A bientot!
K'n'L
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Another Chateau Shambolique factoid:
We believe that stage one of the Chateau (the bit on the left) was built in 1884. We reckon the rest was added around 1900. Maybe.
Tada!
Tada!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Solicitors rock!
...errrr... suck. Solicitors suck - yep, that's it.
Today we finally received our copy of the signed contract. As well as another document to sign. This new one is an addendum to the contract to change the settlement date. The original settlement date was set down for 30 days from the date of the contract ie: 30 days from when the second party signed the contract. That happened on the 17th of September which would have made settlement due on Monday (4 days from now). Why has it taken 4 weeks for the contract to get to us? The bank's solicitor didn't send it. It seems he/she didn't think we needed it. Apparently we should be busy organising our finance for the purchase. Something we have already organised and has just been waiting for... you guessed it - the contract!
The Crazy thing is that the bank that is waiting to get a copy of the contract is the same bank that we are buying the property from, so they have been waiting for their own solicitor to send them a copy of their own contract!
Solicitors rock.
SUCK! It's supposed to say suck. Dammit.
A bientot!
K'n'L
Today we finally received our copy of the signed contract. As well as another document to sign. This new one is an addendum to the contract to change the settlement date. The original settlement date was set down for 30 days from the date of the contract ie: 30 days from when the second party signed the contract. That happened on the 17th of September which would have made settlement due on Monday (4 days from now). Why has it taken 4 weeks for the contract to get to us? The bank's solicitor didn't send it. It seems he/she didn't think we needed it. Apparently we should be busy organising our finance for the purchase. Something we have already organised and has just been waiting for... you guessed it - the contract!
The Crazy thing is that the bank that is waiting to get a copy of the contract is the same bank that we are buying the property from, so they have been waiting for their own solicitor to send them a copy of their own contract!
Solicitors rock.
SUCK! It's supposed to say suck. Dammit.
A bientot!
K'n'L
Monday, October 12, 2009
Another Chateau Shambolique factoid:
The Chateau is located in Dawesley on the old Princes Highway.
Tada!
Tada!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Movin' right along...
Check this out gang - two blog posts in one week! Does that mean things are actually starting to happen? Yeah, umm... sort of.
Still no word on the finalisation of the contract. The agent said he had been promised the paperwork would arrive on Thursday but it's now Sunday and there's been no word yet.
But are we going to let a minor detail like 'we don't even own the place' slow us down? No way dudes, we're into it! A couple of weeks ago Kerry emailed a bunch of contractors she had researched on the net who could potentially service some of our needs at the Chateau. And so on Wednesday we had a roofing contractor visit to measure up to quote for a new galv roof (including the verandahs) complete with new gutters & downpipes. Still waiting for those scarey numbers to appear in the inbox.
Then on Friday afternoon we had a meeting with an architect followed by...another meeting with another architect! The interesting thing is that architect number one (hereafter referred to as A1) already knew we were meeting with A2 later that day. It turns out they are friends who studied together and who catch up for lunch on a regular basis. Gotta love little old Adelaide!
So the meeting with A1 went well. We took the laptop PC & showed photos of the Chateau, showed the real estate agent's plans, discussed what we do & don't know about the property and shared some of our ideas & desires for the place. A1 looked & listened and shared with us some interesting information about some of the potential issues with the building, like the damp in the walls, the downstairs internal rendering (yuck!) and downstairs new concrete floor. A1 showed us some plans and photos of a few relevent projects they had completed and offered to draw up a proposal letter detailing their fees & 3 stage process. This process involves developing some design options with sketch plans and then consulting with us to change/refine them until we are happy with a design. Then planning & construction drawings are completed and are lodged with council for approval. Once approval is given, they will move into the project management stage and the fun times begin.
After about an hour with A1 we left feeling satisfied that we had found a good candidate for the job and looking forward to getting the proposal letter.
We killed a little spare time with a coffee & a chat and headed off to our appointment with A2. We weren't expecting to have a particularly different experience than we did with A1 but it was quite surprising. A2 had done some research on our property and showed a level of interest and enthusiasm that we had not expected. He demonstrated considerable knowlege and experience in working with heritage listed buildings and revealed that he is in fact a heritage advisor to a local council. Upon looking at our photos he immediately pointed out that the old shop front was originally a stand alone building and that the residence was added on some time later. He also started to throw new ideas at us and challenge some of our own. For example, he pointed out that the existing roof is probably the original and could perhaps be repaired rather than replaced. This could save us a considerable amount of money and we could always change the look by painting it if we wished. Interestingly, some of the information he gave us around the damp and the concrete floor actually contradicted what A1 had told us, but it made a lot of sense.
