# Who sells land and house packages?



## chouse

Can anyone recommend a company (or has property) in and around Newcastle, NSW? 

We've been discussing options and buying our first home is a priority. We want to have a new build as we have a pretty specific specification in mind but I'm a little confused. 

We're wanting a 3/4 bed with 2 bath (min), a study and separate family room/ entertainment room, laundry, large kitchen, outside space (dining and play area) and need a garage and drive or a 2 car garage. I'd rather buy a package than land first and then house, more for convenience but as I said it's the first time we've looked into buying. 

Any other options/ opinions are welcome! 

Thanks


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## Cela

*Masterton Homes*

spring to mind and as far as I know, are Australia wide.


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## Verystormy

First, if you are not in Australia yet, don't think about buying yet. Take some time to rent and figure out the areas you like. 

Second, house and land packages are really a bit of a con. All they are, are the sales guys trawl the land sales on line and see which of their designs would fit on the land. Then call it a house and land package. In reality, you still need to buy the land and arrange the build separately. 

It is actually fairly painless to buy land and arrange the build.

The way we did it was to start looking at builders and visiting show houses. But remember show houses will have lots of inclusions you wont get, but it gives an idea of quality of build in comparison to each other. You can also go through the designs available and how each works for you. All of the builders can modify their designs, though each modification may or may not have a cost. For example, removing a wall wont, but adding a wall will.

The design you say you are looking for is pretty much a standard Australian house. The average design is a 4x2 with a entertainment area, laundry and things. Most are open plan living - so large kitchen, living area and dining area as a single space.

Once you have found the block of land you want and chosen your builder / design. Get pre approval for the mortgage. Then make an offer to the land and sign up with the builder. The banks just treat it as a single loan.

Things to watch for with builders is to be very careful about what is and is not included.

Also, remember, there will be a lot of things that either are not included in the base price or which you need to upgrade. For example, the base price will only include one single socket per room - trying running a kitchen on that! So, you need to upgrade.


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## chouse

Verystormy said:


> First, if you are not in Australia yet, don't think about buying yet. Take some time to rent and figure out the areas you like. Second, house and land packages are really a bit of a con. All they are, are the sales guys trawl the land sales on line and see which of their designs would fit on the land. Then call it a house and land package. In reality, you still need to buy the land and arrange the build separately. It is actually fairly painless to buy land and arrange the build. The way we did it was to start looking at builders and visiting show houses. But remember show houses will have lots of inclusions you wont get, but it gives an idea of quality of build in comparison to each other. You can also go through the designs available and how each works for you. All of the builders can modify their designs, though each modification may or may not have a cost. For example, removing a wall wont, but adding a wall will. The design you say you are looking for is pretty much a standard Australian house. The average design is a 4x2 with a entertainment area, laundry and things. Most are open plan living - so large kitchen, living area and dining area as a single space. Once you have found the block of land you want and chosen your builder / design. Get pre approval for the mortgage. Then make an offer to the land and sign up with the builder. The banks just treat it as a single loan. Things to watch for with builders is to be very careful about what is and is not included. Also, remember, there will be a lot of things that either are not included in the base price or which you need to upgrade. For example, the base price will only include one single socket per room - trying running a kitchen on that! So, you need to upgrade.


Thank you. That's really helpful. I thought it would be a massive undertaking getting everything separate! I can't believe that they only have one socket as standard, that's ridiculous!

Thanks again!


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## JandE

chouse said:


> I can't believe that they only have one socket as standard, that's ridiculous!
> 
> Thanks again!


I can't believe that either, and I've bought a few houses in Australia, and most master bedrooms have had two double sockets, with smaller bedrooms having one double socket.
Kitchens though are bad with a maximum of two double sockets.

I'm currently looking at buying again soon, but am looking at a house and land package where the house is already being built on the land. A proper Land and House package.

Not many builders offer the Land and House packages unless they have already begun an estate.

You can see land and house packages (with the address of the property) at: House and Land Packages, New Homes, New Apartments and New Land Estates for Sale - realestate.com.au


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## JandE

Verystormy said:


> The average design is a 4x2 .


I will guess you are in WA ?

I'd been in Australia (NSW and QLD) for about 15 years thinking a 4x2 was a car, until I met someone from WA where they refer to houses as Bedrooms x bathroom.

ie: 4x2 = 4 bedroom and 2 bathrooms


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## Verystormy

lol - yes WA, so here a 4x2 is 4 bedrooms and 2 bathroom house.

The electrical thing is standard when building. That is all that is included in the base price. I believe, from research it is standard across Australia.

The build goes something like this:
You chose a builder and sit down with the sales guy to go through what you want such as any alterations from the standard plan. He will then have this drawn up and costed to include any changes. For example, we have a amazing view from from our house, so wanted the entire back wall which is the living room and our bedroom to be glass. So, we saved a bit of money first as glass is cheaper than brick, but then lost a lot as they had to design is extra supports.

Once you are happy with the design, you sign on the line and hand over a deposit of a couple of thousand.

If you are purchasing the land at the same time, the bank pays out for it from the total agreed mortgage for the build and the land and your mortgage payments now start just for the land element.

The next thing is the builder will give you a huge folder known as a pre-start folder. This details everything that is included in the base price and what options you have for upgrades. For example, what tiles you can have - in our case that was any of the tiles from the main range of two tiling companies. You can then visit the tile shops and select the what you want. This process is fairly lengthy and needs some effort as you have to chose every single thing that goes into building the house from the paint to the bricks. But also amazingly good fun. My wife sat for hours with loads of laminate selections and tile samples and paint colours. A tip - if you contact places like Dulux direct, they will send out A4 sized samples of paint colours.

