I'm a rates payer!

That's right, today in the mail I got my first ever rates notice!!! It's actually kind of exciting! It's the first bit of mail for my new house!! -squeal- It even has my actual street number on it (which I already knew) and not just a lot number!! Unfortunately though, like most of my snail mail letters these days, it was a bill, but a relatively small one compared to the other snail mail invoice I got today, my lock up invoice -faints-

According to council, my land is valued at less than what I paid for it but considering that the rates are calculated on this value I am MORE than happy for it to be lower :)

How adult like, I'm now paying a mortgage and council rates!!

Yes, I know it's VERY odd to be getting excited about a council rates notice, but it's the first one I have ever had and it's kind of a big thing in a way for me :D It's almost like a welcome letter to the City of Whittlesea!

(I'm such a loser I know! -puts l shaped hand to forehead- hahahahaha)

Start by June 5th

Someone else I know building with PD was told during the week that if they didn't meet their site start then it would be pushed back to October - ARGH! So I emailed my CSA on Friday to ask if that would also happen to me and her reply was:

Once construction have your file we will commence with in 2 weeks of this, whether that's may or June. I don't know your friends job so I can't really comment on what she has been advised from her Customer service assistant. But be rest assured when we hand your file to construction on the 22nd May we will commence as soon as we can.

I'm thinking that this could be yet another difference with Access v's Prestige and Lifestyle builds OR it's the number of houses they have booked in ready to go in the area's...

So, this means that I should see something happen on site before June 5th!! :D

I drove past my block on the weekend and saw that a few blocks in my stage have finally started to build! Some of them had temporary fencing, I hope the council hasn't changed their regulations about the temp fencing - I don't want yet another cost especially cos I have car rego and insurance due which is going to make another dent in the savings account.

Hopefully this week the permits come in and I get my final house drawings to sign off on.

Land settlement is done!

I got a phone call today at ~2:50pm from my solicitor and as soon as I saw her name I started to panic - 10 minutes before settlement was due to happen! Gah!

However it was all good :D It went through early!

Yes, I now own my land and can progress forwards with it all! Ok so the bank owns it, but you know what I mean!

Wow!!

Complaint lodged with Westpac

I followed up with my broker yesterday about the complaint in regards to the penalty interest and after a few phone calls, I need to contact the mortgage centre myself.
So I have called the number my broker gave me and have lodged a complaint. He tried to tell me that my mortgage broker requested the change... ? I don't believe it. I re-stated to him that all my notorised documentation as well as all my land and building contracts all have my middle name, so it is the banks fault.

The complaints area will take 3 days to acknowledge receipt of the complaint and then a further 7-10 days to look into it.

I'm so angry and annoyed with Westpac, but yet everyone I have dealt with directly at Westpac has been really great which makes it a really odd situation.

I can also confirm that the new documents were received yesterday in Adelaide and my broker has told me that she has escalated it to get settlement ASAP. Hopefully I know more this afternoon.

Oh, and I went past the block on the weekend and I have a lot number sign with a sold sticker! It made me really excited about -something- happening and then I got all sad again cos it's still not officially mine yet...

And it just gets worse

It gets worse... I just got the below email from my solicitor. I have forwarded it onto my mortgage broker and she is going to investigate and raise it with her manager and see what can be done about it.

I have advised the Developer of the delay due to the Bank having to redo mortgage documents.

They have advised that they will be charging penalty interest for late settlement. So if settlement takes place on the 14th May, 2009 then penalty interest will come to $547.15. They had previously granted us an extension of the settlement date penalty interest, but now they are insisting on penalty interest.


I can understand why the developer has done this seeing as though this is now the third time that settlement has had to be changed due to the bank, but I do not wish to be paying this on top of the extra month or so in rent that I'm already having to pay due to the bank taking so long and making an error on the printing of my name.

The developer could have done worse than charge me interest too, but thankfully they haven't

I think I'm now beyond angry

Angry with the bank

Well my loan documents are not at my local branch ready for me to sign. This means that I can't sign them until Monday.... assuming that they get there in time, at this rate who the hell even knows!?!?

