Pass the Parcel

After we decided to take a break from continually calling around different developers, real estates, etc that are selling land in all the different parts of Edmondson Park we figured we would just wait it out. We figured we had two choices - we settle for something we are only 'ok' with, or wait for something else to pop up. We aren't exactly risk takers, so the latter was not appealing at all - but we didn't have the choice. Why would we settle for something we weren't both 100% on?

As mentioned in our previous post, one of the developers we had unfruitfully been attempting to contact finally returned one of calls about the final three blocks available in 'The Pinnacle' release of Macquarie Links.

Immediately we requested plans, prices, and there was a pretty little parcel that ticked all our boxes - budget, location, flatness, size and dimensions. 

So there she is. Sorry about that terrible sign - when it's ours we'll take it down. The land is relatively flat, there's a bit of a rise at the front but it flattens out which is what we want.

We have received contract for the land this week, and have ordered soil tests, contour and bore hole reports to be done on the land in order to evaluate site costs by the builder. Apparently these were done yesterday, which means we should be receiving some indication as to how much extra we'll be paying to build on here!

After the reports have been completed, we'll receive a tender from our builder (which could still change at this point if we decide it's gone over budget!) and decide on whether we sign the contract for land.

Anything could happen from here - wishing ourselves luck for the coming weeks!

Cx

Let's Contextualise This

I'll start from the beginning...

Toward the end of 2012, we started looking at buying our first home. At this point in time, we did now know whether we wanted to live closer to the CBD in an apartment as a lifestyle choice, or if we wanted to stay out where both our families live. Needless to say, we searched for both.

Fast forward a couple of months of inspecting apartments in the CBD, and land in the new Edmondson Park development, it was clear to both of us that we wanted to build our first home. We wanted a home with space, a backyard for puppies and entertaining space so we could have our friends and family over for BBQs.

We began looking at display homes, and decided on two builders - Kurmond Homes and Wisdom Homes. Both companies had great standard inclusions, and fantastic customer service (nay selling skills).

So the next step was finding land. We didn't think that it would be THIS difficult to find land in Edmondson Park. Driving past there, you can see the development of the land with staged releases happening every few months. Boy were we in for a surprise!

We fell in love with Kurmond's Sierra 31, and hence we were trying to find land with a frontage of 17m to accommodate one. The average width of a lot in all these new developments are around 15m. It was unbelievable.

We searched and searched for weeks, when finally we thought we had found something! A place called Village Square, part of the Edmondson Park development. We met with the real estate agent, and after an hour of going through when the land will be registered, process of buying and settling unregistered land, etc...he then tells us we are unable to build with our nominated builder!! Needless to say, we were NOT happy that we had wasted all our time getting to this point of putting a deposit on the land, and only then does he tell us we have to build with THEIR partner builders. We did not want to change builders, so we just forgot about buying land there. We did not want to compromise...and thus the search continued.

So off we went again trying to find land that would accommodate a Sierra 31...

Fast forward another month. We start looking at Wisdom homes again, as their homes fit blocks with smaller frontages. We fell in love with the Manhattan 35 and the Majestic 35. They took us out to a couple of their construction sites to see what the homes looked like, and what their construction sites look like and we were impressed, so it would appear we had decided to change our builder after all.

After all the bad luck we had had over the past couple of months, we were a little down. We saw a Landcom release at Bardia which people camped out for land for, and we just couldn't do it. Also, it wasn't exactly the area where we envisaged we would be living together and raising a family.

Well, as luck would have it, the week after the Bardia release we finally got a call back from Monarch, who take care of the Macquarie Links Estate. We had been trying to get in contact with them for weeks about land left at 'The Pinnacle' - the last land release for Macquarie Links. They had three blocks of land left at the top of the hill...

And now you're up to speed!

Cx

Hello World

Wow, my first post. I'm suffering from writers block already.

Firstly, I'm new to blogging. I never thought I would be the type of person to blog, I'm more a take-a-picture-and-post kind of person (which I will probably be doing for the most part anyway). However, since my partner and I have decided we would be building our first home, I have done a little bit of thinking about keeping records and documenting our progress over the next year, and so here I am.

Over the past few months (let's say 4 months of torturing ourselves looking for apartments, houses and land around Sydney) we have gone through a long journey to get to the point where we are at today - starting the process of building our dream home!

I have researched extensively, and have found the most useful bits of information I have been able to gather about the building process have been from alike blogs, from other Sydney-siders building their dream homes. Whether it be the same area, same builders, or just other home builders, I have seen many of the ups and downs of others building their dream homes, not to mention a lot of valuable information about the process and things to remember, or ask about. Thus, here I am, not only because I believe this is a fantastic way to document the whole process (I guess that's the engineer inside of me) but also as it may help someone else like us, one day.

So, here I am. I am making a year long commitment of blogging - wish me luck!

Cx