Monday 26 May 2014

New Landscape Designer needed!

Some bad news for us today with our Landscape Designer having to pull out of the work needed for our Design Submission.

Due to issues out of our control, he has had to decline the work and many others as well due to a legal debate he is currently working through with a building company! (MJH what have you done now)

It's a real shame as he knew the estate and guidelines very well, so on the hunt again for a designer.
Most probably need to approach an old School friend of mine to assist.

I swear I didn't kick the Garden Gnome! But luck just isn't going our way. Maybe it's a Test of Patience and tolerance I am experiencing.


Sunday 25 May 2014

Said hello to the Block Today!

We dropped into the block of land today to see if we could get on site to take some more photo's

Got a better view of the slopes on the block, and spoke briefly about the retaining wall at rear of home, Apparently this would become the responsibility of the Lot behind us.

However the retaining wall on the left boundary is still needing to be discussed, depending how much they cut out of the front and middle of block.

We had 1 Photo which has a Pipe in the rear of the property, I forgot to ask exactly what it was, so atm it's unknown, but was good to see it now, Just in case our Landscape design had a Big Tree going there.

Anyway, here are some shots.

Front left Boundary


Back Left Corner


Back corner looking back to street


The UNKNOWN Pipe!


It's back!


The slope at the rear of the block


Back right corner looking to Front left corner


Front Right looking to Front Left


My Wife and Mum


Friday 23 May 2014

Interesting Feedback

We are working with a Landscape designer for our Estate submission, really cool Bloke. (Hi Jason)
He got in contact with us yesterday after speaking with The Vendor in regards to our Plan Submission.

The feedback he got was very interesting, Apparently we need a 1.5 Metre High Retaining wall.

So I sent him some photo's I had of our block, cause the information that he was given about how our block sits and where the angles/slopes are just didn't add up.

The feedback from him was that I was right, it looks nothing like what the The Vendor guy was saying.
So now I have another loose cannon shooting words of wisdom off, which = $$$.

The guy from The Vendor wants to meet on site to explain this to me, I hope he know's his shit and can back it up. Because what he is describing is a $10k to 14k Wall.

To top it off, he mentioned to our Landscape designer, that our floor plan with the Split level in it, will need to be reversed the other way. (Is this guy on FKN Drugs>?)

Looking forward to keeping you all updated on this next Exciting instalment of utter BS.


Thursday 22 May 2014

Registration Running Behind

Got some feedback yesterday in regards to how the land was going for Registration.

Seems that the Land and Title Office has this, and could take another 2-4 weeks to register the land.
It was indicated to me that Settlement could then be Late June or July. (Damn)

This is annoying due to the fact our construction quote has 150 days of holding it's value before an increase of $1000 a month Kicks in.

So July 22nd is our deadline on this before we incur this charge. (Great)

Heh, Money grow's on tree's, so it's all good!

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Exchange Documents All Signed

Today's update was that we went down to the conveyancer and got the Exchange paperwork all signed, this hopefully will be lodged with the Vendor Solicitor and signed off on their end fairly quickly.

We need the counter signed Land Contract for our First home owner grant to be submitted, and also need the land to register to complete the Plan # and Section Number for this to be finalised. the current detail for our land sits with 2 different titles and ID numbers, so it looks all a bit confusing.

Not really 100% sure it would pass it in current state with the FHOG submission, but you never know.

We engaged a landscape designer that is familiar with the Estate we are building in, and will get the Draft Landscape design and completed Plan once we submit what tree's we would like, garden flowers and how our fencing will be done with gates.

So still alot of admin to do over the next few weeks to get everything in place for settlement.

The amount of work that has to be put into this was something I didn't expect, and is something anyone going down this path, should expect.

Monday 19 May 2014

To the Conveyancer we Go!

We are off to the Conveyancer tomorrow to finish the Exchange of Land Documentation.
Also getting our FHOG Grant completed and witnessed, and then given to the broker to hand to the bank for submission.

Our Tax Concession Grant is being done by our conveyancer as we near a settlement date.

Next steps for us is to Complete the Landscape Design, and pay the Trust money for the Landscaping.
Need to chase this up on when exactly they need this.

