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. 

Still no Contract of Sale

More delays, there seems to be some confusion with the sales office today about the contract of sale for the land. I need it to go to our Broker for the loan to be approved, and I also need the it with the solicitor to review before signing.

I got an email today from Jordan Springs asking that I come in on Sunday to pay the 5% deposit, after I sign it they will forward a copy to my solicitor. First of all, it was suppose to be Monday. Secondally I won't be signing anything unless my solicitor/conveyancer tells me to. I can't understand why they think people would do this and why they get upset about us wanting it to go to our solicitor. Trust me, we want the land and we want to live at Jordan Springs. We also want to protect ourselves, wouldn't anyone?

Solicitor emails me at 5 this afternoon - still no contract of sale, but the broker has been given the front page for the laon. Grrr...... they better sort this out. I can't see myself signing until mid to late next week now. I need money and solicitor approval first.

As a tip for anyone, don't sign anything until you have it checked.

Verbal Approval for Land Loan

Excellent news, our finance broker got verbal approval today of the loan for the land. That's one step almost complete that will give us a big sigh of relief. They need the contract for sale first page and some other stuff but they're pretty happy with giving us the loan. Now we wait.

We're struggling at the moment to get her the cover page as Nancy from Jordan Springs went on a conference for a few days. Seems like no-one else can help so we play the waiting game. Oh well, no need to worry, just delays us paying that 5% deposit. Our solicitor is chasing it also and not having any luck.

Holding Deposit Paid

So the day has finally come. Peta and I have been saving for such a long time. Back in April this year we attempted to go for a loan. The October before we tried to get a block of land at Waterside. I swear things happen for a reason. We were knocked back on the loan basically being told we needed more savings. 
Well about 3 days ago I decided to look again at why we were knocked back on the loan back in April. I'd been on Holidays for a few weeks, I was heading back to work but life at home was slowing down so I thought I'd start putting my goals together.
I went through the email and basically we needed  money to cover stamp duty. "Light Bulb!!!!" Earlier his year the NSW government (despite how much they suck) announced no stamp duty is required on new homes < $600,000 AUD.
I got the calculator out and realised that we had more then enough if that was the case, more like double what we needed to cover the 5% depoist, LMI and legals. We decided to go do some work on working out where we wanted to live. 


The options were:

• Jordan Springs
• Waterside
• Glenmore Ridge
• Oran Park Town
• Ropes Crossing

After some serious thought we have decided on Jordan Springs, the reasons being - 

1. Land is about $60,000 cheaper then the average of the other suburbs, because it's off the plan prices.
2. They have a housing affordability fund, refundable on settlement of the land with building plans worth $22,600.
3. $2000 in landscaping to all purchasers.
4. Close to brand new school and shops, has basketball courts too.
5. Offers fibre to the home.
6. Gives us the greatest investment return over the next two years with the cheaper land, the HAF and landscaping bonus. I'm expecting about 50-100k in equity the day we move in if all goes well.

We placed $1000 deposit to hold a lot at Jordan Springs, Lot 1182, 450sqm. Total land cost came to $252,500. We're waiting on the loan approval but things look good.