Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 2Mar 24, 2011 6:17 pm We choose Resolve as out finance broker and the broker was very unprofessional. It took us 6 months to get our pre approval. Homebuyers centre had a product call no deposit home loan with Bluebay, and after we paid the despoit to land and house they told us that product is no longer available and we need nearly $8000 as the deposit. We told them that we do have that much money and then they asked us to wait till they bring a similar product back. It took couple of weeks and finally they said they only need $3000 which we were able to do. During this time we nearly lost the deposit we paid to land because the contract to purchase land was exipred and had to extend more than 5-6 times. After all, during pre start we were told that there a huge cross over and we need to build that by ourselves which costs another extra 3000-4000. Either Homebuyers centre sals rep or the land sales rep did not bothered to tell us about this before hand. Broker told us earlier we only need $3000 during the settlement, but just a day before settlement he came back saying that we need $4000 not $3000. And on top of that the homebuyers centre sales rep is no longer working there so we had to find out who is looking after our case. Not just him the pre start person is also not working because she had some other issues. So now we have totally new people handling everything now and we had to tell them what we have been doing so far... The list goes on and on and on..... Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 3Mar 24, 2011 8:04 pm Hi Mishka85, Welcome!! May i know what state are you building and if possible what suburb? What house design did you get? I just signed up with them last February and there's another person, Sir Snagger who signed up with them last January and I think with him all went well. I can't say anything at the moment for we are just starting and so far, I made so many changes after I sign that it would be our fault if we get delayed.. Hopefully not... Regarding your land, is the land title ready when you signed up with them? We are still waiting for ours to be released and hopefully by that time we can get Formal Approval. I'm getting apprehensive for my research with them gets mixed reviews. Anyway keep us updated and hopefully all would go well in the end. Cheers! Srichz Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 4Mar 24, 2011 8:10 pm I'm in WA and we are building with Homebuyers. They so far have been really good. We also went through Resolve using the Bluebay finance so we only needed $4000 deposit, and we got our pre-approval within 2 weeks, so not sure why such a different level of service? What state are you in? We haven't got to the pre-start yet but I am hoping that everything continues as smoothly as it has so far, but I am more than a little nervous aftyer reading your post! I hope things improve and you get to enjoy your house soon! Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 5Mar 24, 2011 8:17 pm amandaander I'm in WA and we are building with Homebuyers. They so far have been really good. We also went through Resolve using the Bluebay finance so we only needed $4000 deposit, and we got our pre-approval within 2 weeks, so not sure why such a different level of service? What state are you in? We haven't got to the pre-start yet but I am hoping that everything continues as smoothly as it has so far, but I am more than a little nervous aftyer reading your post! I hope things improve and you get to enjoy your house soon! Hi Amandaander!! Us too..so far it's been pretty alright..were not at pre-start yet for our changes but we got Pre-approved in two weeks also.. Just waiting for our land titles to be released and hopefully we could get Formal Approval before the titles arrive. It's nerve wracking just waiting for them to update you and now nervous after reading Mishka85's post. Where are you building and what design did you get? Hope we all get good service from them.. Srichz Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 6Mar 24, 2011 8:23 pm I know I'm the same waiting for updates! There is such mixed reviews but so far so good for us. We are also waiting on titles (in Wattle Grove : the Lakes) but hopefully early April! We have a cottage block and are building the Ultimate Centro - but have made quite a few changes so it is fairly different. Where are you building and what design? Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 7Mar 24, 2011 8:38 pm OMG!!! were the same...Ultimate Centreo at Newhave, Piara Waters... How much did you get to spend all in all? Our land in Newhaven is pretty much expensive. 