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Getting mortgage to buy land?


imo2oz

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I wonder if anyone can help with this....

 

We have been in Melbourne for just over a year and are contemplating buying a plot of land in an area we like. We currently own a property in the UK which we would need to sell in order to finance a new home build, but we would like to buy the plot now as they don't come up very often.

 

So, our plan would be to arrange a short term loan from family to provide the deposit and get a small mortgage to buy the land, and then once the UK house is sold we can extend the mortgage to begin building. The land does not have planning permission yet, but is being marketed as residential and the similar plot next door has a newly completed home on it, so I am presuming planning permission should be fairly easy to obtain.

 

Is this feasible? I am unsure how the whole process works here, particularly with regard to getting a mortgage for land and then either getting another one to build, or extending the original one. Has anyone done anything like this? Where should I start??

 

Thank you

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Guest The Pom Queen

Yes it can be done, but first you really need to check out planning and also if the land is on an estate you may have to build within so many years. @Petals use to work as a lawyer in this industry so may be able to advise more.

Have a read here its mainly for property but will give you some tips http://www.vicgroup.com.au/pdf/Real%20Estate%20Guide.pdf

in regards to getting a mortgage have a word with Andrew Williams on here, he has secured many land/property mortgages for members. http://www.vistafs.com.au or http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/members/17437.html

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I wonder if anyone can help with this....

 

So, our plan would be to arrange a short term loan from family to provide the deposit and get a small mortgage to buy the land, and then once the UK house is sold we can extend the mortgage to begin building.

 

Is this feasible?

 

I am unsure how the whole process works here, particularly with regard to getting a mortgage for land and then either getting another one to build, or extending the original one.

 

Thank you

 

 

Hello

 

Getting a mortgage to purchase land is pretty straight forward. You will have to be able to service the loan (mortgage) amount given your current income and outgoings. Your UK property income and mortgage (if applicable) will be taken into account as is the rent (for land loan) that you currently pay.

 

Generally a land loan is put on an interest only basis as is the build loan until you move in which of course helps whilst you have rent to pay, then generally it will revert to a repayment/principle and interest basis (P&I).

 

Be mindful when building that the end price of the build will be much higher than the advertised price after all footings, upgrades and changes are factored in.

 

Perhaps start by visiting some display villages/homes and talking to builders so that you have an idea of what the build costs might look like for houses you like, this will give you a better idea of overall costs and budget.

 

Once you understand roughly what sort of costs you would be looking at then speak to someone regarding finance (mortgages), a Broker would probably be the better option, this will help you ascertain whether you are able to purchase the land and whether the numbers will stack up for a build when the time comes.

 

Regards

 

Andy

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We are just going through the process now got the deposit saved up made offer on the land which was accepted and had the mortgage offer through it's taken about 7 days to sort out, we got our loan through rams and there is no time limit to build the house .

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Remember when speaking to the building companies and seeing adverts for builds that the price is the base price. So, a house advertised for say $200k, will actually cost closer to $250k.

 

Also allow for possible blow outs on site works as the quoted amount will always be for the best case scenario. I would allow $20k as a back up on earthworks.

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thank you for all these helpful replies, and thank you Andy for some professional advice.

How exciting Rallyman, that's great that you can actually build for yourself at last.

Thanks for that sensible word of caution, vstormy. I had gathered that we should expect to pay more than quoted. The plot is on a gentle slope, and the next door house is built on stumps that are higher at the back. This is partly to do with the slope, but also because the very bottom of the garden occasionally floods (the plot is about 80m deep). Does anyone know a builder that is able to build on stumps but wouldn't charge loads?? In NE suburbs of Melbourne

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we've just come home from a passive house meeting. if you can, and you're feeling adventurous (for australia) look into it. it's truly the future, and common sense, it's just weird no australian main stream builders will do it yet. i guess it's the extra attention to detail that foxes them.

 

 

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we've just come home from a passive house meeting. if you can, and you're feeling adventurous (for australia) look into it. it's truly the future, and common sense, it's just weird no australian main stream builders will do it yet. i guess it's the extra attention to detail that foxes them.

 

 

Are there any passive home builders in Melbourne?

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so far i've found one guy who has got close (0.8ACH) on a build. he's currently doing a degree and knows the pitfalls so it looks good.

the short answer however is no, there are no passive houses in all of australia, why would any builder build a quality product when you can throw up crap with 'made in australia' written on it, and people will pay top dollar!

the uk is almost at it's 1000th certified passive house, europe has 10's of thousands. the US and canada are picking up fast. Australia is sadly completely clueless, other than at the meeting, i've yet to meet someone in the industry who even knows what it is.

with fuel prices as they are and the increasing price of extraction it makes sense on a financial basis alone. i find it odd that more people don't do this.

to trust the australian star system is foolish. there is no testing on completion, the system is broken, corrupt or both.

passive houses are only certified when the actual energy performance matches the data in the design.

hell, even if your build doesn't meet the strict criteria, if you aim for the stars you're going to end up with a far better quality house than the standard.

build for performance. save in the long run.

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