Our Land

Our search for land started in the south east - however it became clear fast which areas we could afford in our budget - it is amazing how different the prices are for just 5 minutes down a freeway/highway. (Up to 50k!).

The first estate that we were truly interested in looked good all round and had facilities - however the fall of the land in the area was fairly high and the covenants for the estate were extremely strict and many costly (and very frivolous) to implement.  The estate agent was also less than interested on the day / in moving the land - which makes it hard to buy if the sales person is severely lacking interest!

With this, I browsed through the booklet provided by Carlisle and started to look for other estates and evaluate prices. (Real Estate.com has most estates listed and some of the land they have available - however always contact the REA - as there is often more available than what is on the site / further details).

After browsing through many estates and looking at price/location we decided to seriously investigate Lakeside.

The land at lakeside (Land lease) turned out to be very good - almost all of their land was flat, natural and positioned well for accessing facilities/roads around the area. The sales person for Lakeside is also amazing - providing a wealth of support and resources about the land. They knew their product, processes and we fully willing (above and beyond) to interact with our choice of builder and other 3rd parties.

We secured a deposit and did the initial contract to lock things in (3 business day cooling off if needed). The contract was explained in general terms (we have a conveyancer as well - but nice to have a general gist of the contract). They are sales person, however as confirmed with the conveyance people - it was a straight forward land contract.

Needs some work!

A few things we learned along the way...
Fall - A critical part about the land and particular pricy when it comes to building! The site costs will mainly relate to this aspect of the land. From what we have heard, 30cm of fall is included by the builder and any extra cost for shaping it up to be flat. If it passes a certain high, retaining walls will be needed - which can add up extremely fast. Some developers require the retaining walls to be of specific material or presented in a certain way.

Land -  pre settlement obligations - Up to the company to look after the land, including keeping the grass at an appropriate level, rates and with land lease a once off clearance of any rubbish on the land (normally within 7 days of settlement).