My friends, a couple, are looking to buy a house and in one of their pursuits last Sunday I accompanied them to get a first hand experience of how an auction happens.
To get a realistic feeling, I role played wanting to buy teh house and looked around the house to see how I will settle in there, see where my computer would go, where my bed would go, how convenient eth kitchen was etc. I then calculated, based on location, size and the market price, what I thought would be a good price for the house. I arrived at 300 K. The reserve price, apparently, was 270K. Not bad aye!!!
The auction started and the authorised agent was so animated in his explanation of the process and in giving the details of the house. The look on each of the bidders/onlookers faces was interesting to note. Some people seemed to have decided not to bid, other felt it is worth a try while some really wanted the house.
When bidding opened, for a good 2 minutes there were no bids and that had be surprised. From one corner came a voice from a lady who offered the reserve price at 270K. From that time it was bidding bidding and only bidding. The price was going up by 25K each bid and then by 10K each bid. The price had reached the 320K mark when one person bidded for the first time. THe bid reached 350K and then became a 2-way fight. With 10K jumps becoming 5K and then 2K and then 1K and 500$, the agent was really marketing the property a lot. By this time it was clear that both parties really wanted the property and the stakes went on increasing.
It reached 376.5K when the agent went 1st call, 2nd call and SOLD! Phew!!! It was hugs in the contingent that won the bid and the guy was a young bloke, am sure buying his first home. A proud moment for him.
It was an amazing experience and to see the price go from a reserve of 270K to 386.5K shows what the Melbourne Real estate scene is like!!!!!
As for me, i was not too sure if I could buy a house on auction as its a momentary decision and I like to take time on big decisions, esp when its a huge investment. Perhaps a private sale is best suited for me. Anyways, I will cross the bridge when I get to it.
Showing posts with label experience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label experience. Show all posts
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A Word and an Experience - "Fighting"
Its been a long time since I added to my “A word and an experience” series (from my indiatimes blogs). This time it is about “Fighting” - about fights in public. Last Sunday I was on a tram with my housemate and all seemed normal and slow just like every Sunday is. And out of the blue came 4 guys (in their teens) into the tram and started beating the daylights out of another guy (also in his teens) who was already inside the tram. They seemed to have vengeance written all over their faces. From the looks of the guy, he was an innocent and chubby bloke, but from the yelling it was quite clear that he had done something really wrong. The tram was on the move and none of us co-passengers intervened, in what I thought was but natural, given the aggressive nature of the fight. The tram driver was alerted and he came up and opened the door for the 4 guys to jump off the tram.
The guy who got beaten had a swollen eyebrow and a few bruises here and there. It was a shaking experience. My housemate and I debated if our actions were right in not intervening. We concluded that we had no clue why they were fighting and obviously there was some reason for them to fight. Given that we neither had an idea as to why they were fighting nor we had the authority or the relationship to try and forge a truce between them, our action in not intervening was right and justified. Had we intervened, we could have ended up with a few bruises as well.
The quartret were yelling that he had done something really bad but did not say what he had done. I suppose its not like he had a gun, coz if he did it would be affecting us as co passengers and then perhaps they could have warned us, but obviously it was not something like that and it was a personal fight.
On our way back, my housemate and I were on the lookout to see if those guys were anywhere in the vicinity.
Luckily it did not end up like “Khaya Peeya kuch nahin, glass thoda barah aana”.
The guy who got beaten had a swollen eyebrow and a few bruises here and there. It was a shaking experience. My housemate and I debated if our actions were right in not intervening. We concluded that we had no clue why they were fighting and obviously there was some reason for them to fight. Given that we neither had an idea as to why they were fighting nor we had the authority or the relationship to try and forge a truce between them, our action in not intervening was right and justified. Had we intervened, we could have ended up with a few bruises as well.
The quartret were yelling that he had done something really bad but did not say what he had done. I suppose its not like he had a gun, coz if he did it would be affecting us as co passengers and then perhaps they could have warned us, but obviously it was not something like that and it was a personal fight.
On our way back, my housemate and I were on the lookout to see if those guys were anywhere in the vicinity.
Luckily it did not end up like “Khaya Peeya kuch nahin, glass thoda barah aana”.