-sigh- I'm so angry. So so Angry

This means settlement could end up being 2 weeks away. This all add's up to extra money coming out of my pocket! Extra rent money that I really don't want to be paying because the bank stuffed up!

Not good enough Westpac!

waiting for settlment time and date

On Tuesday when I dropped some paperwork off at my solicitors, she said that Thursday (today) I should know the definite date and time of my land settlement.... -waits-

In other news, my dad -finally- got the title to his land yesterday in Riverdale! I think they originally bought it in maybe July or something last year and have only now got the titles which were originally meant to come through in December! YaY! He can start building now and will hopefully be in by Christmas!

Possible start date

I just got onto N my CSC and she has been off sick for almost a week! Poor thing :( She didn't sound too good either.

She explained the process a bit more for me. They don't get the permits and the DA approval until about a week after land settlement and they don't order the final working drawings until they receive this, so me waiting for all this to be done sooner rather than later hasn't been worthwhile.

So I have more of an idea of time lines etc now. As settlement is on Tuesday 5th of May, once she has confirmation of that from my solicitor, she will send the file off to the construction area and from there they normally take two weeks to get onto site and their work weeks are Friday to Friday, so I could have a start date of May 22nd!

I've read my loan documents and have a few questions, so I called the bank to make a signing appointment but they told me I need to raise these questions with my mortgage broker - I hope this doesn't cause a delay. Things that are wrong are different LMI value to my original sheet, not the latest interest rate and stamp duty looks to have been calculated on the entire loan amount and not the land value which is a difference of about $12k!

Tomorrow hopefully!

I contacted my Mortgage Broker today and evidently tomorrow is the day I should find out from the bank! How exciting!

Although I also contacted my solicitor and the finance clause on my land is now 17th April, 2009 and as it would seem extremely unlikely that the Bank would manage to get everything arranged for the 24th April, 2009 she also requested an extension of the settlement date (which has been accepted) until the 5th May, 2009.

If it comes back as OK tomorrow I wonder if settlement can be brought back again?

Unofficial

I've had to apply for a 5 day extension to my finance clause for my land as the file is back with credit to get all the boxes ticked. My broker has all the results and was telling me that it's all fine but they just don't have the actual official approval yet and it's going to be about 4 days.

My valuation came back short by about $3k which while frustrating, can be for the heater/aircon and not a major issue, I can get a cheaper one if I want (I put in the higher quote) OR I can use my savings which more than covers it, so while good to have that answer, it's a bit frustrating.

I also got a registered letter notification in the snail mail today... my rent is being increased from June 12th to $1387 from $1214 which is almost a 15% increase.... decision time has come - challenge it or move.

Getting close now

Today I should find out if I need to extend the finance clause on my land beyond the 8th April (Wednesday) So in theory, today I could find out if the valuation has come back as OK!

Getting nervous now!

Really looking forward to it

The more I think about it the more excited I get about moving out to Mernda. Sure, it will be the furthest from the city I have ever lived, but I love that part of the world. Growing up in Greensborough/Montmorency area's I always loved the country of Whittlesea, Diamond Creek and Hurstbridge area's and as a kid we used to have picnics at the Yan Yean Reservoir and soon I will be living about 5km's from it! :D

The other good thing is that while I am moving out there and I'm going to love it, I will still be heading towards the city for work (Richmond) which makes it the best of both worlds really, city and country :D I'm also _really_ happy about the location of my block in the estate. I am pretty much on the edge and so while it will be suburbia I will also still be surrounded by farm land :D

My land is ready and waiting

That's right, my land is titled and ready and waiting for me to complete all the required paperwork with the builder and the bank. This means that settlement will not be delayed at all by the land developer YaY!!! :D

Soil Tests?

Still no call from my CSC :(

Is this where they would have done soil tests?? I could find three like this


And re-discovered survey pegs! I now know where the edges of my block are


And I have a little blue man keeping watch on my gutter ;)

Yes I do realise they have circled something and it has an arrow at it - what could it be for?