Tuesday night we are catching up with the broker to cover off the final bit's of the puzzle for our Loan setup.

Lot's of Admin over the next 2 weeks.

Friday 16 May 2014

And the Verdict Is!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Land Value = PASS

Construction Value = PASS

The only condition we have left now is the First home Owner Grant Application, which is a no brainer!

BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday Update Part C!

Holy Sh*t........ It's complete.....


Now I am PRAYING it Passes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COME ON SPINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday Part B Update!

Dig enough and you can get access to some information.

Managed to get my Case number, and then login via the Valex Website to see where my application is at.
After speaking with the Bank, they are still waiting for the file to be uploaded to them.

OMG this all started on the 8th Of May, and it's now the 16th. Talk about blowing a Gasket.


Will someone just press the DELIVERED Button FFS!

Friday Part A Update!

As it Happens.....

Conveyancer called to acknowledge that Exchange was approved before the Expiry date of the 14th. (Great News) No increase on my land sale value, thank-god.

So we are off early next week to complete the paperwork for this for the subdivision paperwork. And also complete the First Home buyer Grant Lodgement doc's which the Bank wants to lodge on our behalf. (A Little strange)

However the Valuation is still in no man's land, no update from Broker or Bank. It's now been a full 8 Day's the Valuation company VALEX has had this. So much for the 48HR turnaround, and the Urgency that was placed on this.

The amount of finger pointing from all 3 Parties (Broker,Bank,Valex) is astounding! And totally unprofessional.

Let's see what rainbow can shoot out of someone's backside today in regards to Valuation.

Thursday 15 May 2014

Right about Now it's dead to me!

Still no updates at all after today, nothing on exchange, and nothing on Valuation.

The passion and fun of this process is now disappearing, and being replaced with let down and broken promise.

Anger is most probably the next stage of this whole thing, and I feel really sorry for the person that cop's the first spray.

No words of wisdom tonight, no insight and no strategy, just plain out right disappointment!

Thank god for me I have a heap on at work, which is taking my mind of this during the day.
Let's see what happen's tomorrow......

Because I feel very sorry for people on Monday!

Today's Update!

Blow by Blow as it happens....... what else is a blog for!

So, Valuation was being worked on last night, however they didn't have a copy of our Land contract for the Valuer, WTF!

So i pushed many buttons first thing today and got this over to them, let's see what happens next in this department.

Next the Exchange documents have been sent to the wrong solicitor from the Builders Solicitor back to the Developers Solicitor, Instead of coming to my Solicitor.

So my Conveyancer is chasing this down as well to finish the exchange. (Brain going into Meltdown)

So right now, I have no idea if exchange has been totally finished and approved before the Expiry as of Yesterday, my Valuation to complete my Loan approval still has not come in, and I have deposited on the Land without 100% confirmation from all parties.

I'm ok if your ok is such a bad thought process right now!

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Still no valuation given to bank!

How Amazing, still no Valuation passed across to the Bank, and to be honest I called Valex in relation to this, and the bank actually gave me their details to follow them up due to the urgency.

But all I got was a Totally rude and arrogant piece of you know what on the other end. Saying How dare I call them directly. So I mentioned that the people paying you to do this told me to call. All i got was tough Love and ZERO assistance, so I kept my cool and hung up.

They have had the information to complete the valuation since last Thursday, and they only just today put information in to process the valuation, giving them another 48HRS to hand to the bank.

(PATHETIC)

Thank God I have taken the risk to pay the 10% on the Land, cause If I waited for these Jokers, I'de be F(*&^ed right about now.

So I wait again, praying it's all good........

The amount of words I wanted to Unleash on this Lady was so called for, but I bit my tongue and said no worries, please attend as fast as you can. (Give her a bloody nose, and I'm sure my Valuation would never come across).

Wait till all this is settled, karma is a Bitch!

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Words can barely Describe the last few days!

Where do I start....... yes Grey hair, that's a good 1.

The last few day's has been mentally tough, and some very tough decisions have been made, with the possibility of some tough decisions to pass after this week.

