Never a dull moment

Land Valuation
Lindsay and his team at Aussie Home Loans have been very supportive during the process of purchasing the land. The levels of communication and follow up have been greatly appreciated and beyond expectations.

Today an on site bank valuation occurred. Thankfully the bank agreed on the value of the land, however they determined the land to be in a bush fire zone. Instantly, I began to see the upgrades to the house fading with the costs of compliance for fire hazards.

Thankfully, after speaking to the Sales Consultant for Vermont I was assured that the estate is not in a bush fire zone.

By COB Friday 29 February 2013 1 March 2013 (edit: whoops! there's no 29th Feb this year), we will know if we have the go ahead for the loan.

On another note the solicitors also received the amended contract for the sale of the land today, hopefully there will be no issues there.

Tender
Hopefully tomorrow we will have a date to attend our tender appointment.

It seems the individual hurdles have been a blessing to align the approval of the loan, signing of the contract of sale for the land and the next stages of the house.

Kitchen Inspiration

Blogs Blogs Blogs and more Blogs

Thank goodness for Blogs. I've learnt so much by reading other people's experiences.
If there's something I would like to modify with the design of the house, help isn't too far away for an alternative.

I came across The Radds Blog who built the Cambridge 34. The kitchen design will work in the Sheffield, especially given the pantry had one door opening which prevented access on the far side without having to take everything down first.

Sheffield 25

 

 

Sheffield kitchen as displayed at Spring Farm

 

 

Cambridge 34



 

Hopefully, the kitchen design will work for us without costing a small fortune.

The Cambridge 34 Result

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Remember power point on island bench

 

More Inspiration

 

realestate.com.au

 

Aren't the floors boards to die for?

 

I could spend hours on StudioM, the images make styling seem so effortless. Again, loving the floor boards.

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day (14 February 2013) was spent at the Lawyers going over the contract for the sale of land. How romantic.

Some concerns were discovered which resulted in requesting an amended contract.

Next Steps

Friday 8 February 2013
During my lunch break I stopped by another Eden Brae Display Village to look at some more designs. The proximity of rumpus room and living/lounge rooms wasn't appealing in most of the designs which reassured our decision with the Sheffield.

Saturday 09 February 2013
Mr H and I did the rounds, visiting the Display Homes and the block til it was time for our first appointment with an Eden Brae Consultant.

The Consultation 

On reflection it seems we went to the appointment blind sighted. We had done no research outside of Eden Brae as an option to build with. We had limited knowledge of building, apart from attending the Eden Brae seminar some months ago. It also felt like once we had got to the consultation stage we were starting to get pieces of the puzzle to help inform us of the road ahead.

Going through 'Display Home Options' cost list was certainly an eye opener. It seems to achieve the 'dream house' has a price tag beyond the 'home and land package'. Now, I'm aware of the waterfall feature on the island bench in the kitchen, how appealing the extra height is at the front entry etc..
The biggest let down was the kitchen (at this stage... I'm sure there will be more as we progress). I couldn't believe above head cupboards is an 'extra'.

I also found the 'Display Home Option List' was all over the house (so to speak). I've since re-typed the list, grouping the options in categories.

Once back in the office we made some slight modifications to the design: creating a larger WIR by extending into the lounge room, closing in the rumpus/family room cut out, adding an external door to the garage door, closing in the study and closing in the kitchen to create an U-Shape, added a cavity sliding door to the ensuite. Very basic changes.

We also had to decide on the facade of the house (which excluded Havard as the neighbours have already selected it).

Sunday 10 February 2013
Another trip to Spring Farm with Mr H. The EB Consultant was on my page and highly structured in explaining the process to us, especially the Display Home Options. Previously we were taken through the Drysdale for the Display Home Options. It was much easier going through the Display Home Options for the Sheffield at the Sheffield.

Overall, the Consultant spent a considerable amount of time with us and recommend modifications that were very helpful (that has worked for the Sheffield).

Additionally, the Consultant also suggested increasing the size allocated for the fridge going as far as to looking online the width of our current fridge. We increased the width to 1000mm.

Draft Plan

(the quality is reducing as it has been scanned multiple times now)

Spring Farm Display Homes

Next stop was Spring Farm to view the Sheffield 23 (Eden Brae Sheffield)

The Sheffield appealed to us given the following features:
* Allows for side access and to maximise our yard space
* The separation between the lounge room and rumpus room
* Study

Some things I would like to change:
* The size of the WIR
* Kitchen, particularly the pantry
* Closing in the wall between the living room and rumpus
* The size of the alfresco area (to accommodate our 8 seater outdoor set and the birdies)

It's unfortunate there isn't a display home for the Sheffield 25, given the differences in plans it is slightly difficult seeing the final product.

I've spent some time going over the pros and cons of other homes, all of which are 13000 in width and it seems that having the 3m side access was appealing. The pros of the other house designs can hopefully be incorporated into the Sheffield without blowing out the budget.

Sheffield 23

 

 



 

Sheffield 25

 

 

Vermont Living at Fernville

By Tuesday 5 February 2013 I was asking my Manager for a day off work so that I could go back to the site and see the block.

With the day off work on Wednesday, my friend accompanied me back to Pitt Town. We spent the morning chatting to Janet and going through my initial concerns list. We walked down to the block and soon discovered the lot we were interested in had pine trees on the boundary. The choices were to either keep the trees on the block or spend money removing them... money that could be spent on the house.

Given that the ideal lot on the street had already been deposited on, we selected the next lot. On reflection it would have been best if we looked at the blocks on Sunday.

Open Home

It seems like a life time ago we were looking at established houses.
On 3 February 2013 I had added to our schedule an Open House at Pitt Town. The house was perfect, everything I could ask for from the moment I entered the house. Timber floor boards - check; WIR - check; oh, look at the ensuite - check; a lounge room for me - check; study - check; kitchen I could see myself in and a place for the kitchen aid - check; plenty of storage - check; a 'man cave' - check; bedrooms with adequate space - check; the backyard at 750sqm - check; I couldn't get to the real estate agent fast enough to find out the selling price. Unfortunately, it was beyond our budget. I walked out close to tears, it felt like we were never going to find our place.

I noticed the sales office for land and suggested we stop there for a look. Not wanting to disappoint me any further Mr H was reluctant to stop. It took me to say 'stop' before we were walking into the sales office.

We were given some brochures for housing options and prices with Eden Brae. We took the brochures home and had a look. We decided on a block that looked great on paper and the suggested house was the Sheffield 25.