You also need to go through what isn't included in the base price and decide if you want the builder to do it or do it yourself later. For example, some companies don't include floor coverings. So, you need to decide if you want to pay extra to have the builder do them. Be aware, if this hasn't been factored into the mortgage, you need to pay in cash.

Next are things like upgrades. This is where the builder has included something but you want a better version. For example, our front door is massive - almost twice the width of a normal one which was included. But the door handle was only a regular one. So, we wanted to upgrade to a large very modern one. So that went on the upgrade list. Again, if these are not factored in the mortgage you need to pay cash.

You also need to think about the practicalities at this stage of things like will you be putting in a irrigation system for the garden and if so, do you need a conduit under the driveway.

The company will help with this.

The next big event after you have made all your choices is the pre-start meeting. This is basically an all day meeting where you meet with the builders and go through everything. This is where you will also go through the electrical plans and decide where you want all your sockets and things. They will advise on this. Again, this is where increasing the electrical from one socket needs to be thought as if that isn't factored into the mortgage, you have to pay in cash. At the end of the meeting you pay up for the extras

Once pre-start is done, the build can start. The actual build varies by state as here in WA we don't have soil, only sand. So the method of building is to compact the sand and then pour a concrete slab onto which the build is made. 

However the build is done in your state, there will be pre agreed draw down points from the bank to the builder. For example, when the walls are complete. So, you are not paying the full mortgage cost until the build is complete, but the mortgage costs slowly increase throughout the build until it is complete. So, for us, it was the builder claimed 20% on the slab being poured. Then 20% when the walls were completed, 20% when the roof was on and the remaining 40% at completion.

You then watch your house take shape - pretty exciting and I recommend regular visits in case of errors. For example, our builders nearly laid the wrong bricks for the driveway.

At the end, you will have another meeting, by given the instruction on everything like the aircon and get the keys and usually a bottle of champers.

It sounds a little daunting, but it isn't and was really good fun.


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## JandE

Verystormy said:


> The actual build *varies by state* as here in WA we don't have soil, only sand. So the method of building is to compact the sand and then pour a concrete slab onto which the build is made.


In QLD they put the house on a polystyrene or Styrofoam base. I couldn't believe it when I was watching the build.

I took photos of the day to day process. Massive polystyrene blocks put down, then concrete poured over and around it.

This is an example, the white blocks are the polystyrene blocks


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## Verystormy

I wonder what they do that for? Insulation?

If it is insulation it doesn't surprise me that QLD have it and WA doesn't. The houses here built with very little thought to the environment or energy bill for that matter!

Houses are generally double brick, but little or no insulation in between and double glazing is rarer than hens teeth. Roofs are usually tin - like metal doesn't conduct heat!


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## chouse

Thank you so much for all this information! It sounds like a lengthy but exciting process! 

I have lived in Aus previously so we already know the area we want to be in. I think I'm going to start looking at the current rate for land in the area and looking at the individual builders around there too. 

Thank you so much. I never would have thought to ask about some of these things!


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## dejainc

Those white things is to support the slab from reactive soil. Its much cheaper to use that than to drill deep holes and engineer concrete pillars. I have them for my house.


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## JandE

chouse said:


> I can't believe that they only have one socket as standard, that's ridiculous!





JandE said:


> I can't believe that either, and I've bought a few houses in Australia, and most master bedrooms have had two double sockets, with smaller bedrooms having one double socket.
> Kitchens though are bad with a maximum of two double sockets.


I just bought another house. A standard build.
The Master bedroom has two double sockets, one each side of where the bed goes.
Each of the other three bedrooms have just one double socket each.
The Kitchen has two double sockets (I am having to get that changed, so I end up with 10 in total)
The main living room has three double sockets
The second living area has two double sockets.
Each bathroom also has a double socket, as does the laundry.​
The above appears to be a standard configuration these days, having looked at many houses recently.

Land prices are the major price difference in property..
Near me, 1 hr drive west from Brisbane, a decent 1 acre (4,000 sq metres) block is about $100,000 (_ $25.00 per sqm_)
Where I used to be, 1 hr drive East from Brisbane, a tiny 400 sq metre block is about $300,000 (_ $750.00 per sqm_)

I did see a 3 acre (12,000 sm) block for $50,000 but decided against it as it had a flooding risk 

The actual house prices in each area are very similar, for same build quality. 
So, a $200,000 house would be either $300,000 or $500,000 on either of those two land examples.


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## YYC2BNE

JandE said:


> Land prices are the major price difference in property..
> Near me, 1 hr drive west from Brisbane, a decent 1 acre (4,000 sq metres) block is about $100,000 (_ $25.00 per sqm_)
> Where I used to be, 1 hr drive East from Brisbane, a tiny 400 sq metre block is about $300,000 (_ $750.00 per sqm_)


1 hour west, are we talking Ipswich?
1 hour east, You'd be in the bay wouldn't you? 300k for a 400sqm block I'm guessing Bayside like Manly or Wynnum?


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## JandE

YYC2BNE said:


> 1 hour west, are we talking Ipswich?
> 1 hour east, You'd be in the bay wouldn't you? 300k for a 400sqm block I'm guessing Bayside like Manly or Wynnum?


It used to take me around one hour to Brisbane from Redland Bay area, so much traffic.

Ipswich to Brisbane is actually about 10 minutes shorter.

I did Plainland to Brisbane airport in just over 1 hour the other day. An advantage in the west are the clearer roads with the 100kph speed limits (which many people exceed anyway). And the new 4 bed Houses on 1 acre for $310,000 in the Plainland area.


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