Firstly the Valuation still has not come back from the External party, due to being swamped with work.
On Monday morning we were advised that certain documents had not been passed to the Valuation company, however this was sent to them Last Thursday night.

Was then informed that it would be an internal valuation with-out needing to go on site. This changed as of today where they needed to send someone onsite to take photo's of our dirt.

So a 48HR turnaround on valuation has now turned into 4 Days with a possible 48HRS more to go. Let's Not forget my deadline was for Tomorrow Morning. (the part where this was URGENT, and a top priority to look into, clearly got that attention.....NOT)

So the tough decision was to take a massive gamble on the land coming in on target for the valuation, before the price increase could be actioned by the vendor (10k-40k increase based on the new release of land). So we paid the 10% deposit for the land, and commenced Exchange.

I am praying everything comes in fine with the valuation, and for the Land I am very comfortable with this, however the construction is the 1 that has my concerns.

We have 2 loans, 1 each for the Land and Construction, so the safest bet is the land with-out a doubt, so we took the risk to place the deposit, knowing that the equity in that block will secure a Loan from another Lender without much issue if the current valuation fails for the entire borrow amount for both loans. (I pray this is not the case).

So at worst we have to re-submit the loan for the land with good equity in that block now, and also knowing our borrow capacity has been totally approved gives a little comfort.

So tomorrow is another day and hopefully we get a call to say it's all good. Otherwise it's off to find another loan.

My advise, if you have a put and call option on your block, make sure everyone is transparent with the expiry date and what extensions you can honestly get added to this to enable the full finance process to run it's course.

I will hold my tongue on who to point the finger at here, but the common feedback from everyone involved is pointing to 1 company for sure, and that's added more fuel to the fire of the opinion I had already had with them during this process.








Thursday 8 May 2014

50% There!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Broker just sent through a letter from the CBA Bank giving us a Pre-Offer for the Loan.
Our Borrow amount has been approved and is just down to Valuation now.

SO CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wednesday 7 May 2014

50 Million Phones calls and emails

What a Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phone calls to broker, Conveyancer, 2nd Broker for additional advise and the CBA bank.
Our Loan is sitting as a priority for review, apparently this can take up to 48hrs now.

We had an amendment go through on Monday which slowed the process down a little bit (Grunts)..... This sat with the bank for a full 5 Days before the amendment went back in, (*&^ me!).

So I got in contact with the Bank directly outside of the brokers to inform them of my situation, and to add notes so that they can see why this is so important to us right now. (Damn Call and Put option).

What happens after the Banks 48hrs is the file is then given to a 3rd Party for Valuation with a company called VALEX.

This can take another 48hrs or more before giving feedback to the bank.

So right now, I am sitting on a ticking time bomb with what available days I have, to give the vendor their 10% before next Wednesday, because honestly the vendor is in a RUSH to lock this in, otherwise they are going to increase my land value by up to $30,000 through the grape vine.

If we pull this off, and I am PRAYING this comes in By no later than Tuesday Afternoon next week, I'm going to have the biggest weight come off my shoulders!

I have to give a special thanks to Rebecca @ Two Red Shoes for her additional advise and help. If your looking for a Mortgage broker that is willing to go above and beyond to assist you in getting a Home Loan, you need to call this Lady. CALL 0404 494 929 




Monday 5 May 2014

Valuation and Processing Underway!

Our Broker approached us today for the most up to date payslips, as the bank has indicated it is processing our Loan approval.

Found out they are doing the Valuation on both the Land and Construction together.
We have 7 Business days to go to hand over our 10% deposit, and I have to admit waiting on the feedback from the bank is paying it's toll on me.

That wait and having no-control over this part of the process is nerve racking, backed up with the whole problem of our Put and Call option on the Land expiring and being extended to the 14th of May for Exchange. Failing this we face the very real problem of the Vendor Increasing the Land Value, which in that situation will kill the whole deal.

Crossing fingers and wishing all the best.

Friday 2 May 2014

Still no news from Bank!

Been 5 days since the bank received everything needed to confirm valuation and Security Deposit.
Looks like next week now for an update.

Talk about pushing this to the wire......