Tag Archives: Australia

House Plans: Facade

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(Hey, we obviously failed at blogmas!)

E-4 Facade. Photo shown from Eight Homes website

We picked the same facade above. Eight Homes’ Mernda display has the similar design except it has nicer eaves (which I wish we got but it will cost more $$).

The roof will be black, CSR Elabana Sambucca.

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The white painted walls will be bricks in Austral Settlers Parchment. Mortar will be in Natural.

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The rendered (brown) walls which will be painted in Dulux Weathershield Sea Elephant.

Garage doors will be the same slim line design in  Dulux Colorbond Surfmist.

Door will be a Corinthian solid timber in Dulux Gloss Whisper White. Front timber windows will be stained in Sikkens Rosewood 048.

If you’re still interested, gutters will be in black and down pipes will be in Dulux Paperbark! All other exterior doors and aluminum windows will be in Dulux Colorbond Dune.

Our exterior selections are similar to our builder’s previous pre-selected colours called “Desert Sands”. We are all for the light colors – white, beige and grey with the contrast of black.

We’ll have to fix the landscape, decking (if we decided we want to) and driveway after handover.

We woke up one day with more debt

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Blogmas is an internet meme to post every day in December leading up to Christmas. Obviously, we haven’t done that properly so this is a catching up.

Yesterday, the bank processed the payment for the base stage as they already received our FHOG. And as expected we woke up today with more debt I never imagined I can have. Not saying it’s really bad – that is usually the case with owning a house. It will only go upward from here til handover. But the goal now is to stay in control of the finances and out of any debt other than the house.

As an update on the construction, our frames and roof trusses are up. The exterior of the house is also now covered with the thermal covering (that’s what I was talking about the previous post re: waterproofing). Our site supervisor updated us that windows and gutters will be in today and is ready for another inspection. Then it will be pre-plaster stage.

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Grown up with grown up expenses

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Since the temporary fences are up on our land, I still can’t process the fact that construction of our home has finally started. We’ve waited for the title for a year and all these was all plans in my head. Now it’s time to execute those plans and it feels weird.

But this week helped me realize that all is really happening as our council rate came in the mail, our accounts have been debited for interest incurred on the mortgage and builder sent us claims for payment. You can’t get any more real than that!

Along with the additional workload with work, year end review and month end coming (as a finance person) this week has been overwhelming! But we all know this is all worth it 🙂

So for now, look at how the construction is progressing!

Click on the photo to see our timeline.
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What is it like to purchase land off the plan

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You don’t buy a lot planned to be subdivided and expect it to be titled the month the sales rep said it would (….not entirely his fault either).

26 October 2013 - Put in the deposit for Lot 320

26 October 2013 – Put in the deposit for Lot 320

      Click on the photo to see the land development

We paid in our 10% deposit for the land October 2013 expecting it to be titled in March 2014, but ended up being delayed and  settled in October 2014. We’ve considered a few other Estates that was advertised to be titled at the same time, March 2014. But just started the works a month ago. I can’t imagine the frustration if we pursued to buy there.

It was not our original plan to get a vacant land that is yet to be titled but a year helped us save and really know what we want in our home. But for someone whose plan is to move in as soon as possible, this option might not be good for you. Below are the positives and negatives we’ve encountered.

PROs

  • They are usually cheaper than those lots already registered (say on the same location)
  • Purchase price might be cheaper than it’s market value at the time it’s titled, good for investments
  • Waiting time would be a good opportunity to save and plan what you want in your home
  • Buying vacant land in general (applies to those living in Victoria), will incur stamp duty fee for the purchase price of the lot only and will be entitled to 50% discount once confirmed that you are starting your home construction

CONs

  • They take a long time to title and you have no control over it
  • Purchase price might be higher than it’s market value at the time it’s titled
  • If you signed up for the build early, builders might charge you for the price increase if title came later than expected

Tip: Let the vendor know that you’re okay with the wait and that you’ll be fine as long as they update you accordingly.

Is the land you’re looking for worth the wait? Let us know on the comments below!