Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 21Jul 17, 2009 6:15 pm yes I agree with mortgage2009, be very diligent about any salesperson's whimsical promises that appear to satisfy your concerns at the time, but are not necessarily enforceable later... of course that is not necessarily a nava thing IYKWIM! and yes, you need to double and triple check everything every time it crosses your eyes for approval. We also found that alterations we submitted were not always done (usually, but not always), so don't get a false sense of security if plans come back looking great - look over it for a couple of days before you sign-off. I've heard of all sorts of problems with this exact situation with other builders where plans come back and they have made the changes requested, but then also changed things that were not supposed to be changed (so you are not necessarily looking for it) - and believe me, it's always to the purchasers' disadvantage (usually cheaper stuff, but without the discount!!!) All these things go on in this industry and for some reason there is no governing body regulating their practices. I know there is the HIA, but they are there for the builders IMO, not the purchasers. Finally, you do need to have a soly look over your contract. Many builders, including Nava, will say, oh it's standard, you can't change it... but that is not correct. There are many things that can be changed in your contract. let us know how you go! A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 22Aug 04, 2009 12:02 pm hi mortgage2009, you're right, we also aware that there's no perfect builder, unfortunately..... it's probably too soon to judge. but so far, we find out they're super flexible, and ian is very helpful. hopefully their final product is really fantastic and price is reasonable. we still finalizing our custom floor plan, bit and pieces and the kitchen... we quite fuzzy with the kitchen. just did color selection recently. not too satisfy with the color combination that we choose at the moment especially the kitchen, luckily, we can come back and alter it and gonna make it right next time. showroom is quite limited, but it's enough for us. never went to other builders showroom, so can't really compare though. btw, how's your progress so far? and annie is right, need to check everything every time. not too happy with what they quote for upgrade at the moment, it's come up quite pricy but they going to revise, so we'll wait and see. looking forward fotah's finish their handover we'll keep you update with our progress. i Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 23Aug 04, 2009 12:14 pm yes inf, be sure and check everything, I do all the time, that way I avoid problems (hopefully). Their upgrades and not cheap, but most builder's aren't, so you probably will find it hard to find a builder with cheap upgrades, I guess getting what they offer as standard as your ideal end product is the goal, but all builders have good and bad points, so upgrades are kinda inevitable!!! unfortunately... on a good note, we have been building with nava for a couple of months now and I receive emails from their CS girl, V, who keeps me up to date on all progress and answers all my questions (by email within 24hrs) every time... I never have to follow them up. I think this is a really desirable feature of a builder - no communication would drive me batty!!! and I think it does for some forumers with other builders... I'll keep you posted as to how I go with nava, A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 24Aug 04, 2009 12:43 pm Hi inf We have just recently signed the HIA/Builder contracts and are now waiting for formal pre-approval from our lender. They will be valuing the construction and hopefully there will not be much of a varience. If all goes well, we'll be getting a response from them in the next couple of days, and if the result is positive, we'll be paying our deposit ASAP. We are starting to get excited about the amount of progress made in the last month, but are nervous as we chase finance. According to Ian, the 'valuers' are now looking at the property prices in our area as the same as the estates that exist 5 minutes down the road, which is much closer to the city. And house prices jumped 4% in June... We'll see.... We're looking at a taking our a variable loan, currently at 5.09% and will be paying it off at 8% repayments. Ian and Leo have been great in last stages of developments, and are happy to explain aspects of the contract with you. We are very happy with our final result, and although we blew the budget by $10k, we are in love with our selections and it will look fantastic when completed. We feel there is no chance we would have gotten this result with any other larger builder. So the extra $ is worth it in our eyes. Annietom, your feedback with the CS team is great to hear! I cannot believe your roof is up already!! What was your contract signing date? Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 25Aug 04, 2009 2:40 pm hey mortgage, paying your loan off at 8% is a great idea! and yes, Ian is the forever optimistic, so I can't wait to see if your home comes up to val expectations - hope so!!! As for signing etc, our contract is actually dated 2 Feb 09, but we didn't sign off to our changes and variations until 19 May 2009, and we got a start date of 22 June. So one would assume that on 2 feb they did put into place getting us up and running, but until our changes were made (which were structural, so building permits could not be sought until we signed off on these changes and the extra $$$) they couldn't really do much until 19 May. Hence our contract date could realistically be considered 19 May. Therefore Mortgage - I'd say you will have a start date in less than a month! (oh I'm forgetting your finance isn't organised yet, that may hold it up a week or two!), still, that's good progress... yayay A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 26Aug 04, 2009 5:10 pm Thanks annietom! I have done a bit of research and most of the 5 year fixed rates are under 8% ATM. So why should I give those loans all my potential equity? It all makes sense in theroy I'll keep you all posted on the valuations - please keep your fingers crossed for us! Your turn around times are fantastic - we have finalised everything structual and colour selections are set, finance is the only outstanding hurdle! Did they say anything to you about builder annual leave times over Christmas/NY? You'll be finished by then! Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 27Aug 04, 2009 8:44 pm yeah, you know the experts were talking about people who fix their interest rates are not as smart as those who simply pay into their variable loans the fixed rates (ie. higher repayments than required) and then when interest rates get higher, which inevitably the fixed rates do too, you are already ahead. AND you have all the flexibility of a variable loan: borrow more anytime for investments, payout earlier, etc... so you have the top idea with your 8% idea, because I think the fixed rates are about 7ish??? As for holidays, they really don't say much about it. I must admit i didn't really go into with them too much because I didn't believe that they would be any different from any other builder. As you know, I'm holding them to 5mths (mid Nov) even tho the contract says 9mths!!! ararrgh... DEF fingers crossed for the loan, I think you are going to be fine where you are buying, no problems at all... When do you find out? A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 28Aug 14, 2009 12:44 pm FINALLY!! Just got confirmation on pre-approval! Bank thinks construction is worth $1200 less then we want to borrow! So happy with the result, as today economics are not as solid as they once were. From here - pay deposit, builder get building permits from council and then Bob's your uncle - we construct!! Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 29Aug 14, 2009 12:51 pm mortgage2009 FINALLY!! Just got confirmation on pre-approval! Bank thinks construction is worth $1200 less then we want to borrow! So happy with the result, as today economics are not as solid as they once were. From here - pay deposit, builder get building permits from council and then Bob's your uncle - we construct!! Where abouts are you building? and is the bank now going to lend you 100% of the value??? Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 30Aug 14, 2009 1:01 pm Hi Zerosignal We have gone for 95% value of construction, plus LMI on top of that. We're building in Manor Lakes. Cheers Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 31Aug 14, 2009 1:40 pm mortgage2009 FINALLY!! Just got confirmation on pre-approval! Bank thinks construction is worth $1200 less then we want to borrow! So happy with the result, as today economics are not as solid as they once were. From here - pay deposit, builder get building permits from council and then Bob's your uncle - we construct!! OMG mort2009 - FANTASTIC NEWS, finally alright you poor buggars!!! Can't wait to see it go up! A A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Anyone building with Nava?? 32Sep 03, 2009 5:37 pm congratulation mortgage2009, things seem going very well for you... good to hear that! can't wait to hear you start construction how are you doing annie? looks like the building progress much faster than I thought.... it's lock up stage now! look at thaat.... woow!!! how's the inspection going? hopefully everything went ok... things moving slowly on my side, we just got the floorplan after almost 4 weeks and still quite a few requests not there, so need to go through everything with them again. not sure if we can get everything done and sign contract by end of sep. really wish to get government grant but get everything right is the priority. it's getting a bit scary to request more upgrades..... price from headoffice is quite pricey, i think.... upgrade 3/4 sink to double cost about 400+, really not sure if it's normal... adding more drawer cost a lot as well... feel like everything is extra cost now... :s feel like losing the flexibility which is one of the main reason we choice 'em :s probably too early to judge, i'll see how's thing go... so... wish us luck guys.... i'll keep updating once got more progress... 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