I finally have some good news, we got our finance approved! We got the news last Friday, but it's taken until today for me to actually start getting excited about it and want to tell people. Our finance broker said that ours was the longest application he has ever dealt with, it was around about 6 months in the end.
Anyway, we got the letter on Friday(Which also happened to be the last day of our final extension on finance due on our block) saying we have approval, which I then forwarded to Time Conti who advised us that Settlement would be the 28th of August. We received the contract from Keystart on about Tuesday or Wednesday(The first part of the whole ordeal with Keystart that has been completed quickly) and we received our final final final drawings from RedInk today, once we sign these, they are what is used for construction. So after I finish this, Ash and I will be double checking and signing our plans and our contract, ready to send off tomorrow. Ash is going to pick up some forms from our settlement agent tomorrow which we need to sign and return and then all we do is wait until the 28th.
The whole ordeal with getting finance was taking a heavy toll on me and as I said I've only just managed to start getting excited about the house again. Now that we have all the forms and final plans I think it's starting to sink in. Provided everything goes to plan, construction should start next month, maybe even early in the month!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Getting soooo close
Just a really quick update. We were told by Keystart today that they would probably have everything done today. Of course, they didn't, but it's the shortest time frame we've been given yet and also probably means they haven't got anything else to hold it up with. So hopefully tomorrow or the next day we will have finance!
Also, I've updated the picture of our block, nothing has really changed on our block except for some tire marks, but the block behind us is being built on now so I thought it was worth updating.
Also, I've updated the picture of our block, nothing has really changed on our block except for some tire marks, but the block behind us is being built on now so I thought it was worth updating.
Monday, July 20, 2009
I can not avoid it any longer...
Well, I haven't posted a new blog entry for some time, basically because it's the only way I could stay sane. After what has happened the last few weeks I've been trying to avoid anything to do with the house so as to reduce my stress levels, I've even stopped going down to the block, which I was doing every second day at least(It's on my way home from work). What could cause such stress you ask? Well, I'll tell you, just let me try and remember the beginning...
Wow, I just checked the last blog post, that was a long time ago. I'll start where we left off.
We'd just finished pre-start and were waiting for our final costings, after a couple of days, we got them. Mostly they were to our liking, there were a few things that were a bit more expensive than we would have liked and a few things that were less expensive than we expected. Apart from a couple of alterations and some confusion with the cost of our different to standard pavers and bricks, everything was as it should be and after a week or so it was all done and signed and returned to RedInk. At the time there were a few things that seemed dramatic, but in light of recent events, I say "meh" to them. That's about it as far as constructive progress, now on to the Keystart saga.
Firstly, a bit of background; when we got our pre-approval from Keystart, they said that once we gave them the required documentation it would take 5-10 working days for them to process everything and give us the money. About 4 or 5 weeks after we gave Keystart the documents they requested (and also the day before the extension on our block finance ran out), we tried contacting Keystart and asking them what's going on, in a day or so they got back to us and said,
"Oh actually, you know how we originally told you that the maximum property value and loan amount couldn't exceed $500,000, and then after 2 months of waiting we told you that the maximum loan amount had been reduced to $412,000? Well we've now decided that the maximum property value can't exceed $412,000 either. We know that you've already planned your whole house out, signed the contracts and based your whole budget on the original $500,000, but oh well."
That's paraphrased, they probably cared a lot less than what I made them out to seem there, but you get the point. Our finance broker was frustrated to no end, and I tell you, that man has earned 10 times his commission on this job. He'd had his state manager onto Keystart and done everything he could do, but to no avail. He advised us that our options were basically;
a)Apply with a bank. (Which would obviously take months and we would undoubtedly lose the block)
b)Take it to some commissioner person and complain.(Which again would take months and we'd lose the block) or
c) Try and reduce the house value to get below the $412,000 mark and supply Keystart with the new contract.
