So a few things have happened since my last post! Thought it was time for an update!
We received a letter from our Solicitor in late July advising that Land Registration was ahead of schedule and anticipated to be in August/September. That is about 3 months earlier than expected! Initially, when we had our first meeting with our Wisdom Homes Sales Consultant last year, we were told to expect Registration in November/December of 2018. It's quite unheard of for new estate developments to register on time let alone early! In fact, we were told by many to expect at least a 3 month delay. So here we are just cruising along and not expecting to lift a finger by at least November! And when i say lift a finger i am talking about paperwork!
I instinctively went into panic mode because even though we have been Pre Approved for the loan amount, it was actually expired since Pre Approvals from banks are normally only valid for 90 days as standard (we got a Pre Approval last year!) and did not need to "renew" it for at least a few more months - or so we thought! So basically, we needed to get ourselves into gear and get organised. Lucky for us, i actually already had a folder on my laptop with all the necessary documents that the bank would need (yes i am a nerd). All we needed to do was print them.
Our banker was fabulous - fast, efficient and thorough. Our dealings with her have been hassle free. She said we were "dream" clients because we had everything ready that she needed. Because our land registration was fast approaching, time was valuable and in order to eliminate any backwards and forwards, i knew it was vital we have all the necessary paperwork with us at the appointment. By nature, I tend to over think things and made sure i had everything in order - even if there was a slight chance she wouldn't need/ask for it, i printed it out anyway. It doesn't hurt to be extra organised - does it?
Our Land Loan was approved in record time (exactly 5 working days). I was so glad because a few days later, we received an email that Land was registering the following week, which meant Settlement Day would be 2 weeks after - we made it just in the nick of time, and i know the higher powers had something to do with it! I would like to think that our flawless organisational skills played a little part too ;)
It's also worth mentioning that before a Lender gives you Unconditional Approval for the Land component, they also need to Pre Approve your Construction Loan (even though the Construction Loan does not need to be utilised yet) because obviously both Land and Construction go hand in hand. We learnt that our land valuation came in $83,000 over our purchase price - which was fantastic news for us! That's equity in our pockets in just under a year!
Settlement is next week and even though this stage in the admin process can be stressful, we were truly blessed that we had an amazing Home Lending Manager and Solicitor who were not only a pleasure to deal with but also worked well together to make this whole transaction as smooth as possible for us. Not everyone is lucky to work with great professionals like that, so we feel really grateful and blessed. We can only hope (and pray!) that our build journey is just as - or at least close to being that smooth!
FUN FACT: Settlement Day for our land is the same day we sold our house last year - to the day!
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