Break open the champagne!

Eden Brae has been paid for the slab finally!It took the intervention of the State Manager of Mortgage Choice and a Relationship Manager (I think) from CBA to get this sorted. A huge weight off our shoulders. And on more good news we don't need to deal with the mortgage angel now as after the first payment, we can elect to email the bank direct with our invoices. A more streamlined process, I think.

No photos of the house today as there was more plumbing work done today. I kinda wish they would plumb the portaloo (!) - the stench from the street is revolting.

I received a call from a local real estate agent to tell me that a knockdown house 2 doors away sold (over 1400m2) and a large house to accommodate 5 boys is being built rather than a subdivision as everyone imagined. Very happy about that - the house not so much the 5 boys LOL

Bank update

As of this afternoon, the 'case of the missing slab money' has gone back to the credit area of CBA for reassessment due to the contract value decreasing by $12K. It has been escalated to the Management of the department and the State Manager of Mortgage Choice is now involved. No-one can tell me how long it needs to sit in Credit for before the file makes it way back to the Progress Claims area.

As the framework is finished, we now owe Eden Brae over $200K. At this stage, the only one from Eden Brae aware of the shortfall is the Accounts Manager who indicated it is her little secret at the moment, unless of course, someone from EBH is reading this public blog!

The saga continues!

Oh my! I think our days of using our broker are nearly over. More hassle than they are worth. I received a call last night from the 'angel' informing me of the most current issue ie. because our new contract value with EBH is less than the original contract, there are ramifications for the valuation of the house which impacts of the loan. Our case now needs to go to the certification team and the valuer for re-assessment. I was promised that others would deal with it within the 'angel' office before our angel returned to work today at 2pm.
I left a message for our broker this morning asking for a return call with an update. Nothing! In the meantime, I rang the accounts manager at EBH to update & to have a cry on her shoulder ;-) Shirley gave me more information than Mortgage Choice have. She told me that I would need to submit the final variations list plus amount to CBA and/or they would need to draw up a new contract altogether. Obviously, this payment isn't forthcoming to EBH any time soon.
I scanned all the documents in waiting to 'hit the button' when requested. I, of course did not hear from Mortgage Choice until I called the 'angel' at 2:15pm. The information was sent (could have been sent 4 hours earlier if I had been contacted as promised) and I received this email back later this afternoon
"All the documentation that we sent to CBA is due to be looked at tomorrow, I have escalated this matter again for you. Julie from our office is going to touch base with CBA tomorrow morning and she will update you."
Now that was the promise I had yesterday with no follow through. We have let the broker know how we are feeling about the situation. Let's see if we get any serious action from them. This is unprofessional to say the least.

And a quick update on bank payment

Not yet finalized though there are promises of this afternoon being bandied around! Grrr...
Fortunately Eden Brae are being very understanding from my communications with them and aren't about to put tools down just yet ;-)

Progress on the build & with the bank

Preparations were made today to move on up to the next storey and according to one of my neighbours there was electrical work done today as part of his precious lawn was dug up :-( A great way to meet your new neighbour.

I received an email from my Mortgage angel
"This afternoon CBA has confirmed receiving all the information that I sent yesterday, it is going to get actioned on Monday so i will check again and will update you."
I very politely thanked her instead of ranting & raving about not sending it earlier, saving us all a big headache. Stayed tuned to see if Eden Brae get paid for the work they finished a few weeks ago!

Bank issues

I have received an email from our Mortgage Angel this afternoon who promptly got a fiery phone call from me.  It seems paying for the pool separately yet included in the valuation is not a great idea.

"I have just spoken to CBA and CBA has requested receipts from the pool builder for your contribution of $X for the pool.
As per CBA your total contribution was going to be $Y, out of this CBA has evidence of $Z being paid already by yourself.
CBA is looking for evidence of payment of $X before they will pay the builder for the slab.

Could you please forward that to me as soon as possible?"

Um, NO! We have half a pool which is why we had paid only half the amount! HURRY UP AND PAY OUR BUILDER NOW.