Seeing as we really didn't have a choice, we went with c) and with collaboration with RedInk were able to achieve this. I won't go into the details, but it worked out OK in the end. Keystart also assured us that should we supply them with a revised contract then everything was ready to go and it would be a matter of days until we got the money. So with this relatively good news in mind and a light at the seemingly never ending tunnel, we got to work.
We managed to get an extension on the block finance for another 2 weeks(Time Conti have been extremely understanding with us). The only thing RedInk required from us for the revised contract was a FHOG(First Home Owners Grant) approval form, which of course Keystart has to give us. After a week of waiting, Keystart informed us that they couldn't give us the approval form until they got the new contract. Of course, we couldn't get the new contract until we had the approval form, but Keystart cares not. After our finance broker ensured RedInk we will be approved for the FHOG they took his word and re-did the contract that day and then we gave it straight to Keystart.
Because of Keystart's delay in not giving us the FHOG approval form, there were only a few days remaining until the block finance was due again, but Keystart had assured us everything was ready to go so we weren't too concerned.
Jump forward to the day after finance was due for the block, our finance broker asked Keystart if there was any news and if they could put the job forward as urgent. Keystart informed us that because they'd only just received the forms it couldn't be set as urgent and it'd probably be another 5 days or so(Apparently, for something to be set to urgent status, it has to sit there for a week or so first. Never mind that the only reason new forms were required was because of Keystart in the first place). So anyway, once again I informed TimeConti that Keystart hate us and I'm sorry and could we please have a further extension, and once again they very kindly agreed and gave us another 2 week extension.
That was the end of last week, now we're catching up to the current time, I got home tonight to find an email from our finance broker saying that Keystart is now asking for proof that Ash's credit card is cancelled. Now, I agree that this is an entirely logical and fair thing for a lender to ask for, however, when we were given our pre-approval it came with a list of questions and documentation requirements querying such things as certain transactions that were made, pay slips etc. This is something that should have been asked then, asking it now just seems like they are trying to screw us over, trying to hold things up as long as possible.
I wish, if they really aren't going to give us the money, they would just tell us instead of getting us to jump through hoops making me go half way insane and then have it all be for nothing. It really feels like they're just doing this for fun now, and the worst of it is, we can't do anything about it.
However, if there is one thing that this whole extended process has taught me, it's that you have to just accept it, look at all the options open to you and do what you can. In this particular instance, it's get everything they require as quickly as possible, unfortunately there is no arguing with Keystart, they don't care, they're not trying to make money, if you take your business elsewhere it just means less work for them. Ironically, because they're set up to help people, that's what they do least.
Looking to the future, should all the stars align and buddah smile upon us, Ash will be able to get some kind of proof that she doesn't have a credit card any more first thing tomorrow morning and we can forward that to Keystart. Keystart will then be satisfied, finish processing our application and then we can finally arrange settlement for our block by this Friday, which is when our extension runs out.
I'll leave it on that slightly positive note and with the promise that I will update more regularly in the future. If you made it this far, thank you for reading and feel free to leave comments about anything, all you have to do is click the "0 comments" text just under this.
Wow, I just checked the last blog post, that was a long time ago. I'll start where we left off.
We'd just finished pre-start and were waiting for our final costings, after a couple of days, we got them. Mostly they were to our liking, there were a few things that were a bit more expensive than we would have liked and a few things that were less expensive than we expected. Apart from a couple of alterations and some confusion with the cost of our different to standard pavers and bricks, everything was as it should be and after a week or so it was all done and signed and returned to RedInk. At the time there were a few things that seemed dramatic, but in light of recent events, I say "meh" to them. That's about it as far as constructive progress, now on to the Keystart saga.
