Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 12, 2009 1:26 pm Hey everyone! Guess I just want some opinions on things Im new to this forum! My partner and i are currently renting but have decided in a yr or so (time to save up a deposit of $25000) Want to get a porter davis house and land have already picked a few we want. Will either get the land separately or the whole porter davis package What are peoples opinions on this? Also we would have to borrow probably 350-400k has anyone borrowed this much before? How did they go with the repayments? ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE GREAT! Thanks Heaps! Re: NEED SOME SUGGESTIONS/OPINIONS BUILDING A HOUSE! 2Aug 12, 2009 2:08 pm Not sure if there would be a difference to buying a house/land package, or the land and getting a house built by a builder. Usually the land isn't owned by the builder (the blocks are still owned by the developer and put together with a builder's house for marketing). You may not like the size or location of the block. If you do like the block on offer with the house, then there wouldn't be a problem with the house/land package. As for your loan, I would suggest visiting one of the bank sites and using a home loan repayment calculator. Take the current variable loan and add 2% to it. If you can afford the repayments it tells you, then you will be ok. If you would just be getting by at the current rates, then I would say it's too much as interest rates are bound to go up over the next couple of years. Blog is now up - http://www.jbdave.blogspot.com/ Re: NEED SOME SUGGESTIONS/OPINIONS BUILDING A HOUSE! 3Aug 12, 2009 2:12 pm We went with the house & land package and from what I have heard that sort of arrangement tends to run a bit smoother. having said that the land is a pretty important piece so you should go with best block you can afford and if your building the flatter the better. Do your homework and check the section 32 for any requirements there maybe on the build. In regards to the loand say your borrowing $375K you will be looking at $2,400 pm at the mid 5% rate. The old fashioned rule of thumb is never spend more than 30% of your NET income and your really pushing it if you go over 40%. I know the banks are doing an affordabilty rate of 7.5% so you may want to do your sums on that. Most of the banks have repayment calculators. It also sounds like you will borrow more than 80% so you will have LMI to consider. Best fo luck with your choice Blog: http://funmore-residence.blogspot.com/ Forum: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=21109 Construction Start - 19/09/09 Slab Poured - 21/10/09 Frame Completed - 25/11/09 Lockup - 22/12/09 Fixing - 22/02/10 Handover & Moved In 30/04/2010 Re: NEED SOME SUGGESTIONS/OPINIONS BUILDING A HOUSE! 5Aug 13, 2009 8:46 am mandaa Has anyone else had a mortgage of $500-$600 wkly How have they coped? mandaa, I would have thought it would depend on your income levels as to how well you cope with mortgage repayments of $XXX. Someone on a relatively low income with say lots of kids and other expenses might find it diffficult, whereas someone on a higher income with no kids might find it a cinch. Our motgage repayments are nowhere near that so I can't help you personally, sorry! "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." — Elizabeth Gilbert Living in our new house. Currently scaping the land. Re: NEED SOME SUGGESTIONS/OPINIONS BUILDING A HOUSE! 6Aug 13, 2009 9:48 am The house and land package will provide fixed site costs so you will know exactly what you will be up for to build the house, without all the add-ons when you start. The risk of buying your own block and then having enormous site costs to build can be an issue. You can mitigate this in some respects by completing soil tests prior to land purchase. When we were deciding this, we couldn’t find a house and land package in the estate we wanted. I was also very picky on the direction I wanted to block to face; I didn’t want it to be on anything greater than an access road (small local road) and didn’t want a corner block. If I could have found all of these things in a house and land package with the design we wanted I definitely would have gone that way. As far as mortgages go, sit down and work out your expenses and income. It will be very clear how much you have available for a mortgage. I would also recommend going to a broker (one of the ones that doesn’t charge you like Choice, Mortgage Choice, Aussie) and sitting down with them and discuss $$. Their borrowing power calculators are much better than the ones you get online and will give you a good idea of where you stand, how much you need to save etc.etc. Big mortgages are a bit scary but if you can comfortably meet the repayments then its no more stress than a little mortgage. Re: NEED SOME SUGGESTIONS/OPINIONS BUILDING A HOUSE! 