So, we just bought...

[H-kon]

....a house.

I am sorry ladies and gentlemen for the lack of christmas game so far, but now you know the reason.

We closed on this house just a few hours ago and will hopefully start to move in March 1st. This one is We're paying $460K AUD/CAD for this one, but the entire cellar floor is rented out as an own apartment. The house is 3100 sqft or 288 m2 with the apartment at about 80m2 included.

Here are some outside pictures attached.

[H-kon]

It's easier to just post the ad itself hehe.

http://www.finn.no/finn/realestate/homes/object?finnkode=23347890&sid=sid/2010/12/9/21/xz0921291927361052y

 

[clifton]

Oh my gosh, I am sooo happy for you both.
What a wonderful Christmas present. 
it is 

Congratulations, big time.

[H-kon]

We're pretty happy with the purchase. We got it below what they asked so now we'll get more room. Can't wait to use the pool table

[Elf]

Congratulations H-kon and Jette. 

yes that is

Looks like a really nice house and has plenty of room.

[clifton]

And it looks like you have a great view and also, still keeping with
an "8" in your house address. 

[H-kon]

The house is big yes, but about 108 m2 disappears in the rental apartment.

We signed the contract yesterday and also signed up for the insurance which will cover our backs if there is something major wrong with the house.

We had a carpenter join us on the inspection and he couldn't find anything wrong at all with it, so hopefully we're a bit more lucky this time around.

A real estate agent was here to assess the house we're currently living in. He is the neighbour to my sister whom we've had some contact with. He is saving us 50% of the regular price of selling a house so i think we did something wise there.  (64K everything included NOK vs 110K normally + insurance). He believes it's an easy sell too since we've done so much here, but that remains to be seen.

We'll move in the last weekend of February (25th), but we're not doing much until after new years eve. We're pretty much a wreck after these past few months.

everyone - Merry Christmas to you all.

[clifton]

Sounds like everything is falling into place. 

Put your tree up and your feet up and enjoy a (spiked) eggnog with us. 

God jul dere alle.

[H-kon]

God jul til alle dere

We didn't get a tree this year. Seems like it was smart as most trees were frozen solid, so that they fell apart when they got inside.
My sister had to remove hers yesterday since there weren't much "needles" on it left.

Eggnog - I wonder how that tastes. I don't think i have had some before.  Gløgg works though hehe

[Elf]

We didn't get a tree this year. Seems like it was smart as most trees were frozen solid, so that they fell apart when they got inside.
My sister had to remove hers yesterday since there weren't much "needles" on it left.

We got a new tree this year, a fake one with fibre optic lights. Saves us having to put lights on the tree.

[clifton]

I did not put up a tree this year and not a decoration in sight, but look out next year.
I look fwd. to decorating inside and out. 

[clifton]

Eggnog - I wonder how that tastes. I don't think i have had some before.  Gløgg works though hehe

Eggnog is very yummy. You can make it or buy it at any grocer at Christmas time.
usually the bought one does not have booze in it.

EGGNOG

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp. sugar
1 pint whole milk (3%)
1 cup heavy cream
3 oz. whiskey or rum (optional)
4 egg whites
1 tsp. nutmeg
beat egg yolks until light in color.gradually add 1/3 cup sugar and continue beating until completely dissolved. Add milk, cream, whiskey and nutmeg. Stir to combine.In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks  form. Gradually add the 1 tbsp. of sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form.Wisk egg whites into mixture. Chill and serve.

[H-kon]

It's been pretty busy lately with putting our house out on the market right after christmas with lots of washing down the house, clearing out all the clutter, fixing the remainder of the stuff we needed to do before the house was put on the market and getting things ready for the move, but this Monday, we sold our house after just 10 days on the market.
We got $330K Cad/Aud for it which was just below the appraisal (is that correct?).

We're pretty happy to be honest. Normally it takes about 40 days to sell in this area on average, so that we sold after just one showing is pretty amazing. The contract is being signed next week, but since an offer is legally binding here, even orally without any "if" and "but"s, he can't withdraw from the buy no matter what.

We're moving on the 25th so broadband, electricity and cable tv has been cancelled so we might experience a few days offline. We haven't started packing our stuff yet which we will start next week so until we get settled in the new place, i wont spend much time on the forums, but after that things will hopefully improve a bit here. I have some plans for the forum, so we will see how that goes.

Other than that, i crashed our Mazda 6 - well not crashed, but took a  360 degree turn into the hard icey snow two weeks ago at about 50 km/t in a  60 zone which will set me back about $4K. I dented the fender in the front and ripped off most of the plastic below the headlights. I drove off the road in a pretty remote area, if i had done the same in a more trafficed area, i would probably have hit another car as the swerve took up most of the road space.  So i am lucky still. My nephew was with me as well and the car that came behind us towed us back on the road.
This happened not far from where we are moving to, a place which we will drive quite a lot in the future. Road maintenance is pretty much non existant during winter here so we will look for a "new" (to us) car that can handle such conditions, especially at winter.  The new town we're moving to has a population of about 1000 people and is 20 minutes from the nearest larger town at about 3-4K people, so no wonder road maintenance is bad hehe.