Firstly, a bit of background; when we got our pre-approval from Keystart, they said that once we gave them the required documentation it would take 5-10 working days for them to process everything and give us the money. About 4 or 5 weeks after we gave Keystart the documents they requested (and also the day before the extension on our block finance ran out), we tried contacting Keystart and asking them what's going on, in a day or so they got back to us and said,
"Oh actually, you know how we originally told you that the maximum property value and loan amount couldn't exceed $500,000, and then after 2 months of waiting we told you that the maximum loan amount had been reduced to $412,000? Well we've now decided that the maximum property value can't exceed $412,000 either. We know that you've already planned your whole house out, signed the contracts and based your whole budget on the original $500,000, but oh well."
That's paraphrased, they probably cared a lot less than what I made them out to seem there, but you get the point. Our finance broker was frustrated to no end, and I tell you, that man has earned 10 times his commission on this job. He'd had his state manager onto Keystart and done everything he could do, but to no avail. He advised us that our options were basically;
a)Apply with a bank. (Which would obviously take months and we would undoubtedly lose the block)
b)Take it to some commissioner person and complain.(Which again would take months and we'd lose the block) or
c) Try and reduce the house value to get below the $412,000 mark and supply Keystart with the new contract.
Seeing as we really didn't have a choice, we went with c) and with collaboration with RedInk were able to achieve this. I won't go into the details, but it worked out OK in the end. Keystart also assured us that should we supply them with a revised contract then everything was ready to go and it would be a matter of days until we got the money. So with this relatively good news in mind and a light at the seemingly never ending tunnel, we got to work.
We managed to get an extension on the block finance for another 2 weeks(Time Conti have been extremely understanding with us). The only thing RedInk required from us for the revised contract was a FHOG(First Home Owners Grant) approval form, which of course Keystart has to give us. After a week of waiting, Keystart informed us that they couldn't give us the approval form until they got the new contract. Of course, we couldn't get the new contract until we had the approval form, but Keystart cares not. After our finance broker ensured RedInk we will be approved for the FHOG they took his word and re-did the contract that day and then we gave it straight to Keystart.
Because of Keystart's delay in not giving us the FHOG approval form, there were only a few days remaining until the block finance was due again, but Keystart had assured us everything was ready to go so we weren't too concerned.
Jump forward to the day after finance was due for the block, our finance broker asked Keystart if there was any news and if they could put the job forward as urgent. Keystart informed us that because they'd only just received the forms it couldn't be set as urgent and it'd probably be another 5 days or so(Apparently, for something to be set to urgent status, it has to sit there for a week or so first. Never mind that the only reason new forms were required was because of Keystart in the first place). So anyway, once again I informed TimeConti that Keystart hate us and I'm sorry and could we please have a further extension, and once again they very kindly agreed and gave us another 2 week extension.
That was the end of last week, now we're catching up to the current time, I got home tonight to find an email from our finance broker saying that Keystart is now asking for proof that Ash's credit card is cancelled. Now, I agree that this is an entirely logical and fair thing for a lender to ask for, however, when we were given our pre-approval it came with a list of questions and documentation requirements querying such things as certain transactions that were made, pay slips etc. This is something that should have been asked then, asking it now just seems like they are trying to screw us over, trying to hold things up as long as possible.
I wish, if they really aren't going to give us the money, they would just tell us instead of getting us to jump through hoops making me go half way insane and then have it all be for nothing. It really feels like they're just doing this for fun now, and the worst of it is, we can't do anything about it.
However, if there is one thing that this whole extended process has taught me, it's that you have to just accept it, look at all the options open to you and do what you can. In this particular instance, it's get everything they require as quickly as possible, unfortunately there is no arguing with Keystart, they don't care, they're not trying to make money, if you take your business elsewhere it just means less work for them. Ironically, because they're set up to help people, that's what they do least.
Looking to the future, should all the stars align and buddah smile upon us, Ash will be able to get some kind of proof that she doesn't have a credit card any more first thing tomorrow morning and we can forward that to Keystart. Keystart will then be satisfied, finish processing our application and then we can finally arrange settlement for our block by this Friday, which is when our extension runs out.
