......Settlement Done!!

I spoke to the Broker and he informed us that settlement was due to take place on Wednesday 21st April at 12.00 midday!!  

YAY..happy dance...

so as from 12.01pm we will have a mortgage again...NOT YAY!!  

but after ALL the delays I am starting to get excited again...

and suprisingly Settlement went thru without a hitch and the cheque arrived on the very next day to pay for the power connection....definately NOT YAY!!  

but we need power!!!

The Builder advised that they are still on track to start Friday 23rd....

so fingers crossed all will be well....

enjoy the journey

Glenda

.....We have movement!!....

Today is a bit exciting as we have had some movement.....

We have a builders sign on the fence!!

I know small things excite me!!!

Hubby had an appointment with the builder on the block this morning and we were advised that we needed a "3rd" site cut done...

which was quickly organised and completed this afternoon....

so after work I went for a trip out to the block to see the new site cut which takes up half the block now! 

and the sign !!!...

I didnt take photos but I will go back tomorrow night and take some!

and the other exciting thing is that the bank has finally got their butt into gear and our mortgage papers arrived in the mail last Friday so they are all signed sealed and delivered back to the Broker.

The builder rang  and said that they may start next week!! 

OMG...to be honest I really still cant believe that this is all happening..

it seems to have taken so long to get thru all the red tape & paperwork...

I am still holding my breath but I am starting to feel REALLY nervous...

Hopefully more updates and pictures shortly!!

Enjoy the journey

Glenda

.....Finally!! Building Permit Approved!!,,,,,

Yes the title says it all!!....

I have had a phone call from the Builder to advise that the Septic Tank permit was approved last week..

and the Building Permit was approved yesterday!! Yeah...

I got a copy of it in the mail today so I KNOW that its TRUE!!

We are "pencilled" in with Powercor work to start installing the power in early May..about 3 weeks away so hopefully the Bank get their act together and we have money by then...

The builders are ready to go...

so maybe we should have movement soon!!  

Fingers crossed!!!

Will update again when we have more news.

Enjoy the Journey 

 Glenda

.....Planning Permit Approved (again).....

We seem to have run into a brick wall and nothing seems to be happening....we have been waiting on the Council to approve our second Planning permit but as the gentleman went on 1 months leave our application has been sitting on his desk awaiting his return from holidays....

 this has been frustrating to say the least..

but our Builder today advised us that they had confirmation that the permit has been approved and the Septic permit should be approved by tomorrow......

so now all we need is to apply for the building permit and we are good to go!!

We have also had another obstacle from the bank...more red tape paperwork and chasing down "discharge of mortage" papers and titles from our old bank....

what a headache this has turned out to be....

but today I received our "Original Title" and "discharge paperwork to present to the mortgage company...

so hopefully things will move along there quickly as well...

or we will have to reapply for the loan AGAIN.....

So after weeks and weeks of being at a standstill...I finally feel like thinks might start moving along again..YAY...

I am starting to maybe feel a bit excited again...

after so many false starts...

but the slabs not down yet...so we will see!

Enjoy the Journey!

Glenda

.....New Site Excavation!!!.....

We have found out that since we did our last site excavation for the previous builders.. that we have to move the house 12 metres into the middle of the block to abide by the new Government Fire regulations that have been bought in since the black Saturday fires! 

Our fire rating is a BAL 40....

We originally wanted our house to the left of the block to make maximum use of the block and this area had no trees on it which the Council were happy with because no vegetation had to be removed!....but as the block next door has gum trees on the fence line we have to move away from them..

and the house falls off the site cut already done by about 2 metres so we have to re-do it...

hmmm not happy jan!!

Which has opened up another can of worms!!  

When we applied to the local Council 4 years ago for a Planning permit for the house and the shed to get the building permit for the shed we had to show where the house would be going....and now the the house is moving apparently we now have to re-apply for the Planning permit to get the building permit for the house...
.....RIDICULOUS.....

So far our builders have been told a couple of different stories by different Council employees so really I don't know what we are doing!!!

honestly.....this is enough to send anyone loopy..

anyway the new site cut should be started today...
so I will post photos when it is done

enjoy the journey

Glenda

.....Unconditional approval from the Bank!!......

Finally I have had the phone call that we have been sweating on sooooo much from our broker to let us know that we have Unconditional Approval on our loan from the bank!! 

YIPPEEE.....YEAH!!!

Doing the happy dance!!

 I think that its finally sunk in that we ARE building our dream home! 

OMG..I have waited for 15 years for this moment 

and now I don't whether to laugh or cry!

So now its time to contact Powercor and organise the connection of power to the block....

that's the expensive part!!

and hopefully things will start to move fairly quickly now...

