[jocalla]

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 :cheers

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 :cheers

Joanne

[jocalla]

Sorry, gonna let you know how bad I am at maths. The first deposit we put down is just under $10 000 can't remember what percentage that is of the price :oops: thick I know :oops: :oops:
Just want you to have the right figures

[kiwidollie]

Excellent thread.

I'll be checking in regularly with you. This sounds like a really good idea - and good value for money.

Hope everything goes well for you. :yes

[Hannah-NL]

Jo I had been at that site once, I think "your" house looks great!
Found it here:
http://www.murrayhomes.co.nz/plan_D.asp?id=H-85-3

[kiwi]

At least you arent going to OZ!!! yay!!!!

house warming at yours at Christmas, I will bring the pav.
Congrats! and all the best, look forward to reading all about it and now you are on the property ladder, no more renting ...yay!
Nicky

[sarahw]

Great to hear about your experiences - and thanks Hannah for posting the picture - we can just picture you sat out in the garden with a glass of something cold!!!

[Nicola]

Joanne, keep the diary posts coming, we are really interested to here how you get on with the whole experience.

Good luck and :hopeso everything goes OK.

[jocalla]

Thanks all

We have decided today to put our deposit up by $5000, just letting you all know so you can see the exact amount we are spending.

So that is $45 000 deposit in total, making the mortgage $150 000

Got all the paper work to our mortgage broker today, so he is just waiting for the stuff from MH, which means he will be putting in our application for the mortgage either tomorrow or monday :hopeso :hopeso but will let you all know as soon as I do!

Kiwi, love for you to bring a pav........but would you mind bringing some grass seeds instead as we can't afford any landscaping ;) :P

[Sarah Jane]

I can't believe how cheap land is there....$78k??? Here in Auckland its $250k for a 550m2 plot which is tiny.

[Moorf]

Sarah - it's not all cheap, some plots with sea views etc are $250k in Banks Peninsula or more (c. $300-400k for a plot nearer Chch on the hills) but in the more rural areas yes you can buy land quite cheap :nice1

[jocalla]

Beat me to it Moorf ;)

To put it into perspective for you Sarah Jane, where we are going has a dairy and thats about it :nice1 . We are only about a minute away from Leeston which has everything we need. Hence the price ;)

Joanne

[jocalla]

Heard from the mortgage broker today and .....

FINANCE APPROVED :clap :clap :clap

Mega happy today esp as we are on such a low wage. Going to the solicitors on Thurs for more paperwork, I'll keep you all updated :cheers

[Moorf]

:clap :clap :clap :clap :clap

You're on your way :cheers

Moorf

[markkellaway]

One thing I wanted to say is to keep size in perspective. Here in sunny Poole our plot is 380 m2, and ours is not considered a small garden. Admittedly it is a house and not a bungalow but even so...

I'm getting excited at the prospect of a bigger plot in NZ, but am trying to remember what we are coming from.

Mark. :P

[Karoline]

Thanks for sharing your story! I think it might be a good alternative if building our own home turns out to be too much stress! It's a nice house!

Congratulations!

:cheers
Karoline

[jocalla]

Just a quick update

Had a call from the solicitors today as the bank has valued the property etc for the mortgage, make sure it is worth it etc I guess. Our contract with MH was subject to this.

Well it has valued it at $205 000 :nice1 , so profit made already and we haven't even started building yet :clap

Things are looking up :nice1

Joanne :cheers

[jan]

WOW how good is that!! :clap :clap :clap

Best of luck

Jan xx

[kiwidollie]

Excellent! :clap

[jocalla]

Went into MH to pay deposit today of $9750, while we were chatting to Michelle (the lady we have been dealing with) she was telling us about the plot next to us.
Well that was up for $78 000 aswell, but the buyers have pulled out of the sale, and MH are putting it back on the market for $85 000 :P :P :P

They must have realised the plots were underpriced when our valuation came back :nice1

Also the boss at MH used to work for an estate agency here and he said he can legally get us out of our FIXED contract we have here, they want to start building asap. OOOOOOOOOOh getting excited now just keeping fingers crossed

Next step will be picking our colours for carpets etc etc :clap :clap

Also must add how great michelle has been (and NO I am not on any commision :P )
She is doing everything possible to save us money.
We were asking her about how much extra it would cost to get a garage put on. She said go to "another garage" place and get them to do it because MH adds on 20% charges, and said the same in regards to heating.
I just love that she knows our budget and advising us everyway possible how to save money............never really had much experience with that, people have usually tried to convince me to stretch the budget :?

