Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 27, 2010 8:13 am Argh, I'm so bloody confused!! I'm not really sure what we should be doing first. Should we pick a house, and then when the land we want is released in 2-3 months, try to pick a block that suits, or do we wait until we've put a deposit down, and hope we find a house plan we like that fits?? I'm inclined to do the latter, from a budget point of view (I'd really like to limit our land budget to around 175 - 185K), but then the house plan I love (Carlisle Riverton) needs a 16m frontage. Once we've put the deposit down, I take thats when we meet with the builders we like to discuss pricing, Or do I go back to the broker first and get the full pre-approval?? Land not likely to settle until Nov-Dec (Hopefully Nov!) so is there much point getting the pre-approval in May?? I know I'm probably panicking a bit earlier about this, but mostly I'm bit excited about finally having the go ahead, and partly because its already March on Monday and I have no idea what happened to Jan or Feb, this year seems to be going even faster then last year (yay! for that by the way!). Someone needs to write a instruction book for this!!! Can you tell me how you timeline of events went, and whether this worked really well, or if you'd rather have done in another way. Cheers!!! ~W~ Building our forever home - Lilium Estate Clyde - Land due May 2019 Built our first home - Pakenham - 2011 Re: How did your timeline go?? 2Feb 27, 2010 8:26 am It is a classic "egg-chicken" question. When we were shopping around for for both we also wanted to select a house and then the land.. Did not quite work like we expected - to start with, most of builders want to hear about your land and once you say you have none, quite often the level of their interest in you drops below zero... So we did a few iterations of the sequence "home-land" with each one getting better and better understanding of house we wanted and land we could and were allowed to erect such a building. Unfortunately different estates and suburbs have different regulations that may prevent a particular dwelling from being erected as well as some builders simply would not build in your area (had such experience with Allworth Homes - it is a shame as their homes are very good, at least looked good in the Display Village)... So, our iterations resulted in us knowing exactly what we wanted, understanding were we could build it etc and the final decision was an easy one... Purchased land, initiated the tender process with a builder. Money-wise - understanding our financial capacity was the very first step we made. Pre-approval does not hurt - it is a simple assessment of your financial situation that will determine your borrowing capacity. Unfortunately, when you start getting unconditional approvals for both land and the house, the bank will do their evaluations and no guarantee that these valuations will reflect the price you're ready to pay for the land or the construction. In my case, I had to fight with the bank in each valuation (land and the house) and could win the land only. With the home, "thanks" to grim outlook on the financial market, the bank came with 50K less, meaning more out of pocket expenses for me (smaller debt as well)... ... built a Promenade with Clarendon. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25104 20-10-09 - excavation and piering completed ... 12-04-10 - Basins fixed. Connecting to the electrical grid 23-04-10 - PCI 07-05-10 - HANDOVER! Re: How did your timeline go?? 3Feb 27, 2010 8:34 am We did things in this order... 1. Found a broker, obtained pre-approval for loan amount 2. Found land, put deposit down (did this in Feb, land settled in Sep) 3. Found house plan to suit the block 4. Built house on block If you have your heart set on a certain design from a certain builder, maybe they could be a little flexible with the floor plan, so if your block was narrower they could still somehow accommodate most of the design you like. Also make sure you read the design guildelines for your estate. Our land is 18.5m wide, but we had to allow for 2m setbacks on each side boundary, so we had to find a floor plan 14.5m wide or less. Re: How did your timeline go?? 4Feb 27, 2010 9:39 am Similar to Aaron & Erin: 1. Spoke to bank, filled out job details etc and got pre-approval for land. 2. Bought land 3. Hunted high & low til we found a plan that suited us and block 4. Went back to bank and got pre-approval for that amount 5. Signed conracts with builders 6. Bank approved final amount 7. Started building We also made it complicated by selling our house right in th emiddle of that of course I wouldn't actually purchase a block of land until you know the bank will definitely give you money to fund the rest. Have you gone through the basic paperwork with employment details, debts, etc? Good luck! Caz Caz & Co ALL MOVED IN!! Now comes all the hard work-decorating.... [b]Blog: http://cazoraz.blogspot.com/ Settling in Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36993 Re: How did your timeline go?? 5Feb 27, 2010 10:27 am We did it the other way around. Decided what size mortgage we would be comfortable with Found the builder we wanted to build with - we liked 3 of their designs Found land - this took a few months and we had a soil test done prior to paying deposit Sold our house Got pre approval Went to contract Re: How did your timeline go?? 6Feb 27, 2010 11:40 am cazoraz I wouldn't actually purchase a block of land until you know the bank will definitely give you money to fund the rest. Have you gone through the basic paperwork with employment details, debts, etc? Yep done all that Its not an official pre-approval, but went through all that with the broker, with pay slips and bank records etc, and he's come back with a set of lenders and what they'd be happy to approve us for. This approach was great because I'd rather go through a bigger lender then a smaller credit union, just for security but it was good see the difference in them. Having said all that, I really couldn't be less interested in a mortgage the size of what they're happy to give us. Although it would give me the house that I want with all the extra inclusions. I am worried about the