Monday, October 15, 2007
A week of bliss
Originally posted on 13th October
The last week has been a week off for me, in Melbourne. I week where I had no commitments, no plans whatsoever and I took each day as it came, and did exactly what I wanted to do and when I wanted to. Its been a refreshing week.
a couple of days ago, I wanted to do something constructive and I decided to weed out useless stuff from home that included clothes and paper/documents. While doing this, I had to take eth suitcases from atop the cupboards and I went through many a nostalgic moments. The old clothes reminded me of times wearing them and some pics where I was wearing them. It also took me back to ethdays when I was packing to come to Melbourne. The documents had hand written letters, my visa application copies, my college notes etc. I also found a diary which I used to keep track of my expenses here in Melbourne as a student. I lived on a shoestring budget of 650$ month. The enteries on that included some very interesting ones that took me back down memory lane. Some samples are :
Hungry Jacks burger - 3.15$
Tennis ball for cricket (10 / 4) - 2.5$
Donut - 1.10$
Tram ticket - 83.2$
Chewing Gum - 0.70c
Ah God!!! it brought me to tears!!! Those are the days that I am proud of. It taught me to live within my means, to prioritise things, and to set myself realistic expectations. It taught me to sacrifice things and also not to regret having to sacrifice. It was a wonderful learning experience.
The other days in this holiday were spent, watching India play Australia, playing cricket at home with my housemate, visiting friends for dinner and inviting them over for dinner on other days and also waking up late and watching atleast 2 movies a day. Its Saturday and I am looking forward to the Cricket ball cricket after along time and then dinner with friends.
Oh and I did not mention that this break is between jobs, so its an exciting time. Tomorrow is reserved to get focussed on the new job and also to watch India play the Aussies at Nagpur!!
The last week has been a week off for me, in Melbourne. I week where I had no commitments, no plans whatsoever and I took each day as it came, and did exactly what I wanted to do and when I wanted to. Its been a refreshing week.
a couple of days ago, I wanted to do something constructive and I decided to weed out useless stuff from home that included clothes and paper/documents. While doing this, I had to take eth suitcases from atop the cupboards and I went through many a nostalgic moments. The old clothes reminded me of times wearing them and some pics where I was wearing them. It also took me back to ethdays when I was packing to come to Melbourne. The documents had hand written letters, my visa application copies, my college notes etc. I also found a diary which I used to keep track of my expenses here in Melbourne as a student. I lived on a shoestring budget of 650$ month. The enteries on that included some very interesting ones that took me back down memory lane. Some samples are :
Hungry Jacks burger - 3.15$
Tennis ball for cricket (10 / 4) - 2.5$
Donut - 1.10$
Tram ticket - 83.2$
Chewing Gum - 0.70c
Ah God!!! it brought me to tears!!! Those are the days that I am proud of. It taught me to live within my means, to prioritise things, and to set myself realistic expectations. It taught me to sacrifice things and also not to regret having to sacrifice. It was a wonderful learning experience.
The other days in this holiday were spent, watching India play Australia, playing cricket at home with my housemate, visiting friends for dinner and inviting them over for dinner on other days and also waking up late and watching atleast 2 movies a day. Its Saturday and I am looking forward to the Cricket ball cricket after along time and then dinner with friends.
Oh and I did not mention that this break is between jobs, so its an exciting time. Tomorrow is reserved to get focussed on the new job and also to watch India play the Aussies at Nagpur!!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Looking back at my Day 1 in Melbourne
I was reminded about my first day in Melbourne when i was interacting with my friends colleague who has just come down to Melbourne. I did not know about blogging then, but that doesnt mean that my first day in melbourne cannot be documented on my blog!!!!
I took off from a 40 degree hot Mumbai to land in a 7 degree cold Melbourne. That was the first bit of change. It was bloody cold and only the excitement of a new country, a new place, new beginnings, new friends and more that kept me going. The infrastructure (roads, traffic etc) was not such a surprise to me as I had been to Dubai before. The accents of people and the numerous Goras that were there all around me was a change indeed.
I checked into the Hotel and just stretched after that long flight. It was about 9 in the night and I munched on some roti and jam that Mommy had packed for me. After a quick call home to tell tham I reached safe, myself and my 2 other friends were left wondering about what to do. It was Friday night and university would not start until Monday. Because of the time difference there was not an ounce of sleep in our eyes. We decided to go out and explore the city.
The Hotel was in the heart of the city and being Friday night, it was a happening place. Lots of people, many with beer bottles in hand and almost everybody were in couples!!!! There were so many 'Chinkis' there that I wondered if I got on the wrong flight and landed in Shanghai!!!!!
Whatever I saw, was so different to what I was used to seeing - the way people look, the way they speak, dress, walk, laugh, the roads, the sounds, the boards ....everything. I saw the first case of PDA when this couple was making out bang in the middle of Bourke Street. I was taking all of this in. My university, my course, my ambition etc were all secondary and I was just taking in everything that I was actually seeing.
