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Buying a VillaWelcome to buying a Villa This article is for those among us who have been seriously thinking about making a major change: selling the family home! Yes, and buying a villa. we’ve lived in the same place for years. The kids have grown up and left. Now there’s only Dad and Mum. Even old Bluey, the cattle dog, has passed on. Many of our former friends have left the area or “Gone to God.” The whole atmosphere of the place is no longer the pleasant one it used to be. We don’t need the half-acre block anymore. It’s just a hassle nowadays. We want something more…er…compact, hassle-free. We want to buy a villa.
The phrase is “down sizing,” but you don’t have to move into a smaller home. Buying a villa doesn’t preclude living space, space within. It’s the space around the home which usually causes the trouble. We get older, and the lawn it took an hour to mow when we first moved in, now has to be mown in two or even three separate attempts. We don’t seem to have the energy to go around in one go anymore. And it was once so easy to just get up there on the step-ladder and clean those gutters out- once! Now, it’s a real chore and we worry what will happen to old bones if we fall off. And painting the place? It seems we never stop. So we need to “down size.” No, not to a smaller indoor area particularly. We still want sufficient bedrooms, a study or computer room and a nice big living area. What we don’t want is that massive half-acre backyard. We want to buy a villa!
So what can we do? Well, if we own our old place outright we’ve got it made. We’re free of debt and there are thousands of young couples out there looking for a home just like ours. Sure our old place has seen better days. But the Good Lord ain’t making any more land nowadays. Well, maybe. But not on our planet. It’s the land value that’s going to allow us the chance to buying a Villa.
Moreover, if our place is well situated: close to train or bus transport which runs frequently and regularly; close, also, to schools, shops, medical and sporting facilities- great! You have all that already? Well, don’t sell. Just don’t do it! Unless you know you can afford to get a similar-type location when your buying a villa, town-house, or small apartment block with as much space – or as much as you really want – close by all those aforementioned facilities!
Okay, so you do have a terrific location already. You have all of the above plus you can walk to the beach. But that yard…oh that yard…so big. Oh, and all those gum tree leaves and twigs which never seem to stop falling. But the yard…so big by today’s standards. The developers want it! ‘course they do. You want a nice modern place in the same location; they want your place for the land. Maybe you can do a deal here?. They reduce the open areas of your place by putting four town houses on it: you get the pick of the town houses. Sounds good, in theory. But you’ve now got to find temporary accommodation whilst all this goes on. The developer says you’ll be in your new villa by Christmas. It’s now June. Don’t believe him! He wont, even though he expects you to believe it. All right, mate, Easter. Don’t rely on it. Allow eighteen months to a couple of years just to be on the safe side. And when you do rent, rent locally so you won’t have to change your life style or move away from your friends. For if you do move away. You might find you don’t want to move back after all.
Okay, so you decide to sell up and get right out. You are buying a villa. Wonderful. Once again, location is so, so important. You’re no longer a “Spring Chicken” and you don’t want to be stranded should anything happen to your ability to drive. Continue to drive, if you’re fit and well, of course. But have a fall-back position of good, regular, reliable public transport. Cataracts are a fact of life and you can’t really drive safely with a patch on your eye.
It might be tempting to live in a huge downtown city tower. You’ve put the idea of buying a villa on hold. The brochures look so appealing. I’d be inclined to say, “Don’t do it.” You might well have a terrific location. You also have another one hundred, or two hundred or more families, albeit in many cases very small families, around you. They live above. They live below. They live on your left and on your right. If you can imagine your place to be a cube and the air on all six sides to be neighbours, this is what you can have if you go for that big, down-town block. Oh, and the panoramic view overlooking the ocean will not compensate for the blare of rock music, or the sounds of domestic arguments which come with such rabbit-warren living. Besides which, that view could well be build out by another tower - and quite probably will be. Nope- you’re better off buying a villa.
Now the opinions of this writer are completely subjective. Feel free not to agree. Here’s what I think would suit many people. A town-house or villa in preference to a unit in an apartment block. Detached; that is, there are no common walls with other people living on the lot. Second best: semi-detached; that is, only one common wall with one neighbour – and a hope that you get along. Single storey, if you intend to stay there for the rest of your life. Two floors is okay if you’re still fit enough not to notice staircases. Second thing: fewer the number of dwellings on the lot the better. Two- wonderful! Four, good, six, fair- maybe eight at maximum. Anything over that and it’s fast becoming an institution.
Minimum maintenance: full brick, tiles, iron or aluminum windows- a minimum of painting. No overhanging giant trees to fill up your gutters with leaves, or break up the pavers with root-growth. A veranda which you will actually use, rather than a narrow strip built mainly for appearance which overlooks the public roadway or the parking area. By actually use, I mean, as a sort of 'outdoors' room, where you can have a table and chairs. Not somewhere you simply use to hang the laundry.
Oh, and you’ve decided you would like a miniature-type dog or a cat as a pet. Check out whether you can actually have one. Some places allow it: some do not. Sorry, but I doubt many places will allow you to keep your Great Dane. Can you convince them that your Basset Hound is really an overgrown Miniature Daschund? Perhaps. Buying a villa has its challenges.
You want some garden space. You might not get that in a block of units. You probably will in a villa. You want the freedom to be able to do with your garden space what you like. Check into this. Sometimes the Body Corporate acts like the Gestapo…well, maybe not quite that bad, but you’re not free to grow the flowers or veggies or herbs you like. So you need at least some garden area which is not overlooked by the neighbours who live on your lot. What they don’t see, they won’t complain about.
Parking even in a small villa or unit area can be a problem. Invariably there are more vehicles per household than there are allocated garage and parking spaces. Make sure when you’re buying a villa that you have a garage that you can easily access. It’s not a good idea to live in a huge block with only one narrow entrance-exit way which can be blocked by a single car (the driver of which, of course, only meant to be there a few seconds, but forgot about it when asked if he’d like to have a cup of tea) A block with both an entrance way and an different exit is preferable. If that isn’t available, go for a nice broad carriage way where you can drive around any illegally parked cars. If you can, ascertain how many of the villas on the block are actually owned by those who dwell in them, and those that are rented. As a general rule, owners are likely to take more interest and more pride in what is going on on the lot. Of course, the more units there are, the more activity as families move in and move out. Another reason why its better to go for the twin, triple, quadrupal etc, number of units rather than the dozens, scores, and hundreds. I’m sure that there are a lot of aspects of buying a villa I’ve missed out on here. The writer does not claim to be an expert. However, I hope that you have gained something from what has been said here. Happy hunting for that villa of your dreams. I hope you enjoyed our article Buying a Villa Marty Return to Homepage
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