I  just want it to be finished!!

Enjoying the Journey

Glenda

.....Guess what arrived today???.....

We had our very FIRST delivery today at the block!!....

The bricks have arrived!!  YEAH!

 

  

These bricks are MacQuarie Sandstone blocks and have been a bit of a stumbling block for the builders...

as they are a lot more work to lay,

(and we are paying quite a bit more for that privilege )....

but I think that they will be sooo worth it...

I have always wanted a house built in these....

and think that they will suit the bush setting perfectly.

We are still waiting on the Bank for Unconditional approval of the loan...

hope they get their act into gear soon...

as we are nearly ready to go! 

Enjoy the Journey

Glenda

....Colour Consultation.....

Part of what the Builder offers is an appointment (4hours) with a specialist Colour Consultant to choose the colours and fixtures for the house.

So on the January 19th we toddled off to the builders offices to pick out all the stuff.  

Hubby could only attend for his lunch hour....so the important "stuff" that I wanted his input into were chosen first (like the outside colours of the house...carpets and floor tiles) so that he could go back to work. He really DIDN'T care what type of taps or door knobs we are having....strange!

Now I LOOOVE shopping as anyone who knows me will tell!

and I was SOOOO looking forward to this stage of the house...and excited about picking colours and tiles and fittings...

BUT

this was one of the most horrendous days 

of this whole process so far!

 

To try and choose everything for your house in 4 hours is bad enough and no where near enough time but

the color consultant did NOT listen to my choices at all.

She picked what she thought looked best together and even though I stated at the end of the appointment that I did not like the floor tiles (I HATED them) and wanted to change them I was give a firm "NO! we have chosen all the colours for your house from them and you can't change them now!.

so needless to say I by the end of the day I had a migrane headache and went home and burst into tears...

After "chatting" to my hubby that night I phoned the builder the next morning and arranged to "re-visit" the choices that were made.

This consultant is not employed by our builder and they were horrified that I was not happy.  They know that I am probably one of the most easy going people..

So on Friday my girlfriend Sue and I visited the shops again...spending hours in National tiles and now I can say that 

I AM HAPPY!!
I love the choices that we made...everything goes together perfectly and about the only thing that we didn't change was the colour of the carpet! 

I also dropped back into the builders and altered the plan  AGAIN!
(Last time I promise) to accomodate a corner spa that hubby bought me for a birthday pressie and I forgot to put in our ensuite...so I put the ensuite spa into the boys bathroom and moved a wall in our bedroom and taadaa...my pressie will now be used!  
Now the plan has gone back around to the draughtsman, but it does not alter the building permit or the 5 star rating as there was already a spa on the plan (just not a corner one).


So things are still moving forward...just waiting on Bank!

Enjoy the Journey

Glenda

.....Building Contracts Signed.....

Yessssss...all done! 

(doing the happy dance!)

Finally the house plans have been altered and everything is where it should be...

So on the 22nd December, 2009 (hubby's Birthday)....we signed the Building contracts..

The broker met me at the cafe where I worked on the 23rd and they were passed over to be lodged with the Bank.

We received pre-approval back in August for the loan but as more than 3 months had passed...(with the changing of builders etc) we did have to reapply for the loan again...but nothing has changed and the house is less $$$$ so shouldn't be a problem!

Now we just have to sit back and wait for the bank to do their thing!

Our Broker and Builder are both on Christmas hols until the 11th January...

Enjoy the Journey

Glenda

.....Building Update ~ New Builders!.....

Well I really don't know where to start this post...

this will be a looooong post!!

This building process has been going on for 6 months now and ALOT has happened over the last few months.

After my last post we had a falling out with the Builders....

the quote was BAD!..

and every time that we got a new one the price had gone UP!  

Now I know that is not unexpected when building a house but we had only put on a deposit..and not signed contracts..

and when I queried a few of the costs that were not relevant to our build..the builder called me STUPID!!! hmmmm hubby was NOT impressed!!!

  so that was it we walked away...we did lose our deposit but honestly it was the BEST move that we have ever made!

We had kept in touch with our original CSR that left the company and decided to go to and have a chat to the builders that she had moved to...

After much toying with house plans 

(I really did love the previous Builders house plan that I had chosen)...

we came up with a much better house that suits us perfectly...

and for a ALOT less money...

I have deleted all the old builders "stuff" from the sidebar and added the new builders "stuff"..

our house plan is the "Kyabram" with lots of modifications!

I wont bore you with all the minor "stuff" and the amount of times that our plan has been back to the draughtsman for alterations....but I am loving the plan now!

so now the roller coaster ride starts again.

Enjoy the Journey

Glenda