Joanne :cheers

[leslie]

re. your 'small' plot

i can hear hub saying ' i could put 2,500 flats on that' now...

[baboonworld]

Sorry for being thick but does the £195K include or exclude the £78K land price - what i mean is - what is the TOTAL you are paying for your new house??

[jocalla]

Includes the land. Total with the $6000 extra for heating etc is $195 000

If we didn't have that extra bit on the mortgage then TOTAL for the land AND the house it is $189 000

Joanne :cheers

[jo b]

Wow Joanne

just read your thread brilliant. Your own house for less than £200k. Imagine paying £80k for a brand new detached 3 bed bungalow in the UK....................makes you think eh!

well done and am glad you stayed in NZ.

Jo

[baboonworld]

Do you think they build elsewhere - or just in Chch. Or are there loads of similar companies?

When I was a kid there was just Lockwood and then Ideal Homes.

:mrgreen:

[Moorf]

I checked their website ( www.murrayhomes.co.nz ) and they appear to only build in Canterbury area.

[Babette & Andy]

Wow Joanne, looks like you've made a real good investment here :nice1 That Michelle sounds like a real treasure :clap :clap Keep us posted on progress.
Babette

[jocalla]

More good news today :clap :clap :clap can you believe it

Some of you may know when we signed our tenancy agreement we signed a fixed one till Dec, stupidly did not know anything about tenancy agreements and unfortunately the agent DID NOT explain any of this to us.

Michelle phoned me up today, telling me MH have got me out of the contract :eek .

The legal stuff is that if we wanted to come out of the contract early we would have to pay a penalty AND pay for advertising and any other costs ie rent until a new tenant is approved by the agent. As you all know we are SKINT and couldn't take the risk. :?

Couldn't believe when Michelle told me that MH will pay ALL of these costs :P :P :P :P

Which means we are looking at moving into the house in SEPTEMBER not december :clap :clap :clap :clap

Keep on waiting for something bad to happen as things are going so good at the moment :? :?

Joanne :cheers

[Moorf]

WOOOHOOOOO :clap :clap :raebanana

[kiwidollie]

That's great news. :clap :clap :clap :clap

Really pleased for you. :nice1 :nice1

Don't look for the bad things - just carry on and go with the flow. :yes

[jo b]

Joanne

that's really great news, that means you'll be in a very settled for xmas.

Jo

[robothamma]

Hi Joanne,

Well done yous :clap :nice1 :cheers I am soooo pleased for you all! :nice1

Michelle

[Simon & Emily]

Hi Joanne,

Thanks so much for all the information -it's lovely to hear that you've got such a good deal and helpful contacts. Building our own is something we are really keen on doing, and it's great to hear that it's all going smoothly for you.

Is there any chance of some pictures once it gets underway?

Thanks again,

Emily

[baboonworld]

Maybe you should tell MH that you could do with a new car and a holiday - by the sounds of it she would fix u up with anything!!!

[jocalla]

Maybe you should tell MH that you could do with a new car and a holiday - by the sounds of it she would fix u up with anything!!!

:smile :smile that would be nice

[jocalla]

Had an exciting meeting tonight :clap

We have now been moved to another lady called Tania who we met for the first time tonight. She is in charge of colours, any extras we want for the house. Picked up loads of colour cards, had a look at carpets, kitchen colours, brick and roof colours etc.

Included in the price regarding paint colours we get
1 ceiling colour
1 window reveals, door jams, interior door colour
3 wall colours (pastel/white base)
1 front door colour

Any 'deeper' colours are extra and feature walls are too but we are not having any of these.

Feature walls are $100/wall
$150 adjoining feature walls
$75 per extra colour over 'pastel/white' base colours - mid base
$75 per extra colour over standard from deep base (per 4 litres which would cover an average size room)
$100 per colour chosen from ultra deep base
In other words I think it means the darker the colour, the more expensive which doesn't effect us anyway.
$65 for painting pvc down pipe (per pipe)

We have $6000 for any extras which she is getting quotes for
Heating (decided to get a heat pump)
Upgrading the doors.........the dooors that you get are very cheap looking in my opinion so have decided to upgrade which will cost $50/door.
Upgrading the handles on the Kitchen units $75 the lot.
TV Ariel and also ariel points in all the bedrooms (sad I know but keeps me sane when the kids are happy to stay in their bedrooms) ;)

