Contracts and Solicitor's Advice

In terms of legal issues regarding our contract with our chosen builder, we have been reminded by our solicitor to ensure that the names written on the contract of sale, our ID used for the Office of the State Revenue (NSW), and the names in which we will be obtaining our bank loan has to all be the same.

Anything out of sync will be deemed problematic and may cause delays in settlement. It is for our part a requirement to check this to make the process as smooth and quick as possible. Hopefully all the names are correct and that everything works out as we are working with a quick timeline, especially with the shortened period of build.

With our May 13 pre-deadline for the full approval of the loan, we need to get this right. (Note: We require a 10% deposit on the land by the 13th of May while we need to prepare the full amount for the land price by the 13th of June.) 

Signed Off and Officially Starting

We had our first major meeting with Adenbrook Homes. We have to say that it was a pleasant experience, for us being first time builders, the staff at Adenbrook have been very supportive and thorough. We feel that our hand was being guided through our choices and the contract explanation. As they explained to us, we want to remain friends as we go through the whole process.

As we are buying on an almost packaged arrangement, the contract process is greatly accelerated and we have to move quickly. This is with reasonable margin for settlement so we are still comfortable with the pace. They are also giving us sufficient time if delays occur (e.g., we need to keep them up to date in the event of a delay with solicitors or bank inspections if it will go over the 7 day limit). 

We have our building contract package and plans as our builder will be starting with the structure soon. As per arrangement, we cannot change much on the structure of the home so we are rushing to get most of these settled. The main issue at the moment is to do with the double-glazing of all windows (sliding doors we have chosen to do later as their supplier does not do these.) Our builder gave us a preliminary quote and it seems quite reasonable for our budget so we have opted to include this in our building. 

Everything else about the structure seems to be in order. We have also upgraded the insulation grade (roof from 3.0 to 4.0 and walls from 1.5 to 2.5 hopefully enough for Penrith weather). They have already included a physical termite barrier with the original price and we have asked them to upgrade to the termite treated wood for the beams. 

We still have some flexibility with the internals as these can be changed without much trouble with the council. So far, with ballpark figures, all our desired variations are still within budget. We hope that it stays this way so we can still afford to finish our landscaping, border fencing, other internal improvements, and additional electrical wiring and accessories. 

Deposit On, Deposit Off

This afternoon, there's good news, and there's bad news.

On one hand, we are pulling our deposit from Lot 523, After much tossing and turning with a few builders that we had liked, it seems we just cannot fulfil our spatial dreams on this "funny" lot. 

It is quite a good lot with potential for good views. There is a small, non-overwhelming park which looks brighter than the full Mulgoa Reserve on the Northwest side of the estate. There is also an opening in the form of a road to the west leading into the back of the lot, which adds a view line to the mountains. As it is onto a road, there is a big guarantee that this will remain open for a while to come. 

But the main thing for us is the internal space. From what the few builders that we liked, no one could promise us a home that will give us the space which we liked of about 24-30 squares. If we were to build a smaller house, there will be too much lawn for our liking (we are not good at keeping a garden :P) 

On the other hand, it seems we will be sticking with our longtime running favourite builder, Adenbrook homes. This will be through a package they have shown to us earlier that is also building in Mulgoa Rise. This will be on Lot 3062 from a previous release (3C) at the same estate. We've already put in a holding deposit on the property and we are hoping that our bank will catch up and get our approvals done. 

In the scheme of things, this gives us better usage of the lot in terms of the building footprint. It also gives us enough space inside the home as it includes: 

• Double garage 
• Master bedroom (big enough as far as master bedrooms go
• 3 bedrooms (big enough for sleeping as we want our kids to not be private people, nothing more) 
• a home theatre room (it may or may not be used as a home theatre 
• the usual open plan L shape or big room combination of a kitchen, dining and family area 
• a children's retreat (This is where we really want our kids to spend more time in. We were previously debating whether we required this or not in terms of price. But we decided that it easier to move furniture around a bigger area to create space than to build a small space to start with and try to renovate to get a bigger area.) 
• The usual laundry, bathroom and powder room 
• an alfresco to the corner of the house 

In terms of space, we think this is what we require for now with a bit extra for future proofing. We will most likely allow for a "guest room" to be set up in case somebody wants to sleep over. 

I have now compiled a list from another blog that I am following. We will need to go through it in more detail later on before we meet with Adenbrook, again. 

