The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

It's been about 16 months since we put the deposit on the land and about 8 months since we put the deposit on the house. Since then we've picked our colours, settled on our land, sought finance etc. This blog will go through what's happened so far, hence the title.

THE LAND / THE ESTATE:

The Good

• We were lucky and had an excellent experience with Joel from Oliver Hume. Joel was very helpful during the entire process of buying and has even provided excellent after sales follow-up when we've needed some advice. It was Joel who put us on a waiting list for our block and reserved it for us when it came back onto the market, if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have been able to secure the block we did.
  
  
• The estate is excellent and we're really happy. We decided to build in Alamanda Estate in Point Cook, http://www.alamandapointcook.com.au.
  
  
• We have full access to a recreational facility that can only be used by residents who live in the estate. It includes a fully functional gym, a pool, spa, tennis courts, function room, cafe and childrens play area all for a relatively small body corporate fee.
  
  
• The gym has the latest in equipment and it is the top of the line commercial. The treadmill even has a screen built into it with a running track, or mountains or whatever else you want, an ipod dock, tv and radio all connected into the Fibre network. You can also upload your fitness profile from a USB stick to the device so it knows who you are. It's also opened from 5.00am until 10.00pm via swipe card which is very flexible.
  
  
  
  
• The estate has its own intranet site where residents can chat on a forum and book the recreational facilities, this is useful and creates a sense of community.
  
  
• The estate anticipated issues with Broadband so ran fibre into the Estate which we're taking advantage of. The other great thing is that they selected Opticomm as the provider instead of Telstra which means we have flexibility in who we connect with and it is much cheaper to install and ongoing costs are much cheaper also. Fibre To The Home (FTTH) is not very common at the moment and the current Government solution is to only run it to the street so this means we get true broadband speeds up to 100mb.
  
  
• The estate has the highest point in Point Cook which looks out over the CBD and the Bay. The slide I think is about 30 metres long and is a great feature along with the wetlands and parks.
  
  
• The estate has the largest display village in Victoria and also has various community events including a Christmas party, I never mind free pizza and Nando's.
  
  
• The location is great only 20-25 minutes from the CBD. It's about 20km's from the city and also on the right side of the city to get to Torquay quickly on those nice summer days.
  

The Bad

• There isn't too much bad about it, the estate ran a little bit over in obtaining titles due to delays in the subdivision but that is expected, no biggy here.
  
  
• There's no ADSL capacity in Point Cook due to Telstra not upgrading the exchange. The exchange is an old POTS network and I would say that because Telstra have a monopoly over the area there is no great rush to upgrade anything. This is really hurting everyone in the area and even the Wireless Next G network is basically unusable due to the number of people on it.
  
  
• Transport in the area isn't that great, Zone 1 is only a 10 minute drive away at Laverton but due to V-line trains sharing the line I think I'm going to try to drive into the city early after we move.
  

The Ugly

• We have had some issues getting a drain cover flush with the surface, we were told that after we built it would be at ground level but the back of our block is actually the highest point against the back fence so I don't quite get that, however after about 2 months of going back and forth between their solicitor and our conveyancer I've given up and I'll fix it myself after we start building.
  
  
  
• We have also had some trouble getting a hole filled in at the front of the block, the solicitor for Villawood hasn't even responded to the request even after approximately 2 months of trying so again I give up, I'll contact Joel and see if he can help. The ironic thing is there is a massive pile of dirt only about 5-10 metres from the hole and a heap of heavy movers about 30 metres away so I don't understand how it is that hard.
  
  
• The solicitor for Villawood hasn't been very helpful at all, that's essentially the reason this stuff hasn't been fixed.
  

THE BUILDER / METRICON:

The Good

• The thing that we loved about the Metricon designs were that they had very open plan living and we liked the fact that the kitchen and living areas were also central to the house, the quality of the finishings were also very good and Studio 501 now renamed Studio M was a great experience.
  
  
• Unlike Henley Metricon are willing to make changes to the house design and they were willing to cut off our rumpus move walls etc, all for either no charge, a credit or very minimal cost. An advantage compared to stories I've heard about Henley.
  