I have a rock

I think my soil tests have been done! I didn't have time to upload the photo's yesterday, but I will tonight :D

I also took a rock from my land... it was just sitting there and well I couldn't resist -blush- LOL I'm silly sometimes! They have also re-done the surveying of the block and all my little bits of wood with the lot numbers are visible and have even bigger sticks next to them with colourful ribbons on them clearly marking the lot edges - I hope I got a lot sign thingy up soon with a sold sticket on it!

I am now officially starting week 3 today and my CSC is still yet to call me and according to my sheet, this week PD should be ordering the 5 star rating and preparing my HIA fixed price contracts - how can they do this w/out all my changes to the insulation etc? I also still need to tell them that I don't want their heater installed.
By now I am meant to have had the opportunity to review my HIA contract and my CSC should have called - neither have happened. Hrmmm....

I also got a letter yesterday from Choice Home Loans saying that my file is now in head office and giving the name of the person who is now my contact and that I should get a letter confirming pre-approval once that's through, well I've been told it's through so I want my piece of paper!

House plans

This morning I went and met up with my Porter Davis sales person, F. She went though some paperwork with me and gave me copies of the detailed house plans with all the measurements etc. It's so nice seeing the detailed plans, working out the sizes of everything. It's also starting to get more enjoyable now and less stressful which I am glad about.

I will scan all the plan's tomorrow at work so that I can put them up online.

I've also decided that I will be getting quotes for the driveway, fencing and air-conditioner not through Porter Davis, which means I need to have them done before the building contracts are signed as I need to include them with the papers given to the bank for the final approval.

H also came with me today and had a few good suggestions about the house, frosted glass on the bathroom and ensuite windows, extra power points etc. I'm starting to build a list of things I need changed and added. I also decided today to put a window on the meals area wall for a bit more natural light, I will mark that on the maps once I've scanned them. I also took H up to the block to show it to her and she liked the position of it and the tree's too :)

SOLD

I forgot to mention, I asked the land sales person for my sold sticker :D As you can see from the photo's of my block, I don't have a lot number sign on there so I don't have anywhere to put it, but he said the signs should be back up soon :D

Land is signed!

I saw a new mortgage broker this week to get a different view/opinion/options etc and I discovered that Westpac will advance you your first home owners grants at land settlement if you have a signed building contract. This meant that the land estate needed to agree to delay the settlement for 60 days pending finance. After a worrysome 24hrs head office agreed to it YaY!! What this means is that upfront, I only need about $4,500 (which I have) and all the other fees and deposits etc that I need will come out of the grants.

Yesterday I took my land contracts to a solicitor to read over them and make sure they are OK and today I went up to Mernda Villages and signed them! :D :D

I also went to the mortgage broker with all the required documents to apply for pre-approval for the home loan. Once I have pre-approval I can then start to fast track the house contracts which involves appointments for colours, tiles and electricity plan, so there is lots to do!

Another photo of my block, taken today



Standing on my dirt :D

I've started!

I posted this on February 1st 2009 on my other blog and thought I would repost it here

So today I went for a drive out to the area that I plan to build and I ended up putting a holding deposit on some land! Yes, I now have land! How scary is that? Well let me tell you, VERY! It's going to be a house and land deal with the builder but I still need to buy the land separately, they just have that blocked ear marked for them. It is a 14m by 32m block which is what I wanted and the orientation that I wanted too.

OMG, I have land!

So this week I need to go over the contracts and everything and then go back next week to sign them and pay the rest of the deposit. OMG, I have land!

I got sooooooo nervous when it came time to actually say yes and do it and then put the money down! OMG I HAVE LAND!!

This is the biggest most important thing I think I have ever done financially and lifestyle wise or in fact ever really and I'm doing it all alone which also adds some stress.

Of course it is all subject to finance, so I can pull out any time I want to if I start to panic.

Once it's all signed and everything I will start a blog for it all

OMG I HAVE LAND! -breathes deeply-

These are taken on my phone:

My driveway - the rear of the block faces north which makes the yard North West which is what I wanted



The block is 3 houses from the corner of a street that runs along these trees and these trees will be staying as they are on land that the developers don't own - I really like these trees!



More of the trees, taken from my driveway:



And again the block:



OMG, I have land!! I still can't believe it!