I'll leave it on that slightly positive note and with the promise that I will update more regularly in the future. If you made it this far, thank you for reading and feel free to leave comments about anything, all you have to do is click the "0 comments" text just under this.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Pre-start!
Today we started probably the biggest step forward with the house since we got our finance pre-approval, maybe just the biggest step all together. We had our pre-start meeting.
I think it went fairly smoothly, we spent all weekend making a list and checking it a million times and reading forum.homeone.com.au and staring at plans and trying to imagine everything that we're going to need. I'm sure we missed heaps of things, the lady at pre-start bought up a few good points, but I think we had pretty much everything covered.
The only thing that we really got pricing on straight away was the electrical additions; power points, conduit, lights etc. We managed to keep it under about $1500 which I'm pretty happy with. An itemised price list of all the other additions we requested will be made up and emailed to us in the next couple of days, there are a few things on there which we mostly added just to see the price but probably won't go ahead with, but most of it we really don't want to be without.
We went to the Caroma Dorf showroom on the weekend and had a look at all our bathroom, toilet, kitchen and laundry inclusions and noted a few bits and pieces that we would like to upgrade if the price is right. Ashly found some photos of them on the various manufacturer websites, here they are along with some photos of other bits and pieces:
Caroma Cosmo Towel Rail
Caroma Cosmo Shower Shelf
Caroma Cosmo Hand Towel Rail
Caroma Cosmo Toilet Roll Holder
Caroma Liano Kitchen Sink Mixer(This is over $500 retail, so god knows how much it's going to be from the builder, we may end up buying it separately and putting it in after handover) Stupidly expensive, but the Kitchen is somewhat of a feature.
Dorf El Toro Bath Set. These are actually quite similar to the standard inclusions, so we'll only be getting them if they aren't too much extra.
Dorf El Toro Sink Set. Same goes with these as with the bath set.
Venecia Wall Faced Close Coupled Toilet. These are all ceramic and are just plain nicer than the plastic standard ones. We did get an upgrade price on these and it's only about $110 extra per toilet, so these are just about a definite.
Clark EVBU Undermount Sink, 2 of these in the Kitchen island bench.
20mm Green Tea Essa Stone bench, with undermount sinks and Caroma Liano Flick Mixer, our bench top will also have "waterfall" sides flowing to the floor as in this photo.
Midland Brick Handmade Sandalford Bricks
Midland Brick Handmade Caversham Pavers
That's just about it for now, in the next couple of days we should get our costings and can work out what we can afford. I'll post another update when we get that, so until then, good bye!
I think it went fairly smoothly, we spent all weekend making a list and checking it a million times and reading forum.homeone.com.au and staring at plans and trying to imagine everything that we're going to need. I'm sure we missed heaps of things, the lady at pre-start bought up a few good points, but I think we had pretty much everything covered.
The only thing that we really got pricing on straight away was the electrical additions; power points, conduit, lights etc. We managed to keep it under about $1500 which I'm pretty happy with. An itemised price list of all the other additions we requested will be made up and emailed to us in the next couple of days, there are a few things on there which we mostly added just to see the price but probably won't go ahead with, but most of it we really don't want to be without.
We went to the Caroma Dorf showroom on the weekend and had a look at all our bathroom, toilet, kitchen and laundry inclusions and noted a few bits and pieces that we would like to upgrade if the price is right. Ashly found some photos of them on the various manufacturer websites, here they are along with some photos of other bits and pieces:
Caroma Cosmo Towel Rail
Caroma Cosmo Shower Shelf
Caroma Cosmo Hand Towel Rail
Caroma Cosmo Toilet Roll Holder
Caroma Liano Kitchen Sink Mixer(This is over $500 retail, so god knows how much it's going to be from the builder, we may end up buying it separately and putting it in after handover) Stupidly expensive, but the Kitchen is somewhat of a feature.
Dorf El Toro Bath Set. These are actually quite similar to the standard inclusions, so we'll only be getting them if they aren't too much extra.
