Decisions decision

A few options have presented itself.

1. Rochedale estate is being developed, but who knows when this will happen. The developers keep promising prices are dates, but don't seem to deliver. Again problem with council and DA Pros: New area, who doesn't like to live in a new estate. Cons, unknown timetable, we could be waiting years for this to be available. Seems like the price are too expensive, ridiculously expensive.
2. There a bit of subdivided land in out own suburb, which looks good. Pros: close to daughter's school, close to family, may cut my home commute from 5 mins to 15mins each day. Cons: Battle axes never were favoured by me. Near a main road, slopy land, needs plenty of retaining
3. Some land being up for re-sale in MacKenzie. That means whoever is selling is making some money back. Pros, can built straight away, maybe sell in a year and build somewhere else. Cons don't like the area, close to gateway arterial. Will add upto 20mins commute from work each day. Will need a highset house, since it's a small block. Which means the construction will cost way more that we have budgeted.

Not Happy, Jan!

Bad news. Seems as though when the surveys were done on the land, we have been cheated some usable land. The boundary pegs can be seen on the outside of some boulder retaining wall and the fence line lies 1.5m inside the boudary. It was a visual illusion, thinking the boundary went to the fence. We are pulling out of the agreement to hold the land. Back to square one. Might look up the road for options there. I already see some houses going up. This agent or developer seemed dodgy anyway. Kept promising the land would be registered every fortnight, but doesn't seem to come true. Keeps blaming the council. Didn't like this are much anyway, it was too close to the gateway, and with the expansion, might cause acoustic issues.

Preliminary contract signed

OK we payed the deposit with John at Wakerly. Now waiting for the soil test, surveys & PC back.

I can't believe we've committed to build. Happy birthday to me.

We Like

Went to look at a display home in Wakerly by Metricon. I think we have found our builder. Just love the grandview there. We discussed whether we could fit this on our block. It turns out, it will be perfect. We have booked a walkthough on the 20th with plans to pay the preliminary deposit.

Could this be it?

Found a reasonable plot of land in MacKenzie. We put a holding deposit on it, because the land isn't yet registered. They tell us by October it will be finalised.

Next time to talk to a builder.

Land options

Looking at land in MacKenzie. I don't really like the area. But there is definitely more options if we do. MacKenzie Rise has only a few releases left, and MacKenzie views is just opening up. Land is slopy so will require retaining and the sort. Talking to many builders as well.

Looking at options

Should we buy an existing house or build? The temptation is definitely there to build, but we will be taking on more debt to do so.

Settlement date

Today we handed over keys and the cheque has supposedly been process and will be in the bank next week.

Tenants gone

Tenants have moved out. We took a drive to see what condition they left the house. We haven't had a good run with tenants lately, these ones had been the best and unfortunately they had to move out.

Unconditional sale

OK the sale contract is unconditional the settlement date is 18th. Tenants move out on the 11th.

Counter offer

Today the buyer put in a counter offer, in considering the costs to underpin the house, we discounted significantly to make it more attractive.

House Inspection

Today, was bad news on the house inspection. Structural defects everywhere. This is due to the fact the house was originally timber and some einstein has choosen to brick it up without the necessary foundational reports. Since the drough, the soil has dried up significantly.

The sale has fallen through. I am investigating the matter with engineers and asking how much underpinning will cost.

Offer on our house

We had an offer on our home. The only problem it is still being tenanted. We will negotiate with the tenants with 4 weeks free rent if they handle they will assist.

Selling our house

We moved out of our house in July 2005. We choose to put it up for rent and live with family. We could pay of our home quicker this way.

We committed to an agent in January and put the property up for sale soon after.