Joanne's House and Land package diary
As suggested by Moorf I am going to start a diary of our progress with a house and Land package deal
So here goes
We have decided to go with Murray Homes as they are offering us the best deal. Basically we are buying a plot of land for $78 000 and getting the cheapest house that MH offers, which has 3 bedrooms all with built in wardrobes, lounge room, dining, kitchen (all open planned), laundry, toilet and bathroom. All insulated aswel.
If anyone has the MH book, it is the Heritage 85/3, brick option with the verandah. It is a VERY small house to what we are used to BUT it is built so that if ever in the future we do have the money we can extend.
With this deal you DON"T have any extra hidden charges, it is a FIXED price when you finally decide how you want it. For example you DO NOT pay for utility connections , which add up alot, it is included, you only pay for your phone line, which is usually a couple hundred $.
You get to choose 3 paint colours (they paint it :P ) plus white for ceilings, carpet colour, brick colour, roof colour, Kitchen unit colours, kitchen top, door knobs, taps (all in their own BASIC range) and basically you design it!! They advise you, which is really good advice for sun position etc.
We have cut costs by not having tiles, we are having vinyl flooring in kitcken, bathroom, toilet and Laundry. Ther are many ways to cut costs
What you don't get is, fencing, landscaping, driveway, heating, aeriel, curtains, letter box and clotheline.
The stage we are at now, is we went into MH today to sign the contract (subject to finance). The money we pay up front is $550 for a valueation, all other legal stuff is in the mortgage. We then pay a 10% deposit to commence work, then you DO NOT pay another penny until completion.
This works perfect for us because we are in a fixed tenancy, we couldn't afford rent and a mortgage, so we basically tell them when to start work, we pick the date, as long as it is with 6 months of confirmation of the contract, it is fine.
MH really hold your hand all the way through this. We are using a mortgage broker, connected with MH who gets paid by the bank not us, and so far have found this a really helpful service. The girl Michelle who we saw today spent nearlly 3 hours with us going right through the contract, explaining EVERY little detail to us, she was brilliant, she knows we are absolutely on a tight budget and is always coming up with ideas to cut costs for us.
The next stage for us is to get the finance approved, we are giving our payslips to the morgage broker tomorrow, and he said you get an answer with in 48 hours. The only thing going against us at the moment is Jon has NOT got pr, but :hopeso
So the final cost will be NO MORE than $195 000, with $6000 of that being for extras (heating etc) so we will see how we go, with a $155000 mortgage.........see if MH are as good as they say
Think I have remembered everything so far but if not I will be updating this thread for all who are interested in looking at this as an option
Joanne
ops: thick I know 
:P
