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• IGTV: Building your first home Q & A's

Hi there. Welcome to our Insta Live. My name is Samara, I'm one of the co-founders of Homeshelf. Today I want to answer some of your questions about building your first home. With the latest government incentives, we've received a lot of questions about building.

For this reason, I've invited Jess from First-Place Building to join the chat today. First-Place are a new home builder in Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat, specializing in the first-time buyer market. Let me just get her on the chat.

Jess:

How are you?

Samara:

Good. How are you going?

Jess:

Not too bad, thank you.

Samara:

That's good. Thanks for coming along today.

Jess:

No worries at all.

Samara:

Let's jump to it. At Homeshelf we get a lot of enquires for build prices from people trying to work out what they can afford. Often they have land, or they've got a block in mind and looking for the right design to fit their budget. That's what, we love helping with. Plan options and pricing is what we specialize in. But there's more than just the build price and the land price to think about. What other costs do you come across when people, like first-home buyers should be aware of when they're building?

Jess:

Site costs are a major one. A lot of people tend to forget that we have to pay to go and do work before we actually start building. You want to keep this in mind, especially if you're looking at a block that might have a little fall across it. People think they're getting a bargain because their blocks so cheap, but then they'll be paying for that in the future when it comes to site costs.

Jess:

Other thing is upgrades. So people will walk through a display home and take that as exactly what they're getting. However, upgrades are included in our display homes and they won't be included in your package. So upgrades as well. Council costs. Some people are unaware of body corp fees and stuff like that as well. It's not just the price of the house and the price of the land, unfortunately.

Samara:

Yes, so when you buy land, you've got to have money for a deposit?

Jess:

Yes, correct. It depends where you're looking at building but most land agents will take a 5% deposit.

Jess:

Most bulders will require a 5% deposit as well.

Samara:

Okay, so when you're looking at building, you've put some cash away for the land deposit and the deposit to the builder. And then I guess you'd have other costs to later on in the stage, like your moving costs. Often people want new furniture and things like that as well.

Jess:

You've also got Conveyancer costs. It's not just paying us and the land agent, unfortunately.

Samara:

Yeah, for sure. With upgrades, what do you think is important for people to look at for their upgrades? I mean, you can see a display home and see so many things and then ...

Jess:

Here at First-Place, we do upgrade packages. So we can get you a silver package, a bronze package, gold package, and some of these upgrades are important to others and that's why we've packaged them up. Some will include the higher ceilings or the larger cookers, the stone bench tops and stuff like that. A big thing that I would always go for is the higher ceilings.

Samara:

So for resale value?

Jess:

Absolutely.

Samara:

Yeah and with a first time, it's not always where you're going to be for the rest of your life. By putting in all these extra upgrades might be something that you don't necessarily need to do just for that.

Jess:

Yes, exactly right. Exactly. I mean the higher ceilings yes, will add value to your house. Stone benchtops will, but then there are upgrades that people add and it's not really the best for resales. They don't really look at these kinds of things.

Samara:

Yeah, for sure. So trying not to overcapitalize and do too many upgrades or adding too much cost to your home at the start.

Jess:

Yeah, absolutely.

Samara:

No worries.

Jess:

If you're looking to stay within a budget, go with what you need rather than what you want.

Samara:

Definitely, work out what you really need in your first home. Yeah, true. We also get asked a lot of questions about build times and when to proceed with the builder. I see a lot of people already making that decision while they've got untitled land. Can you explain a little bit about untitled and titled and what kind of a timeframe?

Jess:

Absolutely. So titled land is ready to go. We can build on it once you've settled on it. Whereas on untitled land, there's always that uncertainty of when will it title. Just because the land agent tells you it's going to title in six months, they can't control the construction side of things. Untitled land is not necessarily titling in six months if you've told six months. And there's a lot of things that can impact that. Like the weather, if the weather is really crappy, then that can't get out to site to continue their earthworks. And then the council can sometimes take a while to get what they need. If you're looking to get in quick smart, titled land is the way to go. But if you wanted to buy a block and then still have time to save for your build, then untitled land is the way to go for you.

Samara:

OK, and you can still choose a builder and the builder can start getting all that paperwork prepared before titling?

Jess:

Absolutely, yes.