We walked a bit further and saw boards that read "ClubX" and "Adult Show" and "Peep show" and the like. Whoa!!!!! Now thats a big change. It was all too much to take in in teh first few hours of having arrived and I needed some water. I went into a 7-11 and bought the most expensive bottle of water at 2$ and thought to myself that 52Rs for a bottle of water is ridiculous. (in those days 1AUD = 26Rs)
It was about midnight and we decided to go to the HOtel room and try to get to bed so that we got into local time schedule soon. We lied down on our beds and put the TV on. It was one of the National channels and what was playing is what I better knew as "porn"!!!! We said to each other "Sahi Desh hai yaar ye!!!!"
The nights sleep was quite disturbed and i woke up only next afternoon!!!!!! i walked into McDonalds and looked up the board for something veggie. There was none. So I ordered a Cheese Burger. When I collected my burger, I could see some meat inside my burger. When i asked the counter girl, she said it was a Cheese burger and that is had a slice of beef. Oh Ok - cheese burgers have beef in them. I asked if I could get a burger with just cheese inside and I got an affirmative. But what followed was just plain funny - the girl took the cheese burger from me, removed the slice of beef from between and gave it back to me as a burger with just cheese in it.
It was not their fault, I paid 4$ (oops i mean 104Rs) for it and threw it straight into the bin. I think I had a jumbo margherita pizza slice for lunch. cant remember.
Day one was eventful and its been a long way since then, but times have gone by so fast. It was a challenge and all i can do is to hope for more such challenges in the future.
Note : Reproduced from my other blog at http://o3.indiatimes.com/rpramod
I took off from a 40 degree hot Mumbai to land in a 7 degree cold Melbourne. That was the first bit of change. It was bloody cold and only the excitement of a new country, a new place, new beginnings, new friends and more that kept me going. The infrastructure (roads, traffic etc) was not such a surprise to me as I had been to Dubai before. The accents of people and the numerous Goras that were there all around me was a change indeed.
I checked into the Hotel and just stretched after that long flight. It was about 9 in the night and I munched on some roti and jam that Mommy had packed for me. After a quick call home to tell tham I reached safe, myself and my 2 other friends were left wondering about what to do. It was Friday night and university would not start until Monday. Because of the time difference there was not an ounce of sleep in our eyes. We decided to go out and explore the city.
The Hotel was in the heart of the city and being Friday night, it was a happening place. Lots of people, many with beer bottles in hand and almost everybody were in couples!!!! There were so many 'Chinkis' there that I wondered if I got on the wrong flight and landed in Shanghai!!!!!
Whatever I saw, was so different to what I was used to seeing - the way people look, the way they speak, dress, walk, laugh, the roads, the sounds, the boards ....everything. I saw the first case of PDA when this couple was making out bang in the middle of Bourke Street. I was taking all of this in. My university, my course, my ambition etc were all secondary and I was just taking in everything that I was actually seeing.
We walked a bit further and saw boards that read "ClubX" and "Adult Show" and "Peep show" and the like. Whoa!!!!! Now thats a big change. It was all too much to take in in teh first few hours of having arrived and I needed some water. I went into a 7-11 and bought the most expensive bottle of water at 2$ and thought to myself that 52Rs for a bottle of water is ridiculous. (in those days 1AUD = 26Rs)
It was about midnight and we decided to go to the HOtel room and try to get to bed so that we got into local time schedule soon. We lied down on our beds and put the TV on. It was one of the National channels and what was playing is what I better knew as "porn"!!!! We said to each other "Sahi Desh hai yaar ye!!!!"
The nights sleep was quite disturbed and i woke up only next afternoon!!!!!! i walked into McDonalds and looked up the board for something veggie. There was none. So I ordered a Cheese Burger. When I collected my burger, I could see some meat inside my burger. When i asked the counter girl, she said it was a Cheese burger and that is had a slice of beef. Oh Ok - cheese burgers have beef in them. I asked if I could get a burger with just cheese inside and I got an affirmative. But what followed was just plain funny - the girl took the cheese burger from me, removed the slice of beef from between and gave it back to me as a burger with just cheese in it.
It was not their fault, I paid 4$ (oops i mean 104Rs) for it and threw it straight into the bin. I think I had a jumbo margherita pizza slice for lunch. cant remember.
Day one was eventful and its been a long way since then, but times have gone by so fast. It was a challenge and all i can do is to hope for more such challenges in the future.
Note : Reproduced from my other blog at http://o3.indiatimes.com/rpramod
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