Well.... we are not quite there yet. Things are still moving - but slowly.
We got word on my birthday (a few weeks ago) that we had sold the house and had 21 days to find somewhere to live and move out. After a week of frantic activity we were told there was a holdup with paperwork - family court and titles - and that settlement could be 2-6 weeks. Needless to say I have been very stressed - which is probably why I got the flu soon afterwards and still have.
The past 15 months, since we put the house on the market, has been an emotional roller-coaster ride. We switched agents about 5 months in - after our 3 month contract expired and the agent didn't inform us I figured he wasn't very pro-active. The new agent hired her photographer and got great photos and a drone video. In the first couple of months we had 9000 hits on the website. Our place had the most action the agent had ever seen on a property. We had regular punters through. Each time we cleaned the place up and put stuff away we hoped it would be the last. It gets really exhausting - we are pretty neat people but not so great at cleaning things like windows. I doubt many people actually live like that but it's what you have to do when you have your home on the market.
We've had the place 'sold' 3 times but each time there has been a problem with finance. When the royal commission started the banks began playing hardball. As it progressed they got even meaner - asking for ridiculous amounts of paperwork and knocking people back even when they had large amounts of equity. I actually think they are punishing us and the government. The Australian economy is built on housing and the banks play a critical role so basically - 'you fuck with us and we will bring the economy to a standstill' - which is pretty much what has happened.
So we wait. There have been a couple of positives though. The long lead in time has allowed us to keep researching the best options for the next place. It will be a very modest 'shed' design (Aussie architecture at its best) on a few acres with as much solar passivity and as many environmental features as we can buld into it - including a composting toilet, solar power, double-glazed windows and double insulation (at my end anyway). Robin has been absolutely amazing - taught himself Sketchup so he could do the plans, completed short courses for a builder's licence and white card (yes, they are compulsory now), done heaps of research on the best affordable environmental design solutions, created a spread sheet with all the costings and much more. The extra time has also allowed us to find somewhere private to live too, while we get plans passed by the council, clear some bush, build a driveway and move a caravan there.
The idea is to build within our means, set ourselves up for 'retirement' (which for me is a mirage that moves further away the closer I get to it) and cut down our living costs (because the bloody government keeps us all on the treadmill paying for utilities and rates. Forget about the homeless - Australia is fast becoming unaffordable for the majority of its own economic middle class).
Given all the false starts - I won't feel really comfortable until settlement has gone through. Fingers and toes crossed.