Monday 14 September 2009

Hunting

Not Kangaroos but houses.
This past weekend we went househunting - well actually plot and house hunting. We want to have a new house so have decided to buy one of those house and land packages. I thought I would give those interested an idea of prices here: North West of Sydney is the Hills District and there is a place there called 'Homeworld' which is a semi-permanent display of 120 homes by different builders. All the homes are finished and furnished and you can spend the day (or 2) going through all of them. Plots are around 300-400k and the houses similarly priced. A basic house (+-240m2) is listed at say 225k but then once you add the essential things like tiles and carpets, etc. you are up another 100-150k. The land is the most expensive part of the whole exercise is the land. So 650 to 700k gets you a nice house of around 340m2 depending on finishes. If there is a slope on the land, you could be looking at 120k extra, so level plots are essential. Next week we will be looking South of Sydney where land is about 30% cheaper in a similar area and not as crowded. So we'll see. Houses here take about 6-8 months to build. We are leaning towards Eden Brae homes as they have the nicest finishes we've seen. Here are 2 links to give you an idea: http://www.edenbraehomes.com.au/homes/The_Eden_Brae_Series_of_Homes
http://www.avjennings.com.au/NSW/HomesToBuild/SearchResults.aspx

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Basic house! They are mansions! And beautiful.

I love the way the realtors in Australia open all the curtains and turn on all the lights before they photograph the property for advertising. It makes such a difference.

If you buy in the Hills, you'll probably be near Hillsongs Church.
A

rodney said...

Hey Anne,

They are nice, hey? Yes they also pipe elvator music and have deoderiser dispensers in the houses that make it spell, well actually like bathroom air freshner. But the houses are normally closed up the whole day, cause all the house aircons are running - we have been having 31 degree days here.
I have seen Hillsongs, but must admit reminds me of His People in Cape Town - a multilevel marketing venture - a freind of ours who used to go to Hillsong has left them: reckons they have tried to be too 'relevant' and 'cool' and have compromised biblical principles. Anyway, that was his view, I can't speak from experience.