No Slab, not even a 6-Pack

I decided to drive up to my block today and see if my slab has been poured. Well that's a big fat NO!!

Open up and say Ah!! Someone left my box open... I didn't bother closing it, don't really see the point. lol

Pics of Site Scrape

The Little Man standing on our land

From the back of the house, looking to the road

Little man sitting on the porch

My BF is standing in the Rumpus room at the back, he looks FAAAR away lol

My whole block of land

The builder sent me some invoices today... I find it odd that there is no item listed on there, so I don't really know what they are charging me for. I paid the initial 5% deposit and as far as I am aware the next payment is suppose to be around $30k. This invoice is only for several grand. Will give them a call tomorrow.

Surprise, Surprise!

Seeing as I managed to get my car fixed, I decided to go and check out my block.

To my surprise I found that they had done a site scrape. No one told me that they had started!
My back yard appears to be tiny which is disappointing as I wanted my son to be able to run around and amuse himself. It's hard to believe that looking at the site scrape, that someone can live in what appears to be a tiny house. Hopefully, I am disillusioned and it is infact a decent sized house. I did take pics but I can't be bothered uploading them. I will do it .... eventually.

Oh and the other thing, my car is stuffed again lol. This time it's the brake switch, so no one knows I'm braking as the lights don't come on!! Not a major problem, I have purchased a new switch, just need to work out how to change the stupid thing.

At last!!

Settlement finally occured at 2.30pm on 1st December 2009. Around 3pm my solicitor's secretary rang me to tell me of the news! Had to also pay interest on my mortage, fortunately it was only based on one day so just under $22 :)

My builder has ordered the supplies but I don't think I will see any action this month. They can promise me all they want, but I am a realist.

Unfortunately, I cannot venture up to my land until I work out what is wrong with my car. For some reason it seems to hate Saturday evenings and not want to start. Tomorrow I am having the distributor replaced, lets hope that this is the solution to the problem.
For the smarty pants out there, no I cannot just go on a Sunday and not expect my car to play up, I wish it were that simple though!!!

Better Late Than Never

The plan of the subdivision has finally been registered (17th November 2009)!!!
So much for the 15th November site start.... At this rate it looks like building won't start until January 2010, but that is just my theory at this point.

I mailed my officially signed mortgage documents to the credit union yesterday, so hopefully they will have it today and things can progress quickly from here.

I must say I have been hyperventilating lately as this house business is quite scary. I hope I haven't bitten off more then I can chew. It has added a bit of excitement back into the procress but I think if a site scrape isn't started this month, then I will be plunged into deep disinterest once again.

Another visit to my future street

Now we have gutters on both sides AND lights... apart from that not much else has happened. I suppose it's only been 2 weeks. lol

Settlement is suppose to be mid October... lots of cleaning up to do!!

Land Development as of 5th September 2009

The street from a distance... Imagine how much this will change in months/years to come

I see guttering!! Clearly there has been some progress.. Even the road is starting to take shape.

I didn't dare drive down it, because there was a sign stating only authorised personnel. Didn't want to strart trouble so soon :P

Colour Selection 19th August 2009

Kitchen Benchtops

Kitchen Splashback is Dulux Wedgwood
Bricks are Austral's Blackwood

Top left is Classic Black for vanity benchtops

Bottom Left is Madagascar for all cupboards

Ravin Shadow for all walls

Top Left is Deep Ocean for Fascia
Bottom Left is Black for window and door frames
Top Right is Night Sky for Garage, garage door and front door

Bottom Right is Monument for Gutters

Rendering is Tempest Storm - looks brighter in the pic than it actually is.

Current Floor Plan

Champagne TIME!!

LMI has been approved. So now I can officially say that I am going to be building in Mernda!!!

I will buy a bottle of good bubbly and accompany it with some strawberries. I think I need a treat after the stress this whole process has caused me.

Gee I think I am numb with fear though. So much money to pay back all by myself. I should be okay, I pay so much in rent so it shouldn't be any different. Apart from all the new things I will have to pay for (rates, house insurance, full water bill etc). ARGH!!

The Native Fauna

One of the locals. "Stay away from my LAWN!!!"

Yes I have been watching Monster House.

The end of the road

To the right appears to be the next street which my street intersects with... So that would definately not be my block on the corner.

My land?

Perhaps this area is my land?

Possibly My Turf

Could this be my land? Who knows?

Creek

The Reserve again. Looks quite sad.

My Street

My street, to the left is where the houses will be

Looking towards Mernda Village Drive

The Right of My Street

My future street. You can make out the muddy road and what will be the reserve next to it.

Done A Deal With The Devil

This morning I signed my building contract. I have given a copy to my Financial Institution and they are hoping to recieve a valuation by Friday. Fingers crossed cos that's when my heating/cooling quote expires and I don't want to miss out on a good deal!

Simonds Gallery has also called me and I now have an appointment with them on the 19th August. I really need to think long and hard about colours and what other inclusions I want.

Wishful Thinking??

Just spoke to my CSO and she has booked me in for the 29th July to sign my building contract. Am I excited? Nope. I think it will take a while before I start to enjoy this house building process. Perhaps I don't believe that this event will take place, and am afraid of further disappointment.

Well nevertheless, I have once again extended my land contract till 13th August. That's when my LMI expires, so hopefully everything will be sorted before then. I really don't want to be in a situation where I have to apply for LMI again. It took weeks last time and it would also mean another extension on my land contract.

I had a look at my future street recently.. and it's a disaster. There are rocks and chunks of cement mounted in various locations. I don't know what the story is there, but it looks terrible. Next time I travel up there, I hope to remember my camera.

Vanessa The Undresser

So I was suppose to sign my building contract on 1st July 2009. Well this didn't happen, as I hadn't heard from the builder at all. I contacted my CSO, who already is my 2ND one, and she stripped me of my hopes.. I have to wait another 2 weeks... or there abouts to sign.

My deadline for unconditional approval on my land contract expired yesterday, so I had to ask my solicitor to get a 2ND extension approved. I now have until 27Th July 2009.

Nothing Ventured, SOMETHING Gained

Nothing has really happened in the last month. I am scheduled to sign my building contract on the 1st of July in order to receive the proposed larger FHOG.

I did find out that I won't be able to extend the master bedroom as I had hoped. They had already finalised the plans. I had no idea I was that far into the process. Oh well more money to waste on upgrades.

So until July, I guess I will be playing the waiting game. I must say I'm not too keen to start picking colours etc.. seems all daunting to me.

And what have I gained? Well the opportunity to save more money before I face debt.

Floor Plan

The beginning of Certain Debt

So I'm working on a move to Mernda. I received pre-approval last week so that's one hurdle cleared.. Still need to supply contracts and plans to my credit union so I can obtain unconditional approval.. Hoping that won't happen soon, cos I want to take advantage of the larger FHOG.

On 3rd May, I placed a deposit on the land.. unfortunately I cannot drive up to it yet, as there are no roads built. The title will be released in October and apparently building will commence in November. So I guess it will be awhile till they build the roads.

I have decided to go with Simonds, but I am questioning my decision everyday because I want something more lavish for the same price. I think I am being unrealistic and greedy.