Why you decided to build?

vanderlay · Mar 08, 2007 4:38 pm

Hey all...was just curious as to what was the main reason in deciding to build? ie - couldnt find an established house you liked/ always wanted a new house/ have built before...etc...

We never set out to build but after a year of looking for an established house, not finding anything and dealing with real estate agents :evil:

...we decided to go down the building track!! Starting May with PD.

What made you guys decide to build?

shooey · Mar 08, 2007 4:50 pm

We didn't really see anything that stood out on the market, so we started looking at displays, not seriously at first

Then we found the house we are building and fell in love, looked that arvo and found a block of land for the right price and it all just happened!

First_Timer_Ray · Mar 08, 2007 4:53 pm

We expected to buy an established house, but when looking on realestate.com I came across a bargain I thought we couldn't refuse - which is now our block...

~Ray.

sneakersss · Mar 08, 2007 5:20 pm

vanderlay

Hey all...was just curious as to what was the main reason in deciding to build? ie - couldnt find an established house you liked/ always wanted a new house/ have built before...etc...

We never set out to build but after a year of looking for an established house, not finding anything and dealing with real estate agents :evil:

...we decided to go down the building track!! Starting May with PD.

What made you guys decide to build?

Similar to your situation, really. We thought that a building a new house would be out of reach so we started looking at established homes. Couldn't find anything at all. It either lacked this or lacked that.

When we did the calculations an established house in the area we were looking at would cost us the same as a newly built house - just bigger, better and with everything we wanted.

Then, like First_Timer_Ray, we stumbled upon a good deal on a block of land (after we made a firm decision about where we wanted to build/live) and the rest is history.

Actually, we weren't planning to buy/build until sometime in 2008. But then we lived next to the worst neighbours EVER and that's when we decided that we would no longer rent and have to put up with shared walls! I guess good things come out of bad situations.

vanderlay · Mar 08, 2007 5:38 pm

Interesting that others seem to "fall into it" rather than start out that way!

We had always assumed that buliding would be a more expensive way to go, but it seems we will be getting a brand new house with pretty much everything we want for the same price as we were going to spend on an established home - which are always a compromise in some way.

So as long as they build it well.....then all happy

sneakersss · Mar 08, 2007 5:46 pm

vanderlay

So as long as they build it well.....then all happy

You could've possibly mentioned it before (and I'm just too lazy to look it up - what with it being the end of the workday and all) but where/what/who are you building with? And what stage are you at?

A few years ago (when the Bf and I were still in Uni and dreaming about our own house) I had always said that I wanted to build a brand new, big two storey house. Now, that one would be out of our reach!

Then I decided to change my mind because I didn't want to have to clean such a big house! Haha Then we thought established, then moved to building. It wasn't so much a case of 'falling into it', but weighing up the two options and seeing what was more feasible and worthwhile. At least in our opinion anyway.

Out of the 5 couples that I know who have plunged into the property market only 1 of them has bought an established. 3 are either building or have built and one bought off the plan.

vanderlay · Mar 08, 2007 5:52 pm

we are building with PD - it's the "Dromana" with an bit of an extension to the rear. We are starting in May, tender/contracts etc done, just waiting on town planning approval..

Michelle · Mar 08, 2007 8:58 pm

Two years ago it was the trend to buy an established home or unit and do it up.
But that was when the housing market was high!

So in-between this time frame the project homes seemed to have dropped their prices slightly to compete with that current trend. (clever them!) This is why so many people are able to build now. Adding to the fact that there are some really neat designs in homes out there now.

I myself am able to walk into many established homes and see great potential in them as perfect
fixer –uppers . I guess it depends on what you want, and are willing to do.

Good luck to you all….and have fun building!

shooey · Mar 09, 2007 11:34 am

Yeah 2 years ago we bought established and did it up, this time we decided we wanted someone else to make the house what we want lol

We enjoyed fixing our place up, but I think alot of emotion goes into it (I guess the same will happen now we are building too!)

vanderlay · Mar 09, 2007 11:38 am

Being completely useless as far as any sort of renovation work goes it was either brand new or enstablished where someone else has done the work! Very jealous of those with the vision and ability to do something up

epiphany · Mar 09, 2007 4:05 pm

We moved to Melbourne from New Zealand at the beginning of 2005. We owned our home back in NZ & were renting it out until we had decided what we wanted to do over here.

We rented here initially (a horrible place that I will be glad to be out of), then toyed with the idea of building as we realised we were definately staying here for the forseeable future. Then some fantastic land became available & we made the decision to build. Our house back in NZ was on the market for 3 days & sold in time to make a downpayment on the piece of land we now own.

We started our Porter Davis house in Nov of last year. Handover should be in a couple of weeks. Yay.

