Anybody building at Googong ?

Hi all,
Our finance has been dragging on and on, still have at least another week until we'll be ready to exchange and it has been a hard slog every step of the way so far!! Reading all your stories makes me feel that the slog is far from over too...

I'm anxious about our valuation coming in on target or under... Has anyone here had a val come in short, and if so, how far short was it (as a percentage of your purchase price or in dollars, whichever you prefer)?

Dear All,

I have been reading the posts in the past 64 pages and trying to absorb as much as i can.

Thank you all for being so informative for your sharing.
My wife and I went to the Sales centre in Googong today and felt very impressed.

And i know this questions may have been asked before, but we would appreciate a straight and direct answer to be confident at buying.
The prices of the land in Googong seems to be "fixed" and stagnant and many buyers seem to say NON NEGOTIABLE.
We are first time home and land buyers, so we are wondering has anyone experience any type of DISCOUNTS / REBATES / NEGOTIATION from CIC ?

Thanks ALL in advance!

G_W2016

Welcome G_Wannabe2016
Good on you for reading all the pages

Yes all the prices are fixed and CIC wont haggle as they know someone else will buy it.
The prices are very good anyway.

AS you are first time buyers there are advantages buying in NSW.
You get the first time buyers grant of $15000.
PLus if your lot or house and land package is under $550000 you pay no stamp duty.
This is for only new dewlings.
http://www.osr.nsw.gov.au/first-home-buyers

So you can save heaps there.

I'm quite surprised they didn't tell you this at the sales office.

Again welcome and I'm sure we may see you around before 2016

Hi all.

As mentioned above we have a block in th Vista 2 Release. We are speaking with builders now to get an idea of what we like and get a feel for.
I was wondering who people have gone with for their builds and what they have thought up to know. I know there were previous topics on this but that was a while ago, and there may (or may not) be different opinions now.

If people have gone with MJH, how have they found them?
We really like the style of their homes but the add ones seem to bump the prices ALOT! Blackett seem reasonable and so do Classic constructions.. Are there any opinions on these two either?

Looks like the fun starts now...

We are in the same release as you and have drawn it down to MJH and Blackett. The key thing to remember is that any of the builders can build pretty much anything for the same price as one of their own designs as long as it's the same size. Don't get too caught up in going with a builder you aren't nessarily happy with but have good plans.

Be watchful of hidden costs as there are heaps. Some of the builders will charge you now to fix the costs till 2b starts and others won't even tell you.

The most common advice on here is to get your builder to go up to lockup stage and then work with independent contractors to do fitouts (flooring, kitchens bathrooms etc) typically you'll save the 30% profit margin and the builders will probably hire the same guys. Just be really up front with you builder, tell them what you do and don't want and don't be afraid to change your mind at this early stage because what you definitely don't want to do is start changing things once plans are drawn up. That's very costly.

Just a note as my partner and I originally looked at a corner block. It will be more expensive as you have quite long frontages which cost a lot more and due to the set backs you'll also lose out on your backyard. Just something to think about in your design.

One thing to be aware of is the cap on the first home owner grants - if the total value of your property (house plus land) is over $650K you aren't eligible for the $15K.
You may be eligible for the new home grant scheme - you get $5K for the purchase of vacant land valued up to $450K, but you have to apply within three months of signing the contract on the land.
We missed out on all the new home owners/new grants because the value of our property is too high, and they changed the schemes around the time we brought our land. We did get the stamp duty exemption though, which was awesome!

Has anyone heard about Heat On Systems - business based in melbourne - http://www.heat-on.com.au
any reviews or suggestions as an alternative to ducted gas system?

NBN....
I checked my ISP and my address is coming up now to order NBN fibre.
Interesting to see if it is possible as. last time I checked the pit was still empty.

We are in 2B, and no NBN or no address, but then again the NBNco map doesn't even show 2B as a build in progress or anything (it's a little worrying).

On a better note. Builders started about 2 weeks ago, and we are just waiting for a slab pour

My concrete over the waffle pod was finally poured today! How long do they wait before they start putting up the frames? - pagdia

NICE!!!!

Takes a full week to dry but I have seen out there even after a couple of days of the pour they can put the frames up
while its drying underneath.
Thats if they ordered your frames about a month ago.

Will be interesting to have look once your frames are up,
I have walked through most places out there and I have to say some are very strange in there layouts.
But most are set out pretty well.

Pagdia thats great you must be relieved to see it happening, we are just about to go out for a look.
Our frame was up only days after the slab went down, seems to be the same for most of the ones ive seen out there.

Mr2psht when are you starting your build?

Hopefully this month
Bank was almost done yesterday then someone noticed one figure was out by $1000
Fixed that up, now the waiting begins again

Now I have to see if my concreter still can do it this month if it all falls into place.

- Great news about the slab Pagdia!

- Hopefully it all works out Mr2 and building can start soon for you.

Does anybody know if CIC will be slashing the almost metre high crop of weeds that have sprung up on some the blocks due to settle? Its starting to look a bit jungle like on our block from the looks of things and I don't fancy having to go and get rid of it unless a lawnmower would do the trick!

Our solicitor said that they would be asking CIC to do just that, and expected that they will comply.

Contracts exchanged on our house today, so hopefully we get some info from CIC soon so I know how long I need a lease for!

I hope they comply for us too then. And I really hope they tell us in the next fortnight that our stages are ready to settle! The email came out just under 4 weeks ago now and it said 4-5 weeks to process...

Full reception on my block today with Telstra. It was only 3G though.

oh that's good news, will check that out on the weekend for sure.

I really dont want to have to change providers during our build.

Googonians2014 - yes nice to see things finally happening, I drive buy your place when I have the time and I think I saw your windows go in the day before you went out. - pagdia