is tomorrow, fingers crossed it's relatively good! One of the things that drives us mad is traffic noise, so this area should be good for us. We're willing to forego some conveience for peace!