Dorf El Toro Sink Set. Same goes with these as with the bath set.
Venecia Wall Faced Close Coupled Toilet. These are all ceramic and are just plain nicer than the plastic standard ones. We did get an upgrade price on these and it's only about $110 extra per toilet, so these are just about a definite.
Clark EVBU Undermount Sink, 2 of these in the Kitchen island bench.
20mm Green Tea Essa Stone bench, with undermount sinks and Caroma Liano Flick Mixer, our bench top will also have "waterfall" sides flowing to the floor as in this photo.
Midland Brick Handmade Sandalford Bricks
Midland Brick Handmade Caversham Pavers
That's just about it for now, in the next couple of days we should get our costings and can work out what we can afford. I'll post another update when we get that, so until then, good bye!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Just a couple of photos
Ok, just a quick one for now, haven't got around to scanning any floor plans yet. We went and took some photos around the estate. I also found a post on the opposite side of the road to our block which I can sit the camera on top of and basically take a photo from exactly the same spot whenever we go to the block, so it will be easy to see progress. Anyway, here are some of the photos:
The entrance to Waterhall
Our Block
Our Street
The Park one street over from ours
Closer view of the park
Development of the park land between the estate and Helena River
The entrance to Waterhall
Our Block
Our Street
The Park one street over from ours
Closer view of the park
Development of the park land between the estate and Helena River
Friday, May 29, 2009
First Post - Let's see how this goes.
Ok, well, Hi.
I've decided that progress with our house has reached a point where it's just about worthwhile having some photos and ramblings which we can direct friends and family members and whoever might be interested to come and have a look.
So, let me explain where we've come from and where we're at right now:
It all started at the end of January, we decided that with the First Home Owners Grant Boost coming to an end in 6 months time, it was a good time to look into building a house. We both liked the Guildford area and had seen a new estate that looked promising, we went and had a look and both felt it was perfect, we didn't really bother looking elsewhere too much, Waterhall in South Guildford suited all our requirements perfectly. We registered our interest in one particular block and started looking through display homes, something that became somewhat of a routine over the following month.
After a few disappointments and frustrations, we found the Evolution 3000 by RedInk. After a few modifications, we were happy and around the end of February we signed a preliminary contract to build our house, we also made an offer on the block which was accepted the following day. Both of these were pending finance which we applied for around the same time.
Had we known that when you put an application in you just apply for the maximum amount you can borrow, we would have put our application in when we started looking. We didn't though and it turned out that lots of other people thought buying/building a house now was a good idea. As a result, loan pre-approval times became 3 to 4 times longer than usual. It took about 2 months for our pre-approval to come through, when it finally we did, we sent a copy to RedInk and the next step began.
After a week or so we were told our house was being rushed through, I guess because it had been in the system for so long, so we went and signed a few documents to give to our lender so we could get our finance finalised. We also went down to the block and discovered holes had been drilled for the soil tests, the first actual change in the block since we first saw it. Since then we've booked pre-start for the 9th of June, given all the relevant documents to our lender and made gas and electricity accounts.
Around the time we decided on the house, we went to Midland Brick at Home Base Expo and picked our bricks, pavers, roof, gutters etc. We have also picked all of our tiles and plan to go and check out the place that all the basins, taps, sinks etc. come from in the next week or so.
So things seem to be actually happening now, according to the contract, construction on the house must start by the 29th of June and be completed 250 days from construction commencement, which is the 6th of March. I'll try and update this regularly and hopefully provide pictures as well.
For now, here are some pictures of the block and our tile and laminate choices.
Ash and I on our block
How exciting, a hole on our block. This is from the soil tests.
These are the tiles and laminates for the bathroom, toilet and laundry. The small tiles on the left are the feature tiles, ivory for the walls, chocolate for the floor, mocha for the cupboards and a whitish colour for the bench top.
