Living in Perth you will often hear the phrase “Mining boom” Having been here 20 years I have experienced a few Booms and some Busts.
Perth has a mining & resources driven economy, when these industries do well, we all do well. Jobs are plenty, small business thrives, and government generates revenue through taxes and royalties. This leads to infrastructure development and improved living standards. When we first moved here, we were experiencing our fist mining boom.
After a couple months renting, we were desperate to get into a home of our own. We had a lovely rental with great landlords in the beautiful suburb of Kingsley, but it was not our own. I love making my house a home. I want to knock holes in the walls, paint them crazy colours and decorate and redecorate to my hearts content. Not something you can easily do in a rental. Not to mention the pets we didn’t have…
During a Boom, property prices grow very quickly, we decided the most affordable way to get into the housing market was to build. We spent every weekend, looking for affordable land, or a block as it was called. We drove, North of the River, we drove South of the River and East towards the “Hills” At the time the price of land was increasing by the weekend, and we thought we’ll never find “the one”, but eventually after seeing a little ad in the newspaper (yes, newspaper were a thing then) we found our own piece of land in a little pocket of a new suburb.
We chose a builder, with the right house plan to fit on our little pocket-sized block. Deciding what are our needs, wants, and nice to haves, to fit within our first-time homeowner’s budget. My husband and I spent evenings “working” our plan to turn this into our dream home for our small family of 3.
Contract signed, prices agreed and banks on board. Let’s build a house! (I won’t bore you with the subsequent price increases, delays etc. It was Boom time after all)
The fun bit is called pre-start. You go to the builder’s office and choose your fixtures & fittings. We had a plan, we had an idea, we had a theme and off we went. We chose our tiles, carpets, kitchen, and bathroom cupboards, rooftiles or colourbond, taps, mirrors, and everything else you don’t think about like door handles, power point covers etc, etc. all in one long day! You leave hoping your vision will come together.
Then you watch your house being built, celebrating every milestone. Slab down, brick high, lock up, final inspection, handover and then the day arrived….we moved into our own house in Australia that “we“ built from scratch 2 years after arriving in Perth.
We were so proud, so happy and loved our little house. We added a pool, a garden and of course air conditioning. All luxuries for us, being first time home owners.
Then the happy news, our little family of 3 will be 4 soon. Of course, now we needed a bigger house. We enjoyed building our first house, so we thought, we’ll do it again. We had doubled the price of our house because of the Boom (this hasn’t happened again, and I suspect it was a once in a lifetime thing) and were able to go BIG. Again, the search for land started, and 2 years later we were in our BIG house…all four of us. It was probably too big, but we made it pretty, we added a pool, made a garden, installed airconditing and then, one Sunday in the newspaper (again) we saw a little add for beach side properties in an amazing suburb. Way out of our price range….or just maybe we can make it work. We’ll just go have a look. Our dream has always been to live walking distance to the beach. Are we mad to even considering building again. We’ve just finished the garden and pool area of the house we’re in. It’s our dream house, its big, it’s got a 3-way bathroom, it’s got a water fountain into the pool… but we can’t walk to the beach….
So we did it. We built our third house in six years. A little weary, a little wiser, but still enthusiastic. A smaller house, smaller land, but right where we want to be.
We are still living in that house. I think building 3 houses in 6 years managed to get the bee out my bonnet and it would take a lot to do it again. I love our little house by the see. I love the Sunday walks along the coast to the local coffee shop. Was it worth it, for sure. Even with the stresses, the late nights’ planning, the renting in between building, I would do it all again. I love my suburb; I love my house and I love my beach.
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