We have decided to stick to the mortar colours that are included in the package which are - light grey, grey,charcoal or black
White and cream mortar is extra by around $1000

So will be busy picking all my bits and pieces :clap :clap :clap

Have to have all decisions back by 21st July so they can start building in August :nice1

Joanne :cheers

[jocalla]

Here's the latest figures as we have now picked out everything so the final pricing is-

HOUSE : 85/3 heritage option 1 - $106 000
Land - $78 000
Extra - PC for travel to site - $5000
Provision for updates - $6000

Updates and extras are
FIXED foundation $550
Valuation
Outside aerial + 4 lines $372
2 extra tv points $122
Heatpump Fujitsu AST 12L $2, 464.32
Upgrade internal doors to Boulevard $350
Upgrade kitchen handles to sanco $50


Deposit $9750

Total extras and credits outside the contract $2,091.68

So total balance required is $192, 908.32 :clap :clap

Not bad hey :nice1

[clarabell]

WOW Jo!!
It all sounds great! MH seem like a great company. Think we may go with these as personal recommendations always mean more than website advertising etc. You should become their new rep ;)

[sweetpea]

Joanne,

I love reading all about this adventure! Best of luck and keep us posted.

Laura

[JJG]

Joanne,
Probably missed this somewhere, but where about is your land and how big is the plot.
Cheers
Jonathan.

[jocalla]

Hi Jonathan

The plot is 930 and it is near Leeston, which is about 30 minutes to city :nice1

Joanne

[jo b]

Hey Jo

any piccy's yet!!
Jo

[jocalla]

I'll be going there on the weekend, if you want me to post a pic I will ....but..... it is only a bare plot of land fenced in :laugh so not much to see yet.

Joanne

[jo b]

Jo

It will be great to see some before, during and after shots :nice1

Thanks

Jo

[spider]

This is very interesting, how is the build going any photos yet??

[jocalla]

Have been a bit lazy with the pics :oops: Will get on to it next week :nice1

Still waiting for the phone call from MH so say they are gonna start building, I am just so impatient ;)

Jon has met the builder though. Just by chance really. He saw a similar house being built while he was out working so went in to have a snoop. Turns out that the builder on site is the one doing our place :nice1 He said we are next on the list :clap

We have also decided to get a double garage built. We wasn't too bothered about one ourselves, but thought it would be best for resale, as soooooooo many houses have garages here!

Joanne

[Emma]

Just started reading this thread but will sure be checking it. Great thread! Really helpful! :nice1

How long do they reckon till you can move in?

Emma ;)

[Emma]

The more I think about this idea the more I like it...
:cool But I'm wondering.. How did you go about it? Did you first buy a piece of land or did you go straight to Murray's and did they have land 'in stock'?

;) Emma

[jocalla]

Hi Emma

We went straight to M H, they gave us a list of locations of land for sale, with the prices. We went and had a look at the ones in our price range.
You can do it the other way though, buy your own plot of land and they can build the house for you. There are other companies that do this to and obviously you can contact a builder directly yourself.

We didn't feel confident enough to go it alone, and also we needed a FIXED price, with the budget being so tight, we couldn't afford any extras.

The house is supposed to take 12 weeks to build :nice1

Joanne :cheers

[sarahw]

Joanne,

Few weeks since I've caught up with this thread - its great news all the way!!! So excited for you!

Can't wait to see the pics! :clap

[Moorf]

Hey Jo, this is a bit of strange question, but how much for the driveway? :confused:

[jocalla]

Haven't got a price for the driveway Moorf

Jon will be doing it with his workmates........... he is an asphalter.

[Moorf]

:D Cool!

[jocalla]

I am REALLY rubbish on this computer!!! I haven't even figured out how to put the little smileys and stuff on here yet!!!

I have got a picture of the land, if I email it to someone can they PLEASE put it on here for me!!!

Thanks Joanne

[Singel]

Hello Joanne

This is how you could find your similies............

Step 1. Click the "User CP" located on your top left corner.
Step 2. On your left, there is a list of "Control Panel", click the "Edit Options"
Step 3. On your right, scroll down all the the way to the bottom, you will see the "Miscellaneous Options". Go to the "Message Editor Interface" and select "Standard Editor - Extra formating controls". Then save changes.

All your similies :yes :p :) will show up when you start posting.

:cheers

[jocalla]

Thanks Singel :cheers
NEVER would have figured it out :laugh

and thanks for pm Helen :cheers

[Moorf]

Jocalla's land ;) - looks like a lovely spot Jo !!

