And so the Journey Begins!

It was about one month ago that we started the journey towards building and owning our own home.

After plenty of research and discussions we looked into one of the low deposit options that many of the popular builders were offering.

In the end we settled on Homebuyers Centre VIC - after meeting with them at their Docklands office they gave us the most level of comfort and trust. Their reviews were pretty solid as well which was the main factor for signing with them.

After our initial meeting with them, we chose the Encore 18 design as it met all the basic requirements we were after. 

It was pretty exciting seeing the plans and having a quick peek around their show room at all the fittings and fixtures.

Things moved quickly from there on - we decided upon a plot of land in Mernda villages that is due to title in December so that gives us plenty of time to save towards our deposit.

We decided to use Resolve Finance as our broker as it made sense with them all being under the same umbrella as Homebuyers. They have so far been super helpful and have lodged our application for finance - now comes the waiting game for approval!

So where we're at now is that we have signed our Pre-Works contract with HBC as well as paying the $1500 deposit for the house.

Yesterday we met with Stockland to sign the contract with them for the land - we had already secured the plot by paying $1500 the week before. They have sent this off to their head office for counter-signing and also to our conveyancer for the once over. 

We have our Colour selection and contract signing meeting on the 18th of August - this is pretty exciting as we get to select all the colours and upgrades for the house! We were sent our HIA contract in the post last week so we've been slowly going through this the last few days and making a note of any questions - man this is a big document! Our conveyancer has been great and sent through lots of information as well as a list of questions to ask HBC. 

We took a quick squizz at the area we are building on last week and there were tradespeople there working on the road (it's a continuation of an existing road that has been fully built on):

                               The plot is actually behind these pre-existing houses

We went back yesterday as we were in the area and were amazed to find that the road had all been laid and roundabouts completed and even some pegs around the plots ..... that escalated quickly!

The sales rep at Stockland had said that they are quick at titling land so wouldn't be surprised if it happens earlier than expected. Although this is real estate so wouldn't get my hopes up too much!

So now we wait ... I'm sure the time will fly by for finance approval but it will finally seem real once we get this through ... here's hoping!