Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Apr 19, 2009 6:33 pm DH & I want to buy land at Eynesbury. We've never done it before, buying land and building that is, our current home we bought established. So we are green, green, greeeeen. So my mother says (imagine annoying know-everything tone of voice) "well make sure you beware of any hidden costs". I never did get that expression...how can you watch out for the hidden costs...if you knew what they were, they wouldn't bloody well be hidden costs now would they?!! So what other than stamp duty, are the additional costs involved in buying land? Both legal and otherwise. Ta in advance... E.J. Re: Buying Land 2Apr 19, 2009 6:38 pm I think there's two main ones. Your estate covenants and your site costs. Estate convenants are the requirements your house must meet to build on that block. That could include: Render.... add a few k. Higher ceilings..... add a few k. Corner treatment for a corner block...... can add up to and over 10k. Site costs...... upgraded slab, rock and/or slope can add anywhere between a couple of k to over 50k. That wasn't a typo... 50k. Familiarise yourself with your estate covenants and factor them into your budget. Also gather information on the soil conditions of the estate to give you a guide. All blocks are different so you could make the sale subject to a satisfactory soil test. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Buying Land 3Apr 19, 2009 6:45 pm So in what circumstances would you need an upgraded slab? How do you find out these things? Are they in the contract when you buy the land? I would guess then it would be preferable to know what you intend to build before purchasing land so you can talk to your builder and find out what's required? Yay or nay? What's a satisfactory soil test? Or rather unsatisfactory? This is all beginning to sound much too much like hard work to me! Re: Buying Land 4Apr 19, 2009 6:56 pm This is a rough guess about Eynesbury. I don't know anyone that has built there, but I've had a look around. Very nice! My understanding was that only certain builders were able to build there... M3tricon, Urban Edge and a number of others. I think these builders actually produced Eynesbury options for some plans. Not 100% sure on this though. I think that some facades had to be modified and corner treatments were quite strict. This may have changed though. I'd guess you'd need a H class slab out there (most builders have an M as standard, H will add money). It looks pretty flat, but most builders allow 300mm of fall. Anything above that you will pay for. Not sure about rock, but considering there is a heap of rock at Melton and Tarneit I'd guess it is a real possibility. You will have to pay for the removal of this. Talk to the sales office at Eynesbury. They will give you more information. Perhaps consider a house and land package with one of the approved builders? There covenants were quite strict when I chacked them out, but that was for the very first stages..... things may have been relaxed a little. Don't worry.... when you start thinking about this stuff... your head explodes! Then you sort through the info and things will become clearer. Here's a link to Urban Edge about their adaption of their plans to suit Eynesbury.. http://www.urbanedgehomes.com.au/eynesb ... esbury.htm I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Buying Land 5Apr 19, 2009 8:13 pm Thanks so much, that's just the kind of stuff I want to know, will be writing it down to ask. Yes you are right, only certain builders can build there. I've been thru probably about 90% of the designs of every single builder and none of them so far come close to what we're after. The facades we have no problem with - there's many that suit our taste. It's the floorplans we're having trouble with. However I called the sales office today and he told me if we had a design of our own that meets their requirements (which we do and it does), off the top of his head at least 4 of the builders would build our plan. So that's reassuring to know. However I'm beginning to think the cost is going to blow out to way more than we're prepared to spend, which is why I need to know all these extras, or at least as much as I can, beforehand so we can get a true indication of what we're up for now and not when it's too late. ETA We did think about a H&L package...but as we can't find anything we really love, we'd be compromising in a big way. It will be our 2nd home, and we plan to live there for a very long time so I want to get it right. However having said that, I'm still not closed to the idea...I'm going to keep looking for H&L packages in case something strikes our fancy. I think I'd be willing to give up the flexibility that comes with buying land separately then building later, in order to forego the headaches and the mystery of the end price that go with it. One thing that did put me off tho is I heard that when you buy land you pay land stamp duty only (which obviously is very minimal in comparison to