  
• Our sales consultant Nathan was great and really helped us a lot during the buying stage by clearly mapping out what our costs were going to be, even the hidden ones that no one tells you about. His estimates for flooring were actually above what it costs us which was great that he over anticipated as we saved a bit here.
  
  
• HOT TIP: When we were looking around to buy in August 2008 the house and weren't expected to take title until January 2009. Nathan from Metricon convinced us that we were best to put the deposit on the house then to lock in the price even though it is only valid for 150 days. We did this and the house price has basically gone up $10,000-$15,000 for our facade and we've only paid $3,000 in fines that so that was a great gamble that paid of. My tip to anyone would be to lock in the house as early as you can and be prepared to pay the 1.5% penalty. Read the bad for the gotcha though!
  
  
• The staff at Studio M were great. We had Kelly who was terrific and very patient. It actually took us two attempt to finish everything because we got stuck on the kitchen colours. We ended up spending the most on the kitchen because we need to look at it every day. You'll have to wait to find out what we went for but I think it will look great. The carpets and floorboards were easy to pick and the staff were very helpful. The victory blinds were expensive. The cutouts in the walls were $1,800 and $3,000 per blind, so $5,000 there alone. I think we'll be able to get this a little cheaper elsewhere. The driveway lady was a little direct and probably not very helpful, just wanted to get her job done and move us on. Questions weren't really welcomed..within reason. We were happy with what we come up with though.
  
  
• Metricon have been flexible with the delays we've had with finance and council and Teresa our co-ordinator understands thte issues we're having. For a while there we ran into some issues, but you can read about that in the Ugly!!!
  
  
• The tile selections at Beaumont tiles were fun and relatively simple we picked a another bathroom we wanted to copy whcih made it easier. They were helpful and it was painless.
  
  
• Metricon have a great client site that you can log in to and track your progress.
  
  
• All of the approvals and surveyor reports have occured seamlessly in the background, they take care of the lot.
  

The Bad

• The fixtures and fittings although a lot of them, the default ones are somewhat average. The upgrades are expensive but you would expect that anywhere.
  
  
• Our electrical appointment was good but we didn't really get much "expert" advise it was more just someone plugging in pictures of where you wanted to put stuff. The electricals are very expensive but theres not much you can do about it. Definitely leave out light fittings and external lights if you can avoid it. We put in the downlights and paid a fortune for it, but it would have been painful and almost as expensive afterwards. As a guide a normal downlight is $15 per light plus approx $45 for installation. We paid $45 per downlight plus $50 for installation per light. You can see that would add up pretty quickly across 50 downlights.
  
  
• It is disappointing that we can't have simple things like an Alarm installed, or Ducted Vacumming during build which would save us a lot of money because Metricon won't allow sub contractors onsite that aren't their own. They will sell their own product and you can only have this installed if you use them, but beware, they buy it wholesale and sell it for more than retail. You would actually be better off doing all of this stuff afterwards. I was quoted $1,400 for a basic 4 point alarm system and they just slapped in sensors whereever they wanted.
  
  I had a quote through someone I was recommended to and they quoted me $800 for the same alarm for for $1,400 - $1,800 a full 8 point system with setup, window points, etc..basically the bees knees.
  
  
• When we purchased the house and had 150 days Metricon charged us 2 months in fees even though we signed our contract only 1 month afterwards. This is because you pay the fees up until the contract is unconditional 30 days after you sign the contract. Keep this in mind.
  
  
• One of our tiles was discontinued, there isn't anything we can do about it but we had to book another selection appointment, it only took 15 minutes but it is a bit of a pain, nothing seems to be going smoothly.
  

The Ugly

• As part of the fibre being installed to the Estate we needed to get an Opticomm subcontractor through Techlife onto site during the build process. Metricon are the only builder that DO NOT allow subcontractors onto site. This is ridiculous and although I know why they do this in this instance I couldn't actually install a phone line or my tv until the house was done and it would have cost me a fortune to have the fibre put in. All other builders don't have an issue with this from what I know it is only Metricon.
  
