Strange Pricing

House prices on the Sunshine Coast have been forecast to go up by 15% over the next few years. Today's home buyer usually wants at least 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms and a double garage. A large block of land is valued by young families. On this estate you would expect to pay somewhere between $385,000 and $400,000 for a house like that. A home with a great garden and quality extras would get more like $430,000.

The house next door to us has been on the market for some time. The owner has $359,000 on it. However though on a good sized block, it only has a single garage, three bedrooms and one bathroom. It could suit a retired couple but they may be put off by the large lawn area which would take a while to mow. Recently a single parent mum and her school age daughter were looking at it but they did not buy.

Meanwhile in the new area of the estate is another home for sale on a small block of land. It boasts four bedrooms (though they must be fairly small), a 1 1/2 garage, 2 bathrooms, air conditioning. It also is for sale at $359,000. It would suit a retired couple very nicely as the small block means minimal lawn maintenance.

With deals like this around our neighbour may have some problems selling at that price.

Yesterday's max temperature was about 13 degrees! This is the coldest day here for about 85 years! Today is a little better with it being about 17.5 at the moment. This is still cold for this part of Australia for this time of day.

Caravanners Russell and Irene left Rockhampton this morning heading for Miles. They left in heavy rain. I sense the cooler weather may encourage them to head home a little earlier than they had anticipated. The weather looks reasonable for the next few days in Miles so they may 'prop' there for a couple of days. The further south they go, the cooler the weather is going to be.

Kate arrived home with James Stephen yesterday.

The salt chlorinator I sent away for repair a few weeks ago has been totally rebuilt with all new components and is working well after I reinstalled it onto the pool filter. That was all covered under warranty.

Trish's car went in to have an oil leak repaired with an off the top of the head quote for about $200. $560 later the oil leak has been fixed. The leak was between the motor and the timing chain. The timing chain, alternator and power steering belts were all wrecked and the unit required a $280 repair 'kit' and a three and a half hour labor bill. Thankfully the car runs beautifully now!

Yesterday I received an email from a regular blog page reader in West Texas USA. It is amazing how far the internet travels and how many doors it can open up.