valuation of the house, so I guess I need to work out what inclusion make what difference to the valuations, and what would seriously be cheaper to do after handover. For instance, M3tr!con Lancater 25, is a plan that I also like, its very much a layout I can see working for our family, but the price (156K) doesn't include flooring, or overhead cupboards in the kitchen). The Riverton is more 30K more then that, but includes flooring and the kitchen cupboards and more. I know I can do the flooring after handover, for way less then 30K, but I guess its issue of how much easier a turnkey package seems. DH thinks we should set up a meeting with the builders we like after we've put a deposit on land, so see what we can do. I think this is a good idea, but I also don't want to be sold into something I'm going to regret later (control freak much?). ~W~ Building our forever home - Lilium Estate Clyde - Land due May 2019 Built our first home - Pakenham - 2011 Re: How did your timeline go?? 7Feb 27, 2010 11:59 am YAY for pre-approval! If they have approved you for enough for the land and house you want (example $400k??), I would go talk to builders now to see how much the house that you like with all the inclusions you want will be, so that will give you how much you can spend on the land, IYKWIM. They can give you a ball park figure of how much it will be, because of course the base price they advertise is never how much it is, once you add on site costs, inclusions, etc. Have the estate indicated how much the site costs would be on that stage? Caz & Co ALL MOVED IN!! Now comes all the hard work-decorating.... [b]Blog: http://cazoraz.blogspot.com/ Settling in Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36993 Re: How did your timeline go?? 8Feb 27, 2010 12:04 pm thanks for asking the question as I was wondering what order it all went in aswell. we are doing a house and land package so we are currently waiting on preapproval. what we are thinking of doing is working out what house we like and looking for a land that sounds it as if we want a big house we cant buy a narrow block (which seems to be the way with lots of estates these days that they are suitable more for the narrow blocks) ARIANA "Put an offer on land in Piara Waters march 2010 RIVA Estate" titles June 2011 Site works 7 July 2011 Our slab is down, walls are up and roof is tiled, electrician in 26/9/11 Re: How did your timeline go?? 9Feb 27, 2010 12:09 pm It's such an annoying balance isn't it Ariana!!! Welcome, by the way !!! Where are you looking to live so far?? I guess I'm lucky that I have an estate that I really have loved for years and years, but was worried about power lines at the back of the estate. Finally a section on the other side is being released so we're jumping at the chance. ~W~ Building our forever home - Lilium Estate Clyde - Land due May 2019 Built our first home - Pakenham - 2011 Re: How did your timeline go?? 10Feb 27, 2010 2:53 pm There's no right way to do it....sometimes circumstances dictate how things will go. It's interesting to read about different people's experiences though. Ours went like this: We'd been looking at both house designs and land for a few months, with no decisions even on which estate we wanted to buy in. Then I found the house, got a quote from the builder, crunched the budget numbers to be sure we could afford all that we wanted, and went looking for land in earnest. That was March 2007. I went to the bank and got provisional approval based on the quoted house price and a ballpark figure for land. That wasn't a drama anyway, since we were borrowing well under what they'd lend on normal margins and I knew we'd be approved (just covering all our bases ). We finally found our land in early April - which was tricky because we needed a decent-sized block and while there were quite a lot around, almost none of them faced the right direction. We signed the contract with an expected August/September settlement date, put our house on the market in May, sold a week later. As soon as the sale became unconditional the first week in June, I was back at the display home to pay a deposit and lock in the price on the house. Our house settlement went through in September and we moved into rental accommodation. Land settled November and we were good to go for a New Year start in 2008. Phew. ...and that was the easy part. Re: How did your timeline go?? 11Feb 27, 2010 3:13 pm cazoraz If they have approved you for enough for the land and house you want (example $400k??), I would go talk to builders now to see how much the house that you like with all the inclusions you want will be, so that will give you how much you can spend on the land, IYKWIM. They can give you a ball park figure of how much it will be, because of course the base price they advertise is never how much it is, once you add on site costs, inclusions, etc. Have the estate indicated how much the site costs would be on that stage? I've just asked the site cost question in the BR thread, estate says its "reasonable" *rollseyes*. We've made an appointment with Metricon for the end of March, I'm not sure how much they'll be keen they'll be given we wont have secured the land yet. But I think its a good idea to go. DH is behaving so far, and has agreed. kek Phew. ...and that was the easy part. Oh god!!!! hehehehehe ~W~ Building our forever home - Lilium Estate Clyde - Land due May 2019 Built our first home - Pakenham - 2011 Re: How did your timeline go?? 12Apr 10, 2010 1:23 am *frosty* It's such an annoying balance isn't it Ariana!!! Welcome, by the way !!! We have put an offer in for some land in Piara Waters Western Australia. We wont know whats happening until the titles are released and approval has come through. But we have chosen a four bedroom house plan http://www.homestart.net.