Oh the pain......

Well, we received our quote from National Builders-and i think that I'm still quivering-$262,000! Because of the soil test as "H", they want to add $5500 to the cost of the slab!

The cost of the water tanks is also $5000 more than what the builder indicated it should be (I'll be contacting local suppliers and getting other prices)...other than that quoted items were actually reasonable. We had got NBG to quote on a verandah across the front of the house, which came in at $11,500.If the loan is approved I think that we will delete the verandah as a luxury, not a necessity (the house will front South West).

In regards to the soil test and slab, we have had another company peruse the Intrax report and give their opinion as to whether we should have another test done in order to get a different recommendation. The reply was that their company would rate the slab as requiring "m"with 600m footings-so we are waiting to see whether or not that is a cheaper option.

We have submitted the quote and land contract to the Bank for our loan application and are now waiting upon valuation-which can take up to a week. Our issue will be that although we have paid $90,000 for our acre, our land can immediately be sold off as two half acre lots (at $75,000 each)due to the two titles. We need the at completion valuation to reflect this so that we can avoid mortgage insurance.......

Questions & Quote

Tomorrow Cristian and I will be heading to Ballarat to have the building quote presented to us-should be an interesting exercise! We haven't heard anymore about the soil test debacle and what ramifications will follow from that-all will be revealed tomorrow!

In the mean time, we are in the process of moving into the rental. Luckily, number 1 son (actually, only son!) has a ute-so has been ferrying furniture from one address to another for us......saving a small fortune on removalist fees! His fuel costs are a fraction of what we would have had to pay the professionals-mind you, when we move out to the new house next year we will pay for the experts!

I'm not sure whether or not I'm looking forward to tomorrow..after we receive the quote we will submit our loan application to the Bank (Which bank?) and wait for their response. The loan will depend on the valuation upon completion of the property and what equity we would have at that point in time. Winslow and Mailors Flat are both areas of growth due to the fact that they are within 15mins of Warrnambool and are offering lifestyle blocks (1acre plus) from $90k. Our block is on two titles with dual access, so the valuation should reflect that fact-fingers crossed!