Update - And it seems that we are not going to get any joy from the bank even though we are getting a loan fro $40K more than what we need. Before they pay EBH for the slab we need to pay THEM for the rest of the pool and recoup that money at the end. CRAZY! We have demonstrated to them our ability to pay for it already.
Note to others - it will be much easier not to add other items to your valuation eg. pool, landscaping, driveway etc if you are paying for it out of your own pocket.

Site start appointment

Yesterday in the sweltering heat, we all travelled over to Bella Vista to have our site start appointment. It was great to be able to put a face to the voice of our CSA, Rania. It was an efficient meeting with all my points dealt with - I am glad I took the advice of my fellow HomeOners and emailed Rania prior to the appointment.
Expected timeline from here.......
* Pool excavated on Monday 21//01
* Pool shell constructed, boarded up & fenced
* We notify EBH when that is completed who will order the peg out
* Once the survey from the peg out is received, our contract period begins.
* The slab should be poured within about 3 weeks.
A big relief to get to this point after 15 months of planning.

We did receive a confusing email from our Mortgage Angel yesterday regarding the pool. The email seemed to contradict itself. We are funding the pool ourselves though because it is part of the valuation for the house, it seems that CBA want the money upfront for that and to release funds themselves?? Brad questioned this with our Mortgage Angel who herself, didn't seem to understand what was required. Sitting tight on that one before we send over $50 K to CBA!

Some more bank requirements needed

I received an email from my Mortgage Angel (sweet, eh?!) this afternoon to say that CBA required a further 2 documents and then they would release their Authority to Commence Construction. CBA need.....

1 )     Builders Contract of Works Insurance, showing:-
        Insurance amount equal to or in excess of the Building Contract Price.
        Name of property owner and / or the Building Company
        Construction site address or stating `Anywhere in Australia'.
        Expiry date of policy.

2 )    Builders Public Liability Insurance, showing:-
        Minimum $5 million.
        Expiry date of policy.
        Construction site address or stating `Anywhere in Australia'.




Now of course, the timing of this was not great. EBH were not contactable at 3:30pm this afternoon via phone or email so I can only suspect their well deserved break started before COB today! We will now have to wait until EBH are back on deck on January 7 to forward to the bank. At least we know, CBA will send the Construction advice to us as soon as they receive these documents.

Site start appointment made

I received a call from Rania, our CSA, today to schedule our site start appointment. I was hoping for one before Christmas to finalise everything but the earliest time they had was Friday January 18. EBH, from my understanding, then have 21 days to start building or at least the contract period starts then. All the final plans & documents have now been ordered and will be checked over for us to sign on that date. We are still waiting on our loan documents to come through from our mortgage broker and be signed before the Authority to Commence Construction letter can be given by the bank.
Looking forward to demolition & the start of the build in 2013!

Loan approved conditionally

Our construction loan has now been approved with conditions - the standard bank valuation on the land we are building on and that the redraw balance on one of our other loans is reduced. I don't understand the concept at all but Brad does. I was hoping it meant that I could go & spend $50K on something other than a new house ;-)  Brad seems really happy with the way that Mortgage Choice have structured our loan - important that he is happy when it comes to money!

Bank approval needed

Decided that is was time to start thinking about the bank loan for this mammoth project. We have conditional approval so it isn't going to be a lengthy drawn out affair (I hope). We need to get a HUGE building contract scanned to send to the broker & bank and some updated payslips etc. Tomorrows job........

Pools and brokers!

For a while, I have been wondering what to do about the fact that EBH let us put a PA for a pool into our initial contract yet the pool company are not actually a part of EBH. The pool is on a separate contract and paid on a different schedule.
Yesterday, I spoke with our wonderful mortgage broker (Paul Pappas from Mortgage Choice, Pitt St) who advised us to take the pool PA out of the contract and get a separate loan for that. Paul also confirmed there was no hurry to get formal approval for the construction loan - November would be ideal. Phew!!