Gabriela · Mar 09, 2007 6:56 pm

It's been my dream to build a new house since I walked into my first display home many years ago...

After buying our first house, and having 2 kids, we decided it was too small.
I got sick of going up and down the stairs (though the kids loved them!)
We had a single carport and hated it... We found ourselves constantly thinking of how we could renovate just about everything you could think of and started by ripping out the carpets. Then I wanted to change the kitchen, bathrooms, backyard, garage, restore the roof and render the house. Huge amount of money (no, we're not handy at all)

So we bought a bigger newer house. More rooms however, meant more places for the kids to make a mess in ! Although the kitchen was nice it wasn't my dream kitchen. And the garage didn't have inside access, and the ensuite was too small, and I couldn't see what the kids were up to in the back yard when I was inside the house.

When the estate we long admired had only one large wide frontage block left, we decided it was now or never !

We've submitted our plans to council, and I'll be spending the next 3 months making painful decisions about what colour our house will be !

I never knew I could be so indecisive though, with so many choices out there, I keep changing my mind ! Has anyone out there had the same problem ???

Justin · Mar 09, 2007 9:25 pm

We have a 13sq post-war (1948 no redeeming period features) three bedroom place in Melb SE burbs. Did a partial reno (kitchen & bath) before kid number 1. Great for hubby & wife, not so great 2 kids later.....just too small, no storage space.

Engaged an architect to design a 25sq down & upstairs extension/reno, loved the layout, got builders to quote based on draft schematic plans. HORROR...big dollars, more disclaimers in the quotes than you can point a stick at, owing to integrating the old with the new, too many unknowns etc.

Parted ways (amicably) with the architect, and got his blessing to use the basic plans to talk to volume builders regarding their existing designs. Money on the architect was well spent, we knew what we wanted and could demonstrate it to the builders with the plans.

Found these guys :

http://www.marshallbakerhomes.com.au/

And one of their designs that closely matched ours for the ground floor, top floor they were happy to graft our design onto their's (Insert "Hallelujah" music here).

So far, it looks like we're getting a brand new 35sq place (inc garage, portico & balcony) for around 75% of the price that we were quoted as estimates for our extension ! Now that's a compelling case for building.

Now if we can just find a bloody rental property to live live in ( see http://www.forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=1425 ) everything would be just peachy......Hmmm, I need another glass of red now....

Cheers,

Justin.

Phillshz · Sep 09, 2010 2:15 pm

vanderlay

Interesting that others seem to "fall into it" rather than start out that way!

We had always assumed that buliding would be a more expensive way to go, but it seems we will be getting a brand new house with pretty much everything we want for the same price as we were going to spend on an established home - which are always a compromise in some way.

So as long as they build it well.....then all happy

Same here aswell. $350,000-$380,000 for a 15-30 yr old house in western sydney or $420,000 for brand new 20sq house. Minus the $16,500 grant for building a new house and a $5000 top up from delfin when your block of land settles nets you a new house for $399,500. $19,500 isn`t much more to pay for a brand spankers new house. ::celeb::

Edit: For myself and my wife it boils down to economics. New place is 420k. Sell my unit and take the profit/amount paid off mortage from the sale(60k) the 21.5k grant. Live with the outlaws rent and bill free for 6mths while house is being built(save 25k)
So you take 21.5k, 60k, 25k nets you 106.5k Take that away from 420k nets you 313.5k
Old house at 313k or new house for 333k, sells itself really.

jimsy · Sep 09, 2010 5:39 pm

We focused on knock-down-rebuild. Find the location you want. Build the house you want. Best of both worlds. Try really hard to keep in budget!

Eve Dweller · Sep 09, 2010 5:57 pm

As mentioned before - economics

Existing house (~$500K) FHOG $7,500 - Stamp Duty $35,000. Money I would need to burn $27,500

New house (~$500K) FHOG $25,000 - Stamp Duty $6,000. Money in my pocket (less rent till build complete of course) $19,000

buildingwest · Sep 09, 2010 6:19 pm

Hi,

For me financially it is also a better move (reduced stamp duty).

I also like the security of having the builders warranty, new appliances etc so I know I should not have a lot of unexpected maintenance problems in the earlier years of paying off the mortgage.

Michelle

Echo · Sep 09, 2010 6:49 pm

The wife and I decided that we needed a sh!t load of new dramas in our life and wanted to know how it would feel banging our heads against a wall for 22 months and still counting. ::lol::

Serentity · Sep 09, 2010 7:22 pm

ROFL Echo..

We decided to build as our Townhouse is getting to small for us. Plus I did not what to pay Full stamp duty AGAIN!

Serentity.

RoadkillNZ · Sep 09, 2010 9:28 pm

Removing anything with any information about our build.