PD VS CARLISLE HOME

Hi all,

We are new to this forum.... we are torn between the standford 24 -PD and Westbury 26 -Carlisle at Eve. The block that we have is a 475m2 16width and 30 length.

Any suggestions?? We are also confused with the inclusion and the quality/service....PLS HELP

Hi Deepa and welcome to the forum!

As for PD vs Charisle, I think you will find there is not much difference between them and may have to choose depending on what the current promotion is for each.

We are also building in Eve and have chosen to go with PD, so far there service has been great, and have not been mislead at all for costs.

Site costs should not be an issue in Eve as nearly all lots that are currently building have come back requiring a M class slab. Our site costs are under 5k.

Cheers Cozmo
http://fromevetoeternity.blogspot.com

I think you just have to go with which floorplan suits you & your family best, and which house you love best.

You will find positive , not so positive, and horrible experiences with every builder on the forum. The quality of service, and the build experience depends very much on the Customer Service person you are allocated, and even more so on the Site Supervisor you get, neither of which you have a say in!

Good luck!

Thank mate....

Another question : Let say the hse +land = $350k...(Including the upgrade and covenants/site cost)

what are the cost to be included ?? The only cost that I am aware of $5K for the land stamp duty plus solicitor(not sure of the cost) ......

I assume that the ‘upgrade’ you mention has included everything you need for the house

So here is some additional cost you may want to factor into your budget
- Council fee
- Water/electricity bill during the build (this is varies, some people don’t need to pay anything. I have to pay for water. So check with your builder or the contract)
- Landscaping, driveway

Post-handover – removalist (moving house), letterbox, clothesline, fencing (this will share with your future neighbour), all services connection

Talking 'cost' as in fees and what not, site cost, for us $9600, Stamp Duty, Land transfer & Fees about $555, other fees you come accross are mortgage insurance and other bank associate cost (set up fee etc), that is usually kept separate my understanding is, we used the FHOG for all that stuff!

How much would a solicitor cost ?? Are this service provided by the developer/builder/ bank or I will need to look for one....

If so could someone suggest a solicitor?

We used a conveyers costed with title $600! Better off using a conveyers, independent one to your land office, thats what l was told, l can give you my conveyers, but their in Hoppers Crossing, they were good, but going by your location, not going to help you! so yellow page conveyers ring around, we were quoted $600 to $750

We are using:

Enigma Conveyancing
PO Box 634, Beaconsfield Vic 3807
Ph : 9707 4986
Em : kylee@enigmaconveyancing.com

$550 flat fee. This will cover all legal reqquirments for the transfer of the land. If you want advise about the building conctract as well you would be better off with a solicitor but the costs will be higher.

Here you go a breakdown of fee's for a 190k block on a 400k total house and land loan.
Since you are looking at 350k this should give you plenty of buffer.

Fees breakdown:
Application fee: $500
Conveyancing: $600
Miscellaneous: $500
Land stamp duty: $5,770
Valuation Fee: $150
Transfer of land: $560
Subtotal: $8,080
Mortgage Insurance $9,082
Total fees: $17,162

Thanks Cozmo....this information is a great help

We have decided to go with PD after going through all the inclusions and promotions from both companies. So far it's OK although I got a bit angry at their hop3toun3 display which you can visit without appointment on weekends (what they have as a standard is either cheap or being passed on as a promotion! talk about false advertising!). This is only the beginning and I'm preparing myself for the worst. Already told us site cost will be approx $11000 . Met with a guy working for another builder on the site when I went to see the progress on "our" land (new estate, land not titled yet) He was telling me how new home owners were getting ripped off from "these extra site cost". Our land is +/ 800m2 (20x40) with +/ 1m of fall towards the end of the block. This guy told me i could get the land ready (cut and fill) for under $1000 This includes labour and equipment hire for there are several blocks that need work done in the same estate. I thought it was too good to be true so I politely said thank you and walked away. I'll call PD on Monday to check that i can have this done through a third party because if your house requires an m class slab and has less than 300mm of fall, no rocks removal etc, your site cost is included in the base price of the house not $11000 extra!
We have also been waiting for our soil report since the 5th of Dec . They didn't check if the land was ready to perform a soil survey (it had 2 pile of dirt on it and they went ahead to do a partial one). The best part is that Admin asked me to let them know when any work will be completed so they can send someone again to finalise the soil survey. They could have been more efficient and ring up the land sale people instead to find that out in the first place. We hope it will be in before end of Jan. like I said...It's only the beginning [quote][/quote]

These days you don't have to pay for application or valuation fees for your loan. Lenders compete with each other to waive these. If you are not offered a waiver, just mention this. Some mortgage brokers also have campaigns to reimburse partly if the lender you choose charges these fees.

Thanks guys...

Whats your opinion on Broker choice home ? Used by PD

site cost is a big rip off from most volume builders, but not so much you can do about it.

The broker franchise name in most cases means nothing, as at the end of the day all brokers work individually and they all have varying degrees of experience. It's a bit like real estate agents, you don't find all R** W**** or R&W franchises to have the same experience and service.

You need to find a broker (i.e. the person and not the franchise chain) based on actual recommendations by people you know.

We are building with PD shortly and went through Choice homeloans. Their service is EXCELLENT. Nothing was too much trouble, the mortgage consultant (Sonia) would go out of her way to fit in our appts as we had a tight schedule. And since getting the loan approved, the admin side always update me on what's happening by email or phone calls.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

By the way, we didn't have too many problems with Hope_toun either and managed to get all our colours and electricals with only $4000 in upgrades. But that does include porcelain tiles

With a public endorsement like that, what more can i say?