390sqm for 235,000 What changes did you made? I'm a bit worried for we were rushing a bit a pretty much did not take a closer look and I think now that the area seems small. I wanted a bigger WIR for the ensuite.. Were told that end of March or early April for the land but I'm nervous for I have no idea what were supposed to do next.. Frustrating when your just waiting for updates. Srichz Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 8Mar 24, 2011 8:51 pm Good choice! we were looking at Piara Waters - but decided we wanted to be closer to the city. Our land was $210k for 313sqm - so smaller than your block! Changes we made to the design were: - Got rid of the Walk in robe and did a built in for the main so that we could extend the ensuit, so there is a separate toilet and double shower. - We made the kitchen bigger so there is a decent pantry! - Added another 'linen' cupboard off the main bedroom. - took out the study. We didn't need or want it so got rid of it. made the front door bigger - got rid of that half wall between the family and dining so that it is one big space. - put a door inbetween the theatre and kitchen and dining and hall to make that living area cheaper to heat and cool. - extended the built ins in the 2nd and 3rd bedroom - added a storeroom off the back of the garage. I too am a little scared about the overall living size but given its only me and my hubby and hopefully 1 child I think it will be fine. Especially as a first home. Have you made many changes to the design. I can send you my design if you want to see what we did. It works for us on our size block. The original design had me really concerned about storage! Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 9Mar 24, 2011 10:29 pm amandaander that's really nice!!! I still don't have a copy of the changes made for I keep on adding/changing things every week...pretty upset actually for i keep changing and along with it fees for every variation. Finally my sales agent said i need to do it altogether to save on fees. Well we changed the windows of the dining to sliding door for we were thinking of putting a deck outside later...made the study a bit smaller to extend the WIR. Added overhead cupboards and microwave recess underneath the counter. How much did you have to pay for a store room? I might get that since I just told my agent this morning of some changes. We also removed the wall between the dining/living. I was able to view a display home that's almost the same as our plan. It's The Cove from Easystart Homes, and it's located in Piara Waters as well, at least you get to picture out the area. The living area is slightly wider and the Theatre is a bit bigger as well, but aside from that is exactly the same as ours. When did you sign up? Have you signed the building contracts yet? I'm a bit worried because I received an email from the developer that they are expecting titles early april and pushing for late march. but if i keep changing things it will surely delay things and the settlement. I need to settle on the specified date for they are giving us a 10,000 pre-paid visa card, otherwise if we extend, its gonna be forfeited. Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 10Mar 24, 2011 10:53 pm We just signed up 2 weeks ago. We have signed everything - subject to final finance approval. We sat down with our sales guy, said everything we wanted and he went away and came back with two plans that catered to most of our needs and would still fit on our block, and from there we choose the design we liked and made a few changes to that and then 2 days later he had the final design ready for us to sign off on. It was pretty painless really. I guess we had also excepted that on a small block we couldn't have everything without going up a story and staying within our budget. The final plan all up come in at $203700. But I like the extra cupboards and mirowave space so I'll be calling the rep tomorrow to see if we can still add that! I'm not sure how much extra the storeroom was - we had to have it as part of the estate regulations, but I don't think it was too bad - and we were going to ask for one anyway! Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 11Mar 24, 2011 11:00 pm We are building in WA, ultimate Aussie... We did not change anything in the basic plan . They told us it would be very costly to make structural changes. Our titles were ready in January but not finance.. I think we got the worst broker... We just had our settlement and pre start. Pre start is not finalized yet waiting for some qutoes for few upgrades we are thinking to do if they are under our budget..I am very surpriced to see noone else had problems it seems like we are the only ones... hopely building will go smoothly without any drama... Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 12Mar 25, 2011 12:18 am Hi Mishka85, Actually i'm worried that we might end up with the same situation as yours, for if everything goes according to plan, our land would be ready but finance is not since we just signed up and we need to have everything done before we get formal approval. What suburb are you building? You have a great plan...how i envy to have a bigger lot and house but we have to work on our budget. Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 13Mar 25, 2011 9:35 am Mishka85 I love your design. That is what we would have gone with had it fit on our block! When we started with our rep from Homebuyers, he sat down with us and went through a basic timeline of what will happen and when and what steps follow what and so far it has been pretty much spot on. But I am concerned after hearing your dramas! We always knew our titles would be ready before formal finance approval (we still need to do pre-start) but got a 90 day finance period after title becomes available so I am hoping that that will be long enough? I really hope you build goes well, keep us up-to-date! Its a shame that the one broker and/or rep can ruin the whole experience yet if you get a good one it makes so much difference! I'm hoping our rep stays with us for the whole time and doesn't leave like yours - that would seriously stress me out! But hopefully your new person is good! Where are you building? Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 14Mar 25, 2011 10:33 am Our rep showed us a very small lot previously like 200-300sqm, we told him that we need a bigger one, and choose baldavis because land price is bit cheaper there and can get a bigger lot. I know it is far from the city but we had to compromise traveling time to a bigger house... It is all depending on the sales rep and the broker, we choose homebuyers centre because they are well known and being there in the industry for so long. But it is our bad time that we got the worst there. We wonder when they will start building now, hopefully if we finanlise our pre start next week, within another couple of weeks they might be able to start building... I hope everyones building experience will be much more fun and exiciting than ours.... Keep in touch them at every step and get them to let you know what's actually happening. Ask lots of question, thats what we learnt so far.... Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 15Mar 25, 2011 12:00 pm We're building in Banksia Grove with HBC and have had a great experience so far (signed up in Oct last year, should be settling on land next week). In particular our Resolve broker has been absolutely brilliant through the process, letting us know exactly what we needed to do/show for the banks, and being very willing to sit down with us or answer emails/phone calls whenever we had any questions about anything. Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 16Mar 25, 2011 6:33 pm Welcome to the new members, and I hope all goes well with your builds. Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 17Mar 25, 2011 6:46 pm srichz OMG!!! were the same...Ultimate Centreo at Newhave, Piara Waters... How much did you get to spend all in all? Our land in Newhaven is pretty much expensive. 390sqm for 235,000 What changes did you made? I'm a bit worried for we were rushing a bit a pretty much did not take a closer look and I think now that the area seems small. I wanted a bigger WIR for the ensuite.. Were told that end of March or early April for the land but I'm nervous for I have no idea what were supposed to do next.. Frustrating when your just waiting for updates. Srichz Awesome, sounds like our block will give us a good return then. We are in piara waters, got a 610sqm block, paid 220,000 2yrs ago Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 18Mar 25, 2011 9:27 pm Big Nath Awesome, sounds like our block will give us a good return then. We are in piara waters, got a 610sqm block, paid 220,000 2yrs ago Hi!!! So envy your lot..wanted to have a bigger lot but my husband is so keen on building in Piara Waters. He thinks we might be able to get a good return because the area is nice. Hope we can even if the lot is so small... Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 19Mar 25, 2011 10:06 pm Half my street is homebuyers and they all went up pretty quickly. Yet to hear their stories. But amandaander thats an awful lot of $ for HBC house. Re: Anyone build a house with Homebuyers Centre??? 20Mar 25, 2011 10:19 pm amandaander Good choice! we were looking at Piara Waters - but decided we wanted to be closer to the city. Our land was $210k for 313sqm - so smaller than your block! Changes we made to the design were: - Got rid of the Walk in robe and did a built in for the main so that we could extend the ensuit, so there is a separate toilet and double shower. - We made the kitchen bigger so there is a decent pantry! - Added another 'linen' cupboard off the main bedroom. - took out the study. We didn't need or want it so got rid of it. made the front door bigger - got rid of that half wall between the family and dining so that it is one big space. - put a door inbetween the theatre and kitchen and dining and hall to make that living area cheaper to heat and cool. - extended the built ins in the 2nd and 3rd bedroom - added a storeroom off the back of the garage. I too am a little scared about the overall living size but given its only me and my hubby and hopefully 1 child I think it will be fine. Especially as a first home. Have you made many changes to the design. I can send you my design if you want to see what we did. It works for us on our size block. The original design had me really concerned about storage! Amandaander, could you post or send me your design? I'd love to know what did you do with the ensuite, though I don't know if I can bear without a WIR. I'll post our once we meet with our salesman. Thanks. Srichz I havent, and i havent looked to much into it, but on face value its not the saviour its trying to make out to be. Shared equity in your home is never a good idea. The… 1 4132 Hi, have purchased a house with 2 single garage doors. The Centre pillar one side sits proud to the other. Can I change 2 doors into one. Please see picture. 0 6639 I am building in claymore NSW and this is shown in the building envelope plan. … 0 10464 |