Land on Booth Ave

Sunshine and I have been looking at land up here in the mountains. Tired of paying off a landlord's investments, we want our own place, where we can build and renovate pretty much how we please, and be investing in our lives together while we're at it.

Here's a block we really like. 2000m2, surrounded by bush and the Blue Mountains National Park, gently sloping, overlooking a bush valley. Few neighbours, road access, power and phone lines, but no water or sewage. Asking $105 000.

We think that's a pretty good price, a sign that things are getting real up here again. We spend long hours looking into possibilities for affording a $190 000 loan to buy the block and build a very basic shed/house with a view to renovating it as we go. I've started saving links for building.

Not having water or sewage is a bit of a problem, but not as much as the likely council requirements such as bushfire threat management, that may require us the clear the trees beyond the property boundry! I have a fort like house design in mind if this requirement becomes a reality...
Blue Mountains City Council has an excellent map service that shows a lot about the blocks for sale up here.

So we've made a few inquiries to banks, and typed our figures into the available calculators. Things look grim actually. My 'self employed' status won't help matters, and my annual income may only just scrape us in for the amount we're asking. And we still have to pull together a 10% deposit... all this to get a loan with repayments equal to the rent we pay anyway!