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=8 with homestart We have already run into a couple of issues where we cant have the contemporary design as we have to have gables with it and we had to extend our theatre room by 1600mm in order to be able to fit to the councils requirements of having majority of the front of the section of land used ARIANA "Put an offer on land in Piara Waters march 2010 RIVA Estate" titles June 2011 Site works 7 July 2011 Our slab is down, walls are up and roof is tiled, electrician in 26/9/11 Re: How did your timeline go?? 13Apr 10, 2010 11:00 am Ours was different again. As we wanted to build in an established suburb and we were very fussy about what house we wanted we: - got an idea of our finances - found a house that we loved - put a deposit on the house to lock in a base price (May 2008) - modified the plans on the house - looked for land for 12 months (very frustrating and not very fun) - bought a block with a house on it (Settled July 2009) - tried to fully engage the builder immediately (April 2009) - finally commenced building, yesterday. (April 2010) This was without the requirement of a planning permit, just a building permit. I have heard that the planning process can push things out another two years. View our blog at: http://room4acubby.blogspot.com/ Re: How did your timeline go?? 14Apr 10, 2010 5:20 pm Found a house Went to bank Grabbed the land ..hell I can't remember anymore. Re: How did your timeline go?? 15Apr 10, 2010 5:45 pm Found the house (by accident, we weren't really looking). Found land and paid deposit "subject to finance". Got a bridging loan to build. Built house, sold our existing house and did one straight move Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: How did your timeline go?? 16Apr 10, 2010 10:13 pm Hels Found the house (by accident, we weren't really looking). I like that "found the house by accident", its a bit like how we decided that we were going to build...we just sort of fell into it and before we know it everything was happening (very quickly). ARIANA "Put an offer on land in Piara Waters march 2010 RIVA Estate" titles June 2011 Site works 7 July 2011 Our slab is down, walls are up and roof is tiled, electrician in 26/9/11 Re: How did your timeline go?? 17Apr 10, 2010 10:21 pm Ariana82 Hels Found the house (by accident, we weren't really looking). I like that "found the house by accident", its a bit like how we decided that we were going to build...we just sort of fell into it and before we know it everything was happening (very quickly). we were actually having a sticky beak at someone else's house (that I knew) and now we live in the same street As for the display, we walked in it (again just to have a sticky beak) and decided on the spot that we wanted to build it. Funny how some things work out isn't it? And I guess it was meant to be as I had a small win on the lotto (on my birthday) and used that for the deposit on the land. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: How did your timeline go?? 18Apr 10, 2010 10:30 pm Hels Funny how some things work out isn't it? And I guess it was meant to be as I had a small win on the lotto (on my birthday) and used that for the deposit on the land. Wow that is a wonderful story Hels it really is funny how things work out.... Mine was a rep phoned up and asked if they could talk to me about building a home... I was at home with the day off work and normally I say no but my hubby and I had been thinking about building but done nothing more than mention it for a future plan I had one of the qualifers do a check to see if we fitted and then a week later we had a rep come around and go thru things with my hubby and I. Then we were sold and we really liked the team that they had from the mortgage broker, the financial adviser and the sales rep and the team was great and helpful and they didnt just tell us the fairy tales they gave us the worst case scenarios and told us ways how to save on different areas (by not getting everything through them)... Then they told us exactly what is not included and what the additional costs would be (which I admired as most sales rep just tell you the gloss good stuff until after you have signed on the dotted line).. ARIANA "Put an offer on land in Piara Waters march 2010 RIVA Estate" titles June 2011 Site works 7 July 2011 Our slab is down, walls are up and roof is tiled, electrician in 26/9/11 Re: How did your timeline go?? 19Apr 10, 2010 10:33 pm Ariana82 Hels Funny how some things work out isn't it? And I guess it was meant to be as I had a small win on the lotto (on my birthday) and used that for the deposit on the land. Wow that is a wonderful story Hels it really is funny how things work out.... Mine was a rep phoned up and asked if they could talk to me about building a home... I was at home with the day off work and normally I say no but my hubby and I had been thinking about building but done nothing more than mention it for a future plan I had one of the qualifers do a check to see if we fitted and then a week later we had a rep come around and go thru things with my hubby and I. Then we were sold and we really liked the team that they had from the mortgage broker, the financial adviser and the sales rep and the team was great and helpful and they didnt just tell us the fairy tales they gave us the worst case scenarios and told us ways how to save on different areas (by not getting everything through them)... Then they told us exactly what is not included and what the additional costs would be (which I admired as most sales rep just tell you the gloss good stuff until after you have signed on the dotted line).. That's an awesome story too, I guess you would call it "fate". Just wondering how they got your phone number, was it just a random telemarketed call? Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: How did your timeline go?? 20Apr 10, 2010 10:35 pm Hels That's an awesome story too, I guess you would call it "fate". Just wondering how they got your phone number, was it just a random telemarketed call? To be honest I have never really thought about it... it must have been a telemarketer calls - which is funny as I have just put my name recently on the do not call register ARIANA "Put an offer on land in Piara Waters march 2010 RIVA Estate" titles June 2011 Site works 7 July 2011 Our slab is down, walls are up and roof is tiled, electrician in 26/9/11 No the fireplace doesn’t work. It’s been enclosed. I’m not sure what was removed, as it was done quite some time ago - well before what I can see with photos online… 2 11585 Thanks mate. 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