7Aug 13, 2009 10:50 am I think Siera has some good points but trust me when I say that the major banks are tightening their lending so they will test your income levels on repayments at 7.5% which is their affordability rate, or the rate in which they see it will get to in the next 2 to 3 years. In the past they would let you spend 50% of your gross income but now they get nervous when you hit 40% of your net income. Also if your a family with 2 kids they estimate your costs per month run to around the $2250 mark so you would need a net income of approximately $5k pm to afford a mid to high $300K mortgage. You still need to have a life so I personally wouldnt load myself up too much on the mortgage but as Siera said, each to thier own and all mortgages are a heavy commitment no matter the size. Do your homework and seek advice, a mortgage broker would be a good start and they can usually get you the best rate. Blog: http://funmore-residence.blogspot.com/ Forum: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=21109 Construction Start - 19/09/09 Slab Poured - 21/10/09 Frame Completed - 25/11/09 Lockup - 22/12/09 Fixing - 22/02/10 Handover & Moved In 30/04/2010 Re: NEED SOME SUGGESTIONS/OPINIONS BUILDING A HOUSE! 8Aug 13, 2009 11:01 am Hi there, Have you considered buying a block of land now, and paying off as much of that over the next 12 months? this way you are saving, building equity and avoiding paying more for a block of land next year if prices go up, which for my sake I hope they do. when it comes time for you to build the bank will lend on the total value of the completed house and land combined. as long as you have stuck to your savings plan, that should be fine. From my expirence I would avoid a broker, and shop around at the banks in person. and I totally agree with the soil test clause, ours was subject to M or H class only, and check with your builder what they allow for in there standard inclusions. 1 more thing, if you buy now, you will not be waiting months for your land to be titled before you start. chances are you will be waiting for some months now as it is. from the h&l packages we looked at, titles were not due for about 4-6 months. building is a loooooong process, if you were to buy you land now, start things rolling with your builder about 8 months before your ready. find a plan you love, change anything you want to change, shop around for everything! Do whatever you can after the build, I know you just want to get the keys to a perfect finished home, but there is so much money to be saved. By time you have gotten everything back from your builder, for the 3rd or 4th time, because it probably wont be right the first 2 times, it will probably be about the time you wanted to start. Go over everything, over and over again. I know just about which page anything in my contract is on. also things that you might not even think about like brick infills over windows instead of fibre cement. that is a long way of saying I bought land and not a package. James Re: NEED SOME SUGGESTIONS/OPINIONS BUILDING A HOUSE! 10Aug 14, 2009 12:21 pm jbdave Not sure if there would be a difference to buying a house/land package, or the land and getting a house built by a builder. Usually the land isn't owned by the builder (the blocks are still owned by the developer and put together with a builder's house for marketing). You may not like the size or location of the block. If you do like the block on offer with the house, then there wouldn't be a problem with the house/land package. As for your loan, I would suggest visiting one of the bank sites and using a home loan repayment calculator. Take the current variable loan and add 2% to it. If you can afford the repayments it tells you, then you will be ok. If you would just be getting by at the current rates, then I would say it's too much as interest rates are bound to go up over the next couple of years. I would always allow for more then 2% of a interest rate rise... you never know what they are going to do. I would see what the repayments work out to be at 10% interest. Hi, Looking to add an ensuite to one of the bedrooms and make it a Master BR. Please see the attached current floorplan. Need suggestions on what's the best way to do… 0 7339 Thank you so much for the effort. We will use it to talk with builder. We also had idea of building duplex instead and seeking suggest ions. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106744 11 13843 Hi VK, I am now retired however I have stood beside over 300 owner builders in the past 18 years that have successfully built their own homes. First of all a building… 10 22674 |