  The thing is it is only a policy issue, legally they have to let you onto site. I called the Building Advice and Reconcilation line which advised me that Metricon would be fined if they didn't allow me to install the phone. After I raised this Metricon tried to tell me it was unsafe and after speaking to their National OH&S Manager he agreed it was no different to letting Telstra on site and the company had insurance anyway. After another 2 weeks Metricon finally made the decision to allow me to use Techlife to install my data cabling, tv and telephone but only after a lot of pain and many nasty phone calls. Part of the problem started after my customer service co-ordinator didn't understand my requirements in October when I told her about it, she gave me a flat out no you can't do that without even understanding my requirements. This was by far the worst part of the process and it was very stressful.
  
  After saying I wouldn't sign the contract though at the end of Feb unless I had a resolution common sense finally prevailed. For this I can be thankful but if you're going to build with Metricon BEWARE, they will give you grief about sub contractors because they use sub contractors not their own employees and as a result I guess they just don't trust anyone and they also want more money through mark-up not to mention no delays to building so they get paid.
  

FINANCE

The Good

• We got a 0.7% discount by going for an offset with credit cards etc for a $350 annual fee. This still worked out cheaper than going for a no fee loan over the longer term due to the interest rate discount. If and when we have children we can also take a honeymoon period from repayments with no fees. ANZ for example have a longer waiting period and charge you an application fee, got to love additional fees, even though they had a lower annual rate.
  

The Bad

• We used a broker, which meant all our paperwork was filled in for us, but I wouldn't use a broker again. It wasn't a simple established purchase, I also re-financed a propery and they got our phone numbers wrong in the system so Westpac couldn't call us when our papers arrived for signing.
  
  
• We put in our paperwork a little bit late, approximately 4 weeks before title settlement however we ended up running over settlement and were almost penalised it was only due to our great conveyancer that saved us. The broker and Westpac were very painful to deal with only because as far as Westpac are concerned we are using a broker so we have to go through them, however the broker escalates and nothing happens. We also found it hard to get regular updates and had to call the broker a bit. If you go direct to the bank you bypass this issue. for the most part brokers can be good but for us it created pain.
  

The Ugly

• Westpac gave us pre-approval in Feburary and it is now the middle of April and we are still waiting for final approval a month and a half after providing all of the paperwork. Despite escalating the loan it is going nowhere. We are going to be fined by Metricon again and even though we have given Westpac and the Broker dates weeks out from our deadlines nothing has progressed.
  
  
• Westpac valued the land $20,000 more than what we bought it 16 months ago, however valued the house $20,000 lower due to the mortgage crisis. The LMI they are charging us however is based on what we paid for the house not what it is valued at which means more money for them. The swing is about 15% in LVR and about $6,000 - $7000 extra in their pockets. The are bloody rip off merchants and there is nothing we can do about it. Dodgy bastards.
  
  
• Westpac calculated our LMI incorrectly on our landloan, infact they basically charged us more than double....BEWARE! My broker is still yet to resolve this one.
  
  
• Westpac are trying to charge us about another $600 - $700 in stamp duty charges without telling us what they are for. They expect payment in 30 days and my broker is following up but I haven't heard a thing.
  

COUNCIL

The Good

• The process for the rescode approval was relatively easy and the council was friendly.
  
  
• I have called up to ask a few questions about water tanks and front yards etc, the council were very helpful and friendly.
  

The Bad

• It normally takes 1 week to process a rescode application, 14 days to wait for neighbour approval and 1 week to finalise for a total of four weeks. It has taken 3 weeks to process the application, 14 days to wait for neighbour approval and we're still waiting. This may take 8 weeks which is delaying the start of construction. Then we're going to have to wait the same time for building approval. This sucks!
  

The Ugly

• There is no way you can push the council, you just wait, and wait and wait..........thsi is hurting our start times, luckily finance is taking ages so this one doesn't seem as bad. Finance is more critical though.