[jocalla]

BIG THANKYOU HELEN! :cheers

Joanne

[Moorf]

No wurries! :D (that photo was a tough nut to crack though!)

[jocalla]

Hi All, just a quick update :)

The foundations all went down a few weeks ago while we were on holiday in Oz. The frame work is all up now too. Tania (the girl from MH) phones me up every week to give me a progress report, so all going well!!

Joanne :cheers

[Pezhk]

Hi Joe,
this is a great thread, and congratulations on deciding to have your house built...............loads of fun :laugh

Did the photo of the land get set up anywhere?..............I am a builder and would love to see some progress shots.

All the best. :clap

[Moorf]

Sorry, as I am using ENZ's "space" to load photo's I have to update them alot (as space limited) and the pic of Jocalla's land was one that I recently deleted from my account to free up more space. :o

I have the photo here so perhaps someone who uses Photobucket, or similar, could post it up for Jo if I send them the image???

[Pimmar]

Here's the picture of the section prior building
http://www.pimmargoeskiwi.com/uploaded_images/land2.JPG

keep those pictures coming :yes

[Singel]

Hello Pimmar, welcome to the forum.

Joanne, please keep the pics coming :clap

[jocalla]

How slack have I been not updating this thread!!

All being well, we will be picking up the keys tomorrow (I mean today, having another sleepless night!)

Gotta say MH have been brill, we have not had one hitch!

Got the garage people coming tomorrow to start putting up the double garage aswell. They are just putting down the base, then the rest will be put up after xmas.

We have moved out of our rental in Rolleston and now living in Southbridge. It is lovely out this way.

Joanne :nice1

[Pimmar]

Congratz, exciting !

show us also some new pictures of email them to me
and i will upload them

cheers/happy holidays ! :cheers

Pim

[willsken]

This is the first time I've seen this and it’s a great read. We are in the process of buying land and that will be our intention to build our own house, so it's great to see someone finding the process stress free! :clap

[katandbob]

Went into MH to pay deposit today of $9750, while we were chatting to Michelle (the lady we have been dealing with) she was telling us about the plot next to us.
Well that was up for $78 000 aswell, but the buyers have pulled out of the sale, and MH are putting it back on the market for $85 000 :P :P :P

They must have realised the plots were underpriced when our valuation came back :nice1

Also the boss at MH used to work for an estate agency here and he said he can legally get us out of our FIXED contract we have here, they want to start building asap. OOOOOOOOOOh getting excited now just keeping fingers crossed

Next step will be picking our colours for carpets etc etc :clap :clap

Also must add how great michelle has been (and NO I am not on any commision :P )
She is doing everything possible to save us money.
We were asking her about how much extra it would cost to get a garage put on. She said go to "another garage" place and get them to do it because MH adds on 20% charges, and said the same in regards to heating.
I just love that she knows our budget and advising us everyway possible how to save money............never really had much experience with that, people have usually tried to convince me to stretch the budget :?

Joanne :cheers

hey Joanne, you'll have to find out the last name - as we could do with her when we get over - funny I even picked the same style for our first house!

look forward to more updates

Kat

[john & becky]

Hi
Have just read this post and found it very informative, thanks.
Some time has passed since the last message so in the meanwhile, has anyone found other builders that offer this service in other areas or is it just Murray homes in Chch?
I am interested in this solution, either that or building my own house as I am coming to terms with the fact that a lot of the houses out there are a bit damp and not well insulated?

[jocalla]

Hi
has anyone found other builders that offer this service in other areas or is it just Murray homes in Chch?
?

There are a few other places, like MH in Christchurch that do this. I am not sure about other areas though, maybe someone else will know

While I am here, just a quick update

We have accepted an offer on the house :raebanana

(as you know we are heading back to the UK)

Ok, I know how nosey you all are so I will let you know the price accepted

Offer is $253 000 :raebanana

So we will be heading back to the UK with the same amount of money that we came here with

Joanne

[jocalla]

House sale goes through on Friday, so thought I would end this thread. Went round to the house tonight to leave some bits and bobs for the 'new owners'. It was really nice to find out that they are a young couple and it is there first home. The agent said that they are just over the moon! Left them a nice bottle of bubbly for them to celebrate!

MH have been brill. Not one problem with them I am happy to say. They totally delivered what they promised and very stress free. :clap

Joanne :cheers

[Moorf]

Wow Jo, you came, you saw, you built, you sold - all for a tidy profit - can't say fairer than that!! :clap :clap Great price !!