kar-kier

What are your thoughts on these?

They seem VERY well priced, but is there a reason (that i am missing) for that? I mean obviously you don't get much say in the house, but for the difference in price i can deal with that.

Thanks

Kareena

Dorothy

Whatever the house and land package you will have to add at least 20% for things such as flooring, window coverings, any power points (you typically get one in each room), landscaping (the landscaping package from the land agent doesn't do squat), any upgrades you want, etc.

Our house and land if packaged by the builder would have been about $375k. All tolled including flooring, window coverings and landscaping it's going to be closer to $410k.

You are better to find your house design then look for a block. Generally the blocks they package are ones that are otherwise hard to sell - corner, irregular shape or otherwise undesirable.

Deancm

Actually, depending on the builder, the builder doesn't usually own the land and it is done in cahoots with the land agents. All the land can be purchased individually. House and land packages are usually a way to package things up for a better deal.

If you bought the house and land separately, it would end up costing more. The builder usually get good discounts on the land from the land agent and can pass on the savings to the customer.

Petals

House and land is ok there are different ways of doing it, sometimes you buy the land and then enter into a building contract with the builder thus only paying stamp duty on the value of the land as settlement of the land takes place first, the bank package the deal. The only problem is that at that point the bank will not advance the full amount of the money for the land so you have to be clear exactly what will be advanced at that stage. You having to make up any shortfall.

Another way is that you buy a half finished house and that way you only pay stamp duty on the value at that point in time. Also when doing this you must make sure that the contract price includes GST as if it does not then you could be up for the GST on the new house as its on new things not second hand things.

I had a client who nearly fell into the GST trap but fortunately he was ok and did not go ahead with the purchase. In his case it would have been an extra$40,000.00.

When entering into a house and land package you should seek legal advice and have the contracts looked at before you sign to make sure that everything is in order.

I know agents say ok you have a cooling off but unless you know what you are looking at and know the law its still better to have the contract looked at by a solicitor before signing.

Dorothy

Not in WA it doesn't. We looked at house and land packages and our builder was happy to package whatever piece of land we chose. It costs the same for them as it does for us. Our land was $225k whether through the builder or through Satterley. The house and land package would still have been the same cost either way. The reason we did it separately was that we only pay mortgage on the value of the land until building starts our way. If we had done it as a package we would have had to start paying a higher mortgage right from the start.

We didn't have to pay any stamp duty because our purchase was under the threshold for it and we were first time homebuyers. We did however miss out on the $21k FHOG by a couple of weeks so got $7k instead. We could have cancelled our contracts and re-signed 2 weeks later to get the 21k, but we figured 7 is better than 0 so we're quite happy with what we got.

kar-kier

Thanks for all that! We are WA too, so maybe best to have another look! I'm so confused by it all!

Dorothy

Do you know where you want to build? Have you found a house plan you like? We spent over a year trawling though display homes - we went from Secret Harbour all the way to Butler and every display in between - before we decided on a couple of plants that we liked and could afford. We then got recommendations for builders from people who've built before and went from there. There were 2 very similar plans with 2 different builders but we went with Celebration in the end because we got very good reviews for them from people who had built with them before and they changed their plan to suit us at no extra charge.

Take your time to find just what you want and speak to builders to see what they include. Don't be taken in by the "free" stuff. Air con or landscaping, etc are maybe offered by your builder, but if you look at the price it's usually 10k more than similar homes that don't include it.

Deancm

It all depends on the builder, how big they are and how much influence they have in the industry. Every company is different and has different ways of doing things.

ozhappy981

There a land and house packages for every budget. The really cheap ones are aimed at people on really tight budgets. Nothing wrong with them - they all have to be built to Australian Buildings Standard/Code (whatever it is called).

It's just with the really cheap ones you get the absolute minimum. So, read the specification and make sure you are happy with what you'll get. It might mean having no eaves, minimum insulation, no alfresco, no garage (only carport) - just the absolute minimum on everything.

Like I said, nothing wrong with that, if it gets your foot on the ladder. Just be sure you understand what you are getting and are happy with that.

Zambia

Funny this I actually agreed on a design today...

Need to find a block for it now

I actually had the guy point out everything in the house I had to pay for on top of the price.

Dorothy

That's what we did. We walked through the display and said "this skirting board...Included? These tiles...Included or upgrade?" Etc.

It's realistic to add between 10-20% to the cost of the house and land package for upgrades and finishing.

Zambia

I was thinking that, but I really wanted a total figure. Stuff like curtains and blinds are a nightmare its like death by a thousand cuts.

However for a few months we can live without blinds...

Dorothy

Ikea's a great place for curtains and curtain rods. Cheap and cheerful to get you through until you decide on or can afford what you really want. Or if you sew you can go to Spotlight and get curtain material by the meter. It's already got either grommets at the top or the pockets to put pleater hooks in. All you have to do is hem it.

For flooring go to some of the tile and carpet shops and bring a floor plan from the design you like. If you speak to the commercial guy he should be able to give you a rough idea of cost based on the square footage.

Zambia

IKEA good idea

There are also carpet auctions that would do.

As much As I hate doing it I am a trained tiler ...so the extra tiled areas I could handle.

ozhappy981

Generally the only way to get a "total figure" is if you buy off plan.

If you buy a house & land package, or buy a block and then pick a house design, you get a base price which includes whatever the particular builder feels like.

Good companies will have a brochure in the show house for you to take away and it will list the inclusions. It'll also tell you what "allowances" the builder includes. For example our builder has a tile allowance of $44 per sq metre. That was fine for all the indoor tiles. But we have a balcony and no tile shop had outdoor tiles in that price range - but it was thankfully only a small area.

As for curtains, blinds, carpets: when our sales consultant had drawn us a "concept sketch", i.e. before we'd signed up with the builder and spent money - I went round the carpet shops and curtain shops with the measurements of the rooms and windows to get an idea of prices for curtains and carpets.

That way I knew what "extra" amount I needed to have in the budget.

I also asked our consultant at that early stage how much they charge for extra powerpoints and light points.

I basically drew up a long list of all the "extras" (and I use that term loosely ) that are needed and researched prices before we signed up with the builder.

Agree with Dorothy: IKEA and Spotlight are great for curtains and fabrics. Spotlight also have a made-to-measure curtain service.