Yes!! We got unconditional approval! 4 villa development in Gwelup WA

Sigh. We are not settling on Monday. Last minute insurance hiccup as I didn't have Strata Insurance on the 2 security properties. Heritage won't book settlement until Certificate of Currency is done.
I'm in Bali at moment so it's taken longer to sort out than it should but its now purchased and waiting on email with Certificates.
We should settle Tuesday.
 
Yeeha moment!!!!!

Heritage Bank has dropped interest rates in time for settlement tomorrow. Instead of 5.85% for fixed component and 6.13% for variable we are getting 5.6% for fixed 3yrs and 5.93% for variable.

Whilst this has been a very protracted sale from Offer on 1st July to Settlement 16th October it has all ended up working well in our favour. Not only are we now getting the lower interest rate, we have finalised building plans and applied to Council for Development Approval all before Settlement. Great positive impact on holding costs.

DA approvals are currently very slow in the Council at the moment. At least 20 days in a queue before being looked at. So we might not get DA approval until end of Oct/early Nov. I would like to get Building License in Nov and go to site in Nov.

Pad down 6 weeks from Settlement would be my highest hope - not sure if we'll make it.
 
westminster said:
Yeeha moment!!!!!

Heritage Bank has dropped interest rates in time for settlement tomorrow. Instead of 5.85% for fixed component and 6.13% for variable we are getting 5.6% for fixed 3yrs and 5.93% for variable.

Whilst this has been a very protracted sale from Offer on 1st July to Settlement 16th October it has all ended up working well in our favour. Not only are we now getting the lower interest rate, we have finalised building plans and applied to Council for Development Approval all before Settlement. Great positive impact on holding costs.

DA approvals are currently very slow in the Council at the moment. At least 20 days in a queue before being looked at. So we might not get DA approval until end of Oct/early Nov. I would like to get Building License in Nov and go to site in Nov.

Pad down 6 weeks from Settlement would be my highest hope - not sure if we'll make it.
Click to expand...

When did you apply for your DA? I think starting construction next month would be a bit of a stretch but a great effort if you pull it off
 
Very much a stretch - it's my highest hope - I think I have a 5% chance of achieving ;) I aim high lol

If DA was lodged late last week (not sure if it was) then 20 days will take me to hmm is it 20 working days or 20 actual days? Bet it's working days. Ok so that means DA gets to 'looking at' pile 8th Nov. Depends then how much changes need to be made.

On the upside building licenses via the online City of Stirling portal which only a few builders are able to use at moment (yay my builder) are turning around in 3 days!!!!

Block will be cleared during all this and we'll see where we are in builders schedule. We've been in his schedule though for ages so he has his workload planned for us.
 
westminster said:
Frustrating day :(
I was finishing off signing loan documents when I realised that there was a pile had hadn't looked at. I realised that they needed DH and I to sign, with a witness and then even better there were 2 Stat Decs in there which needed a JP to witness.
I left work at lunch, got DH and raced to JP to get that done. Then took all the papers to the mortgage broker who checked them over and said OK. Then took our 2 Titles over to Settlement Agent for her to hand over at Settlement on 13th.
At 6pm I get a call from the Mortgage Broker to say that the JP had missed one section and it needs to be done. Sigh. JP only works 11-2. I have to pick papers up from Broker take to JP and back to Broker. Another fun lunch time scheduled for tomorrow then.
This wouldn't be so bad if we weren't flying out Wednesday morning.
Ommmmm 2 more sleeps and I will be on a plane away from it all. Come settlement day (13th) I'll be nursing a cocktail on a beach and becoming a debt squillionaire in paradise.
Click to expand...

It's good to have high quality problems.
 
Drum roll......... Settlement has happened.

Heritage Bank (and I) are proud owners of 1224sqm of prime land in Gwelup WA.

$1.9m total project debt ($850k land)

Let's get rolling on turning that into 4 villas
 
Update on DA:
Pleasantly surprised that City of Stirling got straight onto my DA after their 20 day queue. They have a few minor objections which will be rectified or sorted via Neighbour consultation. The biggest one is making the entrance to unit A more prominent which is pretty easy - we just need to move the storeroom so that the portico can be seen from the street.

Revisions will be going back to council mid next week.

Prestart:
I did 4 hours of colour selections today. I am now colour blind and can't remember what I chose :). To make my life easier there are 2 colour schemes and so 2 of each over the 4 villas.
Basically they are pretty neutral though. Spotted Gum floorboards, mushroom carpet, pale stone benches in kitchen/ensuite/bathroom/laundries, pale cream walls and rendered fronts with limestone or Donnybrook sandstone feature walls.
 
Last edited:
westminster said:
Update on DA:
Pleasantly surprised that City of Stirling got straight onto my DA after their 20 day queue. They have a few minor objections which will be rectified or sorted via Neighbour consultation. The biggest one is making the entrance to unit A more prominent which is pretty easy - we just need to move the storeroom so that the portico can be seen from the street.

Revisions will be going back to council mid next week.

Prestart:
I did 4 hours of colour selections today. I am now colour blind and can't remember what I chose :). To make my life easier there are 2 colour schemes and so 2 of each over the 4 villas.
Basically they are pretty neutral though. Spotted Gum floorboards, mushroom carpet, pale stone benches in kitchen/ensuite/bathroom/laundries, pale cream walls and rendered fronts with limestone or Donnybrook sandstone feature walls.
Click to expand...

Wow - I was chatting to someone the other day about CIS new planning process - it will make buying development sites in CIS seriously less appealing as the approval process is sooo drawn out.

I dont know how you have the patience to do pre-start. Me personally I prefer to pay an interior designer a couple of hundred bucks, give them an idea of what I want, and then just say "yep" or "nup".

But them I am a man and still firmly believe that brown and blue are complimentary colours :D
 
Blacky said:
Wow - I was chatting to someone the other day about CIS new planning process - it will make buying development sites in CIS seriously less appealing as the approval process is sooo drawn out.

I dont know how you have the patience to do pre-start. Me personally I prefer to pay an interior designer a couple of hundred bucks, give them an idea of what I want, and then just say "yep" or "nup".

But them I am a man and still firmly believe that brown and blue are complimentary colours :D
Click to expand...

Monday was day 20 and my builder had the letter from them on Thursday so I'm happy with that. I still think it's a stupid policy but we did get a headstart on it by submitting before Settlement.

I have TWO colours which the poor prestart lady is going to do cut and paste forever :) The render and internal walls/doors/trim/skirtings are Dulux Hogs Bristle in 400%, 200%, 100%, 50% and 25%. The roof, fascia, gutters, garage doors, external doors are all Colourbond Surfmist.

I wish I could use an Interior Designer but at this stage I would be second guessing him/her every 3 seconds so I'm going to do it myself.
 
Westminister, could you please copy and paste the details of your builder? I tried to google it, however it comes up with a Melb company!
 
Update: failed second round of DA approval. One of our parapet walls went to Neighbour Consultation and the neighbours wont agree to it. So the design is being tweaked more.

The length of the parapet wall was over the allowed limit for the R Codes but it made the villa in question more functional so we were hoping that the neighbour would agree.

They haven't agreed so we will just have to retweak to something less optimal.

Our builder was hoping for slab down before Christmas so it could cure over the traditional Tradie shutdown but it's not to be.

Financial implications? Not too bad. We are paying the land loan and haven't drawn down on the construction loan so the holding costs are manageble. The holding costs are being paid for by CF+ properties so its not our money.
 
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