Lets Start At The Very Beginning...

...A Very Good Place To Start!

For those who don't know us, this is how it all began! (For those who do, feel free to skip past this post!)

Way back in 2011, the husband and I decided it was time to upgrade from our little 4 bedroom unit, into a decent sized house. A new housing estate had just opened up less than 5km from where we live, with 1 acre lots. After living in such a small house for almost 5 yeas, and being so close to our neighbours, many of whom were quite inconsiderate of the proximity of our houses to their stereos,  an acre in a quiet estate with little to no contact with our neighbours sounded like heaven!

So, we bit the bullet, and put an offer on a block in the picturesque Bountiful Estate in WA's Southwest, subject to the sale of our house, and put our home on the market. Our offer was valid for 3 months. 3 months came and went, and we were lucky enough that the vendor was willing to extend our offer acceptance by another 3 months. With the lull in the housing market, we were having no luck with the sale of our house, and it seemed like we were going to lose the block we'd set our hearts on. With 6 weeks to go, things were not looking good, but thanks to some creative accounting and fast research, we managed to secure a loan from a lender to enable us to purchase the land, regardless of the house not having sold.

Cue celebrations and hopes being raised sky high for the sale of the house so we could start the build process! We spoke with a builder, decided on a design, and paid the deposit, with the hope that the house would sell soon and we could continue the process and get the new build underway.
 
The market remained dismal, and after 12 months, we decided to take the house off the market, and see what we could do later in the year instead. In the meantime some circumstances changed with the husband's employment, resulting in him being offered an apprenticeship, which was a fantastic opportunity, but also meant the savings we had been building would not be growing as fast.

Fast forward to early 2013, and we had some serious discussion about how we could get this house happening. I created spreadsheet after spreadsheet, weighing up options and cross checking numbers and scenarios, and discovered that if we tightened our budget a little, we could manage to hold onto the current house whilst building the new one, and then sell as we moved in. More celebrating, more creative accounting, and in August 2013 we got in touch with the builder to give them the green light to get this show on the road! 

The plans were drawn, the building permit was received, the selections were made, and on 30 Dec 2013, we received the unconditional finance approval, which means that as soon as the builder re-opens on 6 Jan 2014, we are ready to start!