Kurmond Homes

So over the X'mas break we got in our car and as we do often go and look at some of the houses being built in the area. We noticed a lot of homes from builders we haven't heard of before, and while we were driving around we noticed that there were a large number of homes by a company called Kurmond Homes. After I got home I decided to look them up on the Internet. Their designs look pretty good, and they say on their website that they're pretty flexible with their designs. So I emailed them asking for a price list on Boxing day.

The very next morning I had an email back with the price list. One noticeable thing straight away is that I got an email from the director of the company. The company being owned by two brothers from Windsor, already a good start knowing your talking directly to the owners of the business so you know your going to get some good attention. There both builders themselves so I think it's good you're going to have the owners working on your home.

Their price list looks good, I've attached it below but as you can see much cheaper compared to the big builders and a lot of standard inclusions. Also while driving around looking at their homes they look to be much better built then some of the big companies we've seen, on par with Zac homes. They also tell you upfront what the extras are going to be. They also wrote back to me and said they have 3 in house designers to come up with your own plan. Not happy with their designs they will work with you for free to come up with something you want. I've emailed them back to work out a time to discuss what we're after, Kurmond homes so far are looking good, just might have to cancel my appointment with Zac homes now. By all means I think Zac homes look great, but if Kurmonds builds look just as polished and can do it cheaper then I'll be going with them for sure.

Zac Homes Meeting

So here's the gist. Zac homes can design a home and work with your budget, that's a good thing. The quality of their home is also much better then the project homes so that's another big plus. The problem though is the price is slightly dearer but the inclusions are obviously better.

1m2 = $1150 as of the 22/12/2010

Peta was keen on a 36-40 square home seeing this covered of all the room she wanted. Eden Breas Cremorne 37 would come to about $330k but we would still have to pay for fencing and things like that. But the house would have the squares she wants, but the design isn't 100% what we want. 1 Square is 9.29m2. To put it into perspective:

36 Squares = 334.44m2 = $384,606
37 Squares = 343.73m2 = $395,289
40 Squares = 371.60m2 = $427,340

We've been looking at what we can afford, looking at our plan we can probably go to $340k if there were no surprise costs. I'd like to keep 10k aside though for any hidden surprises that pop up.340k would be 295.65m2 equalling 31.82 squares.

Considering 1 square is 9.29m2 you're losing a room basically for each square you take away.

Zac homes are realistic and because of the custom design they believe if the space is used wisely the home won't feel small at all and it should be like there's no difference to what you want. They work with your budget, what you want and if rooms need to be bigger etc they take out things, inclusions and such. Take the carpet out to do later for example and add you can afford to add a square to the home.

Lots of things to think about over the next few weeks. We have scheduled another meeting Jan 20th to take the plunge. Until then we're going to try and work out how we can get what we really want. Perhaps a second job? I doubt it.

Emailed a friend today whose father in law use to own a large home company in NSW. He might have some advise for us or perhaps even know some people still in the game that could do a better deal. Worth asking anyway, can't hurt. He might be able to tell us how to get the bang for our buck.

All fun and games over the Christmas break.

Meeting with Zac Homes

Tomorrow morning we will be meeting with Zac homes for a sit down discussion about them, their prices, their work and what they can do for us. I'm putting together a list of expectations to give to them so we can get a realistic estimate from them. Lets see how this goes.

We did go check out some of their homes last week and most of them were pretty impressive. They were well built, nice designs and modern facades so couldn't knock them back.

Zac Homes Maybe?

Well it's been a long time, my little boy was in Hospital for a week due to having Adenovirus and Viral Pneumonia. Wasn't good to see him like this and the house plans basically came to a stop.

Some good news is that yesterday was the end of our cooling off period, it's now official we own our very own lot at Jordan Springs now. We handed over the 5% deposit and now we wait.

Still thinking about what home to build. We were side tracked a bit so we'll have to get our heads back in the game. Here's a few photo's of roughly where our block is going to sit. Our block is in line with this street and will be basically where those tress are on the left on that hilly bit.

While we were on the tour we also found out about a company called Zac homes. I like the sound of what these guys do and seeing they are a Penrith based company I like the fact of supporting locals.

These guys for $950 can create a custom designed home based on what you're after in a home and also design the facade. They told me if you've seen it somewhere else you can pretty much have your home the same way. They also allow family members on site during the construction to do work on the home if you want to save some money. They're estimating about $1000 per sqm, which sounds great. I'm going to research them and see if I can view some houses that they have done, but this might be a good option for us seeing none of the designs are perfect yet.

I jumped onto www.floorplanner.com and played around with a ground floor idea I'm playing with, I did 3 of them and so far the below is the best one. I'm sure the builders could spruce it up even more. What do you think? Wonder if Zac Homes can do something like the below.

Our Lot on Paper and Design Controls for the Lot

Thought I'd share some information on the lot that we bought and our reasoning behind the choice. The Lot is 1182 and it's on a road called "Crimson" St. We did have the option of buying 1186 at one point also but being South Facing we thought it would be better for us to stick with a North Facing block, this reduces our BASIX costs, allows the sun in the backyard and also puts us on the higher side of the street for drainage. 