Land Price Increase

We had a look at the price per square metre as per each estate that we are interested in around the Penrith area. It seems that Lot 523 in Mulgoa Rise is the cheapest. We were advised that this could be because it is a corner lot and corners are often priced lower. This is evident in the pricing we received back in 7th of March 2014 which lists a few lots still available in release 5A in the estate 

• Lot 516 (not corner) 
• Area - 504 sqm
• Price - $365k 
• $/sqm - 724 
• Lot 517 (corner) 
• Area - 616 sqm 
• Price - $395k
• $/sqm - 641
• Lot 523 (corner - the lot we are looking at) 
• Area - 551 sqm
• Price - $373 
• $/sqm - 677 

The other thing I noticed was the price growth. Within 1 month and a week, the price has gone up by $6k. I inquired about flexibility in pricing and was given none as they had not had any negotiations for the last 18 months. The only flexibility they could offer was the time frame for our $1k deposit to keep it off the market while we search for a builder. Seeing as we are approaching the Easter break, they had let us have a couple of extra days past the Easter holiday to let them know if we are releasing the land or staying on it. 

As far as our options go, we have the following: 

• Stay on lot 523 and find a builder and take the corner lot hit (wife is ok with corner but I am not too happy about it as I have to do the mowing :( ) 
• Release lot 523 and see about the other Adenbrook package and the schedule for land settlement. If we can get our funds together before the land settles, we can save cash from stamp duty and get a house with a layout that we already like. Here's to hoping that our meeting with Adenbrook today will amount to something worthwhile. 
• Release lot 523 and wait: Obviously with the land price growth, this will also cost us as time passes by. 

Another post most likely at the end of today. 

Exciting Times: Holding Deposit on Land

These are exciting times indeed. The market is quite hot, but we still opted to put a holding deposit on the piece of land that we were shown at Mulgoa Rise. 

I did try to ask for a bit of flexibility on price but I got shot down as they mentioned that they have not had to negotiate on a piece of land for the last 18 months. So I'm guessing that these pieces of land will move whether we like it or not. 

The land we have chosen is Lot 523 and it has been priced at $379000. We were asked for a refundable $1000 to take it off the market as we look to our preferred builders if they can fit a building on the plot of land. It is an awkward shaped piece of land but with a bit of magic, they can probably fit something narrow enough, but still spacious enough to fulfil our family's need, the need for space. 

So far we have gone to meet with the following builders: 

• Clarendon homes: We were told that they can possibly fit on first glance, Killara 24-26 and Kentville 26 model homes. They were going to email us but none have arrived yet so far (it is now 9:12 AM the next day). Not much indication on price was given. 
• Ichijo homes: Initially, we were told that with our house budget (which will now be stretched because of the lot price), most of their homes will be quite out of reach. We thought this was an honest answer as they are probably telling us that there will be more costs to follow apart from the base price, obviously. The salesperson has indicated to us a few of the add-ons which we have put into an Excel sheet for comparison. The options provided were the Serenity 22 (can expand out to double alfresco to become 26) and the Escape 26. 
• McDonald Jones: No prices were given, but we were told that the Havana Renwich was an ideal fit for the lot. We were impressed with how the building and design consultant was well prepared to get the drawing done right in front of us in about 5 minutes. The impression we got was that we will be pushing the upper limit of our house budget. We had a check of the display home in Kellyville Ridge. The space looks sufficient but we didn't quite like the flow of the rooms. It was a very tiny dislike so it is still an option. 

We will be meeting with Adenbrook Homes on Tuesday to see what options are available. Given the circumstances, the old $644k package is now a more viable option if we can do the settlement on the land ourselves and just leave Adenbrook to do the building. This way, we don't need to get slogged by the good old State Government with a bigger chunk of stamp duty if we buy the whole house and land package. We will also consider any options they might have for us in terms of Lot 523. 

We've kicked into gear and will have lots of work to do this week. We hope something fruitful will come from the two other builders we are waiting on. 

Land Ho!!

We visited Caddens and Mulgoa Rise today just to see what our two favourite estates are doing. By doing so, we were able to suss out a bit about their next releases. 

From Caddens, they were planning for an April release of their next stage but this has been hampered by the recent weather (lots and lots of rain.) From what Erin indicated, it may now be possibly a May-June release. 

Their next release will mostly be smaller lots so it may not be what we ideally want as it will be more difficult to place a single story house in a smaller lot for the space that we are after. We are still open to building a two-story house so this remains an option. 