Kitchen: Mocha for the lower cupboards, white with a hint of brown for the upper cupboards and the lower drawers, green tea Essa stone for the bench tops.
Ensuite: Same Ivory tiles as the bathroom, something with some texture for the floors, a dark woodgrain for the cupboards, a whitish for the bench top. The feature tile is just below.
Feature tile for the ensuite, these are 50mm square, there will be a strip of these running down the shower and also a strip under the mirror. We're doing the same sort of thing in the bathroom with it's feature tile.
That's it for now, I'll try and get a floor plan and a few other things up later on. The next few days are a long weekend in Margaret River for Ash and I to celebrate our 2 year anniversary which is on the 3rd, it's amazing how things can change so much in 2 years time(and to prevent me getting in trouble I'll just clarify that I mean change for the better :) )
I've decided that progress with our house has reached a point where it's just about worthwhile having some photos and ramblings which we can direct friends and family members and whoever might be interested to come and have a look.
So, let me explain where we've come from and where we're at right now:
It all started at the end of January, we decided that with the First Home Owners Grant Boost coming to an end in 6 months time, it was a good time to look into building a house. We both liked the Guildford area and had seen a new estate that looked promising, we went and had a look and both felt it was perfect, we didn't really bother looking elsewhere too much, Waterhall in South Guildford suited all our requirements perfectly. We registered our interest in one particular block and started looking through display homes, something that became somewhat of a routine over the following month.
After a few disappointments and frustrations, we found the Evolution 3000 by RedInk. After a few modifications, we were happy and around the end of February we signed a preliminary contract to build our house, we also made an offer on the block which was accepted the following day. Both of these were pending finance which we applied for around the same time.
Had we known that when you put an application in you just apply for the maximum amount you can borrow, we would have put our application in when we started looking. We didn't though and it turned out that lots of other people thought buying/building a house now was a good idea. As a result, loan pre-approval times became 3 to 4 times longer than usual. It took about 2 months for our pre-approval to come through, when it finally we did, we sent a copy to RedInk and the next step began.
After a week or so we were told our house was being rushed through, I guess because it had been in the system for so long, so we went and signed a few documents to give to our lender so we could get our finance finalised. We also went down to the block and discovered holes had been drilled for the soil tests, the first actual change in the block since we first saw it. Since then we've booked pre-start for the 9th of June, given all the relevant documents to our lender and made gas and electricity accounts.
Around the time we decided on the house, we went to Midland Brick at Home Base Expo and picked our bricks, pavers, roof, gutters etc. We have also picked all of our tiles and plan to go and check out the place that all the basins, taps, sinks etc. come from in the next week or so.
So things seem to be actually happening now, according to the contract, construction on the house must start by the 29th of June and be completed 250 days from construction commencement, which is the 6th of March. I'll try and update this regularly and hopefully provide pictures as well.
For now, here are some pictures of the block and our tile and laminate choices.
Ash and I on our block
How exciting, a hole on our block. This is from the soil tests.
These are the tiles and laminates for the bathroom, toilet and laundry. The small tiles on the left are the feature tiles, ivory for the walls, chocolate for the floor, mocha for the cupboards and a whitish colour for the bench top.
Kitchen: Mocha for the lower cupboards, white with a hint of brown for the upper cupboards and the lower drawers, green tea Essa stone for the bench tops.
Ensuite: Same Ivory tiles as the bathroom, something with some texture for the floors, a dark woodgrain for the cupboards, a whitish for the bench top. The feature tile is just below.
Feature tile for the ensuite, these are 50mm square, there will be a strip of these running down the shower and also a strip under the mirror. We're doing the same sort of thing in the bathroom with it's feature tile.
That's it for now, I'll try and get a floor plan and a few other things up later on. The next few days are a long weekend in Margaret River for Ash and I to celebrate our 2 year anniversary which is on the 3rd, it's amazing how things can change so much in 2 years time(and to prevent me getting in trouble I'll just clarify that I mean change for the better :) )
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