Browse Forums General Discussion Re: At stage 1, have questions, please help! 4Apr 18, 2013 10:42 pm Building the Porter Davis Dunedin 29 maybe, thinking of forfeiting deposit and going with CH or UE Re: At stage 1, have questions, please help! 6Apr 19, 2013 8:03 am We built the Wisdom Majestic 40 - moved in! Our blog - http://ourwisdommajestic40.blogspot.com.au/ Our H1 thread - viewtopic.php?t=54156 Re: At stage 1, have questions, please help! 7Apr 19, 2013 11:16 am I feel your pain... I am about to commence building my 2nd home, but built my first place 8/9 years ago as a bright eyed, excited, yet very naive young 19 year old girl, who fell desperately in love with the display homes and dreamed up how wonderful it would be to own one. 6 months later, some very scrappy saving and a bit of family help I was building, albeit on a shoestring budget with zero room for variations... I got slugged with a $25,000 variance on my siteworks! And found sewer/septic wasnt included... another $5,000 and just how little the house actually looks like the nice pretty finished display home! It was a shock... and a harsh, but valuable lesson. The display homes are cruel, they do exactly what they are designed to do - lure you in! Best advertising and marketing too! When my stupid ex and I broke up, we sold the house... mad a bit of money, not much but enough to pay the mortgage, joint debts and go our seperate ways. But, alas I was back at Square 1, no debt, but no house.... Cue 6 years later, i'm married, renting a house with my husband and have JUST saved the deposit required to get back in... He was eligible for the First Homeowners Grant (at the moment for buidling a house in SA it's $23,500 IN TOTAL!) but because we are married, he isn't now eligible We have a $8,500 construction grant we are eligible for up until June 30, but we've had to save the 5% deposit ourselves, whilst paying $400pw in rent. Every bank we went to wanted a minimum 5% of the total borrowing in genuine savings, plus enough for your fees/stamp duty etc. About $30,000 all up on a $370,000 build. We met the servicability requirements extrememely easily, but it does take a while when you are renting... as we pay nearly as much in rent as we will for our mortgage payments! Some builders do offer schemes with more minimal input upfront, and they kick in $$ for you with lending arrangements, but all of these things need to be looked into very carefully to make sure they are right for you. Certianly speak to a mortgage broker, see what grants you may be eligible for, get an idea of roughly how much you are looking to borrow (because that will determine what your deposit will be) and go from there. As everyone has said, building isn't "fixed" you need to have tolerance for cost changes, they are very likely to happen, even to the most prepared person. This site is invaluable to a new builder, i only wish it was around when I did it the first time! Don't give up on the dream! Building is incredibly exciting and gives you a great sense of satisfaction, but if you get a rush of blood to the head when you are ill prepared (as i was 9 years ago) It can fast become a very uncomfortable noose around your neck Save, save, save!! It never hurts Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66299 Slab: 16/6/14 Frame: 4/7/14 Roof: 22/7/14 Lock Up: 20/8/14 Fixing: 26/8/14 PCI: 9/10/14 Handover: 20/10/14 Not unless you have managed to put it as a special condition into the contract somehow. 1 6154 The fastest thing a builder will do is bank your cheque, those systems work perfectly with lightning speed, everything else is slow burn. Just the way it is. 1 8705 1 4693 |