There was not a strong indication as to whether any other improvements will be done to Caddens Rd (westward past the Caddens entry.) This will be a big plus if it is planned for because we may plan for the kids to walk to and from school if possible. Without sidewalks on low visibility areas of the road (the road is quite hilly), I would think twice about letting my kids walk on that road, let alone myself. 

At Mulgoa Rise, some of the land from the two previous releases have been returned. Perhaps some of the people who reserved them did not get their finances through on time, they have got a place somewhere else, or are just not interested anymore. One of the lots pointed out to us was Lot 523 of stage 5A. 

On paper, this lot looks strange and it is difficult to see how you can fit a nice house there. The lot is a pentagon shaped corner lot and it amounts to 561 square metres. We will be looking at the house booklets that we have from the builders that we have visited so far to superimpose some of the models that we like. There seems to be enough play because of the bigger area, but there might need to be some design changes to accommodate the little cutoff at the corner of the lot. 

We also visited a couple of display homes. Obviously our well-liked Adenbrook Homes where we wanted to ask if one of their models can fit that lot. We also visited Lily homes and saw a 4 bedroom, 1 story house that seems to be the right size for our family right now. This just reinforced what we are after in terms of space of not too big and not too small. 

We are also waiting for our finances to become official. From the notifications from our broker, it should go ahead fine and that we should expect it within the next week or two. Although we expect a delay from the Easter break. 

...And it's Go Go Go!

Thanks to our mate, Wayne from Direct Mortgage Concepts, we are another step forward in our search and probably have more negotiating power when we go and see builders and land releases. It seems that our desired plan is within policy for the bank. With the way Wayne has put it forward, manipulating how the balance will be through the resale of our current house and reallocation of offset funds, we are able to be put within the bank's policy for home loans. 

I highly recommend Wayne for the work he has done for us. Follow the link above if you need a broker for your home loan. 

In any case, we will forge ahead with our plan and re-initiate contact with our desired builders and the land estates that we have found. With the current figure in our head, we can better establish the lower and upper limits of what we can afford. 

This weekend, we are planning to see the people at Mulgoa Rise. We are hoping that Jeff from the land estate office is there, as well as Brittany from one of the builders we liked, Adenbrook Homes. 

The excitement builds...

Thornton Release has Come and Gone

There was a property release at Thornton in Penrith last week and officially distributed from Saturday onwards. Let me tell you about my experience in it. 

Though I thought I was registered via email for the release information, I did NOT receive any emails regarding the release. To my knowledge, the information about the release went out last Tuesday (24th of April). We only found out about this because my wife browsed the site and found new information about the new release properties. 

From what we saw, we only liked one of the properties. It was advertised as $628k which is quite close to our maximum and possibly would not have left us much room for add-ons. It was a zero corner lot courtyard house. It had two storeys house and a detached double garage. Four bedrooms were situated at the top floor, although the sizes of the rooms were quite small while enough living spaces were allocated for the bottom floor. 

I was only able to visit the sales office on Wednesday. Obviously expecting that the main bulk of the tickets would have already been distributed on Tuesday. For those who are inexperienced with the way Landcom releases its land these days, they now give out priority tickets to would be "campers" at every stage release. In a way this reduces the hazardous nature of camping outside an office building with little to no shelter against the elements. 

This ticket is then used on the Saturday release to prioritise the customers as they select their property preferences. Obviously, the customer needs to be present on the opening time to keep their ticket valid as it will be voided if they are not present during their "turn". 

At this point, our finances still haven't been finalised so I only came to see how the uptake of tickets went to get a feel for the demand in the area. I arrived there to find two customers in line, waiting for the office to open. This was around 9.14 AM in the morning. One of the people in line told me that the office will open at 10.00. As I had two children with me, I didn't think it was a good idea to stay in line until opening time. 

The weekend came and went. I was able to call the office on Monday the 31st of March. I was surprised that the property we had "liked" was still on the market. After this call, I had a chat with my wife to discuss the possibility of reserving this property. However, we assessed our position and deemed that we are not in a hurry, so we did not proceed with reserving the property. 

The process in which the properties are built in the Thornton estate allows for little flexibility in the choice of structural elements. This is one thing we would like to have control in. After this release, Thornton probably slid down to a slightly more distant 2nd place compared with our now favourite, Mulgoa Rise. 

I still do not understand why a government run company such as Landcom creates the false market of scarcity in their land developments. If people are there who require land, shouldn't the government try to help them? Shouldn't the government allow people to help themselves instead of discouraging them and pushing them towards a welfare payment mentality? But I guess this political view is the subject of another blog.