Samara:

How long does it usually take with the builder to have all that paperwork ready to go? 

Jess:

Here at First-Place we're actually really quick and we pride ourselves on how quick we can get our paperwork to you. Depending you don't do any major structural changes we can get a contract to you within 48 hours.

Samara:

Okay, great. So you've signed your contract, you've selected your builder before your land is titled, let's say. And then how long does it usually take for that paperwork to all go through to be ready to build then. If you've got untitled land and the titling is coming up in three to four months, is that a good time to ...

Jess:

Yeah, definitely a good time. We will have everything ready before the three or four months but three or four months is a good, a good time. At least you know when you're told three or four months after the titles, it's pretty accurate when they are getting that close to titles. That's a good time to come and have a chat with us, we can organize what plans you like. We can have a look into all of that and then we can get your paperwork ready and done before you land deed and titles.

Samara:

Yeah, beautiful. We've been getting a lot of questions with the home builder grants and things that have been going on.

Jess:

Absolutely.

Samara:

You guys too?

Jess:

Yeah, so many.

Samara:

So with that, you've got to have your contract signed by the end of the year?

Jess:

Yeah, so you need your contract signed by the 31st of December and you will need to start building within three months of signing that contract to be eligible for the grant.

Samara:

Okay, great. So most people are looking for titled land or land that's titling soon?

Jess:

At the moment we've got heaps of people, looking for titled land, to take advantage of these grants. If you are looking to take advantage of them, definitely start looking for titled land ASAP because it's selling like hotcakes.

Samara:

Okay, that's great. Is there anything else you'd like to add in? 

Jess:

I would like to add, I have a lot of people coming to me right now asking, can I use these grants as part of my deposit? The answer is no, unfortunately not. These grants are paid once your build is complete. So with the building grant, it will be paid into your account once the build is finished. However, the first homeowner grant, you can choose whether that goes towards the slab or how you use that. But no, unfortunately, we can't use these as part of our deposit. We do have a lot of people coming through thinking that, that they can, but they actually can't.

Samara:

Okay, that's interesting. So the first home buyers grant is still available.

Jess:

Yes, it's 10,000 for Metro 20K for regional.

Samara:

And there's also a first time buyer deposit scheme that started again?

Jess:

Yes. So the 5% deposit scheme, you won't have to pay lenders insurance. So that's great.

Samara:

So look up all the grants if you're looking to build. 

Jess:

Absolutely, take advantage of them while they are there.

Samara:

Is there anything else that you want to tell us about what you guys do and how you help first time home buyers?

Jess:

Yeah, absolutely. First-Place is a somewhat new company. We're under AHB group so people get a little bit sketchy when they hear of a new builder that they haven't heard of before. But we are under a very reputable builder and we specialize in helping first home buyers. Buying your first house can be very daunting, very confusing, a lot of people don't know what they're doing. So here at First-Place we're here to help you. We do have cheap houses, low-cost houses, to get people into the market because it is very hard to get your foot into the market. We have priced our houses at that really easy range to get into, nothing too crazy. But then we also do cater to people who do have a little bit more to spend as well.

Jess:

We will help you source your land. We'll answer all the questions that some of the big builders don't have time to answer for you. We'll walk you through it. I've even had a client that I've taken out to go and see the block because people they don't know what they're getting into the first time. Sometimes they need it to be babied a little bit, but we're here to do that for them. If they've got any questions at all, it doesn't matter what time, what day, we're always here to help because we understand. I've just purchased my first house, not too long ago, myself. And I've been in the industry and I still needed to be babied a little bit. We really understand, that people need that and they feel more comfortable when they've got someone doing that for them.

Samara:

So you can help people with finding land and working out what would be the best house there.

Jess:

Absolutely and not just pushing someone onto something that doesn't suit them or that's not affordable for them. We really try to work out what your budget is. Have you spoken to a broker? No. Let's help you find the right broker and then we can take it from there.

Samara:

That's great. Thank you. I think that's basically all I want to wrap up. Just some simple questions that come up a lot when we're talking with first-time buyers. Thanks very much for coming along Jess.

Jess:

Thanks for having me.

Samara:

No worries at all. That's it. See you later, guys.

Publisher Website: www.homeshelf.com.au