Yesterday (26/4) we paid our $1000 deposit to secure a 503m2 block in the new Willowdale estate in East Leppington, South West Sydney. The next few weeks will be spent meeting with our conveyancer and getting contracts signed. A further small deposit is also paid within two weeks.
Willowdale is delayed settlement so we have locked in a block and price now and settlement is January-March 2015 which is when the remainder of the payment is needed. So it will be save, save save until the land is ready and we need a mortgage (boo).
The process for land purchase at Willowdale was a bit different to some of the other estates we looked at. There is no camping out (thankfully), but registration for a release is through an online priority system. Our first attempt was dismal - we received the email 25 minutes late so had no chance, but it was a good first experience of how this worked. We learnt the hard way that with the current land demand, every second counts! We were somewhat better prepared the second time. We had a much better internet connection and had registered a different email address (hotmail to gmail). We secured an 11.15am appointment which was approximately 14th in the queue (though they won't tell you what number you are but you figure it out yourself on the day).
Appointments are 15 minutes and you are asked to arrive 15 minutes early to choose your lot. We arrived around 10.30am and stood around nervously watching the little red dots being put on the plan until it was our turn.
I must mention that the increase in prices between releases has been frightening- we have purchased in the birdwing release in April. I think the first release was in August/September 2013 and price increases seem to be near $50,000 in that time. With Stockland expecting the estate to be an 8-10 year development, I can't even imagine what will happen from here!
We had been dealing with Emma at the sales office who had been helping me with my million questions by email and got to have our appointment with her on the day. I even got to put the sold sticker on our block! It was a very exciting weekend - in fact it hasn't really sunk in yet.
We want to build the Infinity One by McDonald Jones Homes - a 4 bedroom single storey home. That is the plan now. As to what happens over the next few years, that might be a different story! Below are some photos. Look forward to sharing our building journey with you.
SOLD! Putting the red dot on our block
Congratulations in securing a block of land I look forward to following your journey :)
ReplyDelete