It has been a while since I updated the blog. During the two months a lot of things has happen and not happen according to plan.
The land was settled on time and all documentation and settlement goes well and we are now a proud owner of a piece of Melbourne.
After the land is settled we are trying to push the bank and our broker to finalised the construction contract valuation and give us the final approval. This process took them 1 month, this is with me following up on daily basis which is a pain. After the wait the valuation comes 12k short because the bank expected improved property (including landscaping, driveway & fence) which is not and will not be provided by Carlisle.
In the end the problem is sorted (another 2 weeks wait), by borrowing above valuation amount with small LMI. This can probably be avoided by going with the big 4 banks instead of smaller one. In this case we factor the saving in interest rate and willing to take the risk dealing with smaller bank in which tend to be risk adverse and slow in valuation
During this time, I believe Carlisle has made some internal restructuring and our CLE quit the company so we have a new CLE. Fortunately the new CLE is amazing!!
We have to make some changes to the house design because we missed the developer covenant in regards to 2 minimum material to be used in front facade. We choose to go with full render in the beginning and we consider timber posts as the second material, however the developer do not accept this.
In this case we have to
1. go back to original part render / part brick
2. have the Chestnut brick with off white mortar (upgrade)
3. Have FC Sheet above garage with Jasper color
4. remove the 3rd render color and only go with two as per standard
Carlisle did gave us credits in regards to the change.
We have received the building permits & developer approval last week and now waiting on an actual start date, approximate time at this stage is to start late November / early December.
Overall, these have been a tiring two months delay and now we cannot wait until the house start building!!