say buying an established house), but when you buy a H&L package you pay the same stamp duty that you would on an established house. Is that right? EJ. Re: Buying Land 6Apr 20, 2009 10:47 pm ejb, We are about to start building at Eynesbury. As joles said in her post, you need to be aware that depending on the type of block you buy, you need to factor in the extra costs . Corner allotments and the golf course blocks need extra treatments on side or rear elevations which will increase the build cost. Another thing you need to be aware of is the owners association which you need to pay a quartlerly fee for the upkeep of the forest and parklands. If you can get past this stuff, it is a lovely place that is different to most other estates. Good luck with your search. Re: Buying Land 7Apr 22, 2009 9:06 pm I read about the Owner's association...I have a vague idea I also read about a body corporate. Do I have that wrong? Will you only be paying fees to the OA? How much are the OA fees? This is all doing my head in. The biggest problem as I see it is I really don't want to buy land and then build - the unknown quantity of doing it that way doesn't appeal to me at all (ie. the hidden costs), I'd find it too stressful...heck I'm finding it stressful now and we only decided this on Saturday! I'd rather do a H&L package. But, as I said in my earlier post, we already have a house we want to build that we are in love with, but unfortunately it's not by an Eynesbury builder. So that means we'd have to buy a block, change the plan by 17%, and choose an Eynesbury builder who will build it. In other words, we can't do a H&L package. We need to get out there and look at some displays - I'm hoping we can find something we really love, more than the house we have our heart set on, so that we can then just do a H&L package and be done with it. Hornet did you do a H&L or have you done it the hard way? Who are you building with? If we do this, we've even got our current home sold - friends have already told us they want to buy our home as an investment property, and rent it back to us until we're built and ready to move. How easy is that?! So I guess that's half the stress of taken off our minds. Re: Buying Land 8Apr 24, 2009 10:21 pm Hi ejb, The fees are payed to the owners association. They are paid quarterly and of the top of my head are around $1400 a year. We bought land from the builder but changed the house that was originally planned for the lot. We are building with Urbanedge and they have been fantastic. Metricon, AVJ, Burbank, Orbit, Donna & Bella Haven homes are yet to open their displays, but once they are open this should give a bit more clarity of what is available. It is hard at the moment I suppose for buyers to fully picture what they will end up with. Luckily for us the design and builder we wanted to go with are building in the estate. Good luck with it all Re: Buying Land 9Jun 16, 2009 8:53 pm Quote: One thing that did put me off tho is I heard that when you buy land you pay land stamp duty only (which obviously is very minimal in comparison to say buying an established house), but when you buy a H&L package you pay the same stamp duty that you would on an established house. Is that right? No it is not right. We did a house/land package and only paid stamp duty on the land - paid for land as separate contract to construction and then paid standard construction installments as house was built. The only packages that you would pay stamp duty on house and land are what is referred to (in SA anyway) as turnkey packages - in these the builder offers a finished package (although sometimes you have limited choices in changing colours etc, depending when you sign into it) and you only pay the total price at settlement - like an established house. Re: Buying Land 10Sep 04, 2009 1:37 pm Im going to have a look at two blocks tomorrow, both are new release by a large developers. I want to place a HOLD the first block, then quickly check out the other block as well. Question is, what are the normal procedures when placing a block on hold? I assume there would be a small deposit, but is it normally refundable if you dont end up purchasing it? How long can you hold a block for generally? 12 March 2010 - Land titles received 3 April 2010 - Signed building contract 14 April 2010 - Prestart 28 April 2010 - Loan approved 30 June 2010 - Slab completed 27 August 2010 - Brickwork completed 22 September 2010 - Roofing completed 30 September 2010 - Internal walls plastered 12 October 2010 - Lock Up 19 November 2010 - PCI 26 November 2010 - Handover 29 December 2010 - Moved In https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=32584 Yeah I don't know why I came to a forum. Place is full of wierdos/pedos thought internet may help but I suppose I'll try my luck with someone in person. Cheers. I tried… 0 6439 Need advice on the backyard plan above. Should I excavate and cut all of the dirt to level with the house slab or semi-excavate as per photo above? Both left and right… 0 24860 13 6631 |