The only possible annoying thing is that the block to the right of us has the option of building on a zero boundary. This means instead of a fence going the complete run, they may choose to have there garage wall as part of the fence, meaning we have a brick wall to look at down that side. This is very common these days, and every new estate we looked in are now doing this. It doesn't mean they have to but it's possible. The good thing is they can't have any windows on it, it can't be a living room, and if they build a two storey home they have to be 1m in on the second storey. We'll just have to get creative with dressing the side access up somehow if that happens.

Design controls at Jordan Springs are pretty good, I just included the basic block one, but overall they're pretty relaxed. What I do like is that the council part of he driveway has to be plain concrete for every house, this makes the area look consistent. The fence also has to be he one colour in the area also.

Pretty happy now, it's locked in. We're heading there today to walk around and take some photos. I don't think we can get to our block yet but we're allowed to walk around the roads they have done already. 

W00t!!! Green Light Baby!!

Westpac have quickly come back to us and given us the green light and unconditional approval on the loan for the land. We are now the new owners of a block of land at Jordan springs in Sydney's West. We also have conditional approval on the building loan, basically we just need a building contract under or at the price of the loan and that's a green light.

Peta is very happy and thank god for Westpac!

Baby Jordan will be moving to Jordan Springs.

Conditionally Approved - Take 2

Good news, Westpac have approved the loan conditionally today. The land valuation has been ordered again, but this time with Westpac. Crossing fingers all goes well this time. They use their own evaluators which is also a good thing.

The good thing about this is that Westpac have been lending in the area already at 97% and valuing the land with no issues for other borrowers, they have local valuators who have been valuing the land out there for a number of people and none of them have had issues. The other good thing is that unlike Bankwest, these guys have also already conditionally approved the construction loan. We didn't even get that far with Bankwest.

After this it will then go to the insureres, and again Westpac use their own, and again they have done this for other borrowers in the Jordan Springs area.

Oh Westpac, please make our Christmas dreams come true.

Waiting on Westpac Still

Still no word from Westpac yet, loan went to them yesterday and the only news we heard from them today was we accidently signed one part which we weren't meant to. (The part was for business type loans). I crossed it out, initialled the mistake and resent them the application. We should then hear from them tomorrow.

If all ok, this should give us conditional approval. Then we have to wait for the land valuation. With Bankwest this took 3 days, but seeing Westpac Penrith are the preferred lending partner for Jordan Springs we should get this sorted immediately if my assumption is right. Then it's off to their own mortgage insurers.

Best case we know tomorrow, next best case by Friday, worst case mid to end next week. Cross fingers.

An update to the home designs, we found another today that fits within our budget and is what we are after, a Wisdom home, the Manhattan 36. Floor diagram below.

Some Home Designs

Went and saw this home yesterday - the Phoenix 38. Fell in love with it straight away. The sad thing is though is Metricon homes are very expensive. We can get an Eden Brae home for almost 100k less and the same squares with heaps of inclusions. This one would be up in the 350-400k mark. Absolutely loved the design though and floor plan.

Anyone want to give us 50K.

Considering that we're realising that Eden Brae are much more affordable we're probably leaning towards the Cremorne 37 now with some modifications. We had another look in the Fowler Monte Carlo 33 yesterday and it lacks cupboard space. The front design of the house (media and home office) was excellent but the rear got ugly. With Eden Brae the back is much better, has more living space but the front needs some work.

We'll probably close of the living room part to make it a media room and close of the study as well with some sliding doors. Another option for us is to also swap the office and lounge around. This one including driveway, AC, and all that fun stuff is about 310K complete, no more to pay.

What we would like in our next home.

Thought I'd share what we need in a house, and what we would like, showing you we're puting a lot of thought into the home design. This is just a few things that we hope to get.

• 4 Bedrooms is a must for valuation purpose and future renting out.
• Separate living room (media style) away from the living and dining areas. A place where I can escape to play my Xbox without having to turn it off, turn it down etc. This allows us to have a second TV for all of Jordan's favourite shows and general TV watching in the general living area.
• Really want a separate study. Anyone who has seen my computer room will know I need the room to setup everything and sort it out. One that can act as a scrapboooking room for Peta also.
• We would like an Alfesco area, we want to bring the outside in and have the backyard and BBQ close to the kitchen so that we can actually use it. Also allows Jordan to play out the back and we can watch him closely. (another words, kitchen at the rear also.)
• Double garage minimum, one that fits a 4WD, in case we buy one in the future. Possibly a bit wider.
• Plenty of kitchen cupboard space. This allows for all of Peta's tuppawear to sit somewhere.
• Walk in Pantry or butler room. We want to have bench tops with powerpoints so we can leave mixers and things out plugged in ready to go so we actually use them. Hidden away though. Sink in there would be good also.
• Air Conditioning a must.
• Gas appliances, for cooking, the BBQ etc.

So far we're liking the Monte Carlo 33 by Fowler homes. If you see any similar to this design let us know. Here's a link to see it. (We would choose a different facade for sure)