But all is well. Nathalie and Jette says hello

[clifton]

Hello to you all;

So glad you sold your house. Congratulations. Wow! that was fast.

Glad also that you were not hurt in your encounter with bad roads. It has always amazed me, how
much even the smallest car repair cost. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$   

Goog luck with the packing. That's a big job. Wish we could appear on your door step, boxes in hand. 





 

[Elf]

Congratulations on the sale of your house. 10 days is pretty quick.

I am glad that you and your nephew where not injured in the accident. I live in a small city of about 100k and our road maintenance is average at best. Maybe you could look at getting a 4WD car?

Good luck with the packing I wish I could join Clifton on your doorstep.

Hi to Nathalie and Jette.

[H-kon]

Thanks for the support

I am thinking about a 4wd car but prices over here are insane for even used cars. (taxes). A new car starts at $32K. A normal sized station wagon starts at $48K with no extras while an SUV/4WD starts at $60K for the smallest of them. (RAV4 type)

A Vauxhall Insignia with 4WD starts at $70K.... A regular Mondeo st.w starts at $50K

In Norway, weight and engine output is heavilly taxed together with CO2 emissions. Any car that emits over 120 grams of Co2 pr 10 km is heavilly taxed pr gram over that limit. Up to 140 grams, the increase is "moderate" while anything above 160g is crazy/insane
With horsepower, the limits are up to 120 hp, "cheap" - up to 165 it's about $350,- in tax pr hp. Above 170hp it's insane. ($800,- pr hp)

So we're looking around a bit to see whats out there. We cancelled the appointment at the nearest body shop as their reputation was less than bad and he couldn't even give me a ballpark price to get it fixed (between 14 and 17K NOK but probably more - got chewed out on the phone with them for that one, so someone Jette works with is going to help us with fixing the Mazda. He has worked on fixing semi's for 20 years, even body work and has lots of contacts so hopefully that will go well.

Cars we're loosely considering: Renault Laguna III (2008+), Ford Mondeo Titanium (2007+) New Opel/Vauxhall Astra at $40K (2011)

Cars we're never going to consider: VW, Toyota, Peugeot (the two first are the most sold over here)
Almost every car-manufacturer has starting from 1.1.2010 started with 5 year warranties on new cars sold this year except for Mazda, Opel/Vauxhall, Volvo and Ford which are all expected to get this too in a few weeks. We're considering that too in the total costs of ownership.
We're paying $2,40 pr litre of petrol now. Yay!

When i use dollar, i mean both canadian and australian dollar as they're almost even to the dollar compared to our currency NOK - Norwegian Kroner.

100.000 NOK equals $16644,- canadian dollars and $16850,- AUD which is pretty neat when talking about pricing between our countries

[Elf]

Can you buy Subaru's there? Here they are AWD across the range and most are 4 cylinders cars.

Just curious, why are you not considering a Toyota? Maybe yours are different than here. Toyota's are one of the most reliable cars here.

Wow $2.40/litre for petrol. Maybe a hybrid is the way to go? We pay about $1.39/litre here.

[clifton]

I think vans and pick ups are the most popular here.
ours is a Dodge Grand Caravan (1005)  we bought it in 08 for $14,000.
It had very low mileage. Today a new one is $19,000.
Our gas price now around $1.09L

[themystic]

Congratulations On both the buy and the sell!

[H-kon]

I have been thinking about Subaru's, but i know nearly nothing about them. Any model i should take a look at?

Toyota doesn't have the same models here as in Australia. We're missing the Camry which would have been a great car. We only have the smaller "Avensis" which on the used market here is better than gold for some reason. . The Previa is also gone which would also have been a perfect car.
I test drove the Avensis and didn't really find that the car offered much compared to other models, and the 125hp diesel engine struggled to keep up at normal highway speeds. We can't afford a bigger engine hehe.

The Dodge Caravan has been considered too, but the european made Chrysler versions up to about 2002 has serious problems with the engine and transmission and is probably the hardest car to sell here. I don't think there are any US models over here at all which is one of the most well built cars ever. Models after 2002 are rare due to our taxation for high engine output and weight which in practicality forbids anyone over here to buy American cars Most insurance companies refuse to insure them also (pre 2002)

I could not find a new grand caravan, but the newest that i found (2005 model) costs $56.000 CAD/AUD
http://www.finn.no/finn/car/used/object?finnkode=23744209

But i will look around for Subaru's, i have never driven one and their reputation is excellent.