The meeting went for about 2 hours and finished at about 6.30pm. We left there more excited than ever about the Chateau and it's potential as our future home. We really clicked with A2 and felt we would all work very well together to make this project exactly what we want it to be (whatever that actually is). Once again we are looking forward to getting the letter of proposal.
Rest assured there'll be plenty more discussion here around our choice of architects. Also be aware that we will be revealing the names of the various contractors and service providers as we select them - with their permission of course.
A bientot!
K'n'L
Still no word on the finalisation of the contract. The agent said he had been promised the paperwork would arrive on Thursday but it's now Sunday and there's been no word yet.
But are we going to let a minor detail like 'we don't even own the place' slow us down? No way dudes, we're into it! A couple of weeks ago Kerry emailed a bunch of contractors she had researched on the net who could potentially service some of our needs at the Chateau. And so on Wednesday we had a roofing contractor visit to measure up to quote for a new galv roof (including the verandahs) complete with new gutters & downpipes. Still waiting for those scarey numbers to appear in the inbox.
Then on Friday afternoon we had a meeting with an architect followed by...another meeting with another architect! The interesting thing is that architect number one (hereafter referred to as A1) already knew we were meeting with A2 later that day. It turns out they are friends who studied together and who catch up for lunch on a regular basis. Gotta love little old Adelaide!
So the meeting with A1 went well. We took the laptop PC & showed photos of the Chateau, showed the real estate agent's plans, discussed what we do & don't know about the property and shared some of our ideas & desires for the place. A1 looked & listened and shared with us some interesting information about some of the potential issues with the building, like the damp in the walls, the downstairs internal rendering (yuck!) and downstairs new concrete floor. A1 showed us some plans and photos of a few relevent projects they had completed and offered to draw up a proposal letter detailing their fees & 3 stage process. This process involves developing some design options with sketch plans and then consulting with us to change/refine them until we are happy with a design. Then planning & construction drawings are completed and are lodged with council for approval. Once approval is given, they will move into the project management stage and the fun times begin.
After about an hour with A1 we left feeling satisfied that we had found a good candidate for the job and looking forward to getting the proposal letter.
We killed a little spare time with a coffee & a chat and headed off to our appointment with A2. We weren't expecting to have a particularly different experience than we did with A1 but it was quite surprising. A2 had done some research on our property and showed a level of interest and enthusiasm that we had not expected. He demonstrated considerable knowlege and experience in working with heritage listed buildings and revealed that he is in fact a heritage advisor to a local council. Upon looking at our photos he immediately pointed out that the old shop front was originally a stand alone building and that the residence was added on some time later. He also started to throw new ideas at us and challenge some of our own. For example, he pointed out that the existing roof is probably the original and could perhaps be repaired rather than replaced. This could save us a considerable amount of money and we could always change the look by painting it if we wished. Interestingly, some of the information he gave us around the damp and the concrete floor actually contradicted what A1 had told us, but it made a lot of sense.
The meeting went for about 2 hours and finished at about 6.30pm. We left there more excited than ever about the Chateau and it's potential as our future home. We really clicked with A2 and felt we would all work very well together to make this project exactly what we want it to be (whatever that actually is). Once again we are looking forward to getting the letter of proposal.
Rest assured there'll be plenty more discussion here around our choice of architects. Also be aware that we will be revealing the names of the various contractors and service providers as we select them - with their permission of course.
A bientot!
K'n'L
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Progress. Pffft!
Ah, the joys of being on the buying end of a mortgagee sale. Almost a month ago we signed the contract for the purchase of the old post office building in Dawesley (hereafter referred to as "the chateau") and bugger all has happened since.
For those less aware of the finer points of property finance nomenclature, the term "mortgagee sale" refers to the occurrence of someone defaulting on their mortgage and bank selling off the property to get their bucks back.
So how does this differ from a regular sale? Well, apart from the bank trying to get way too much for the property because they lent far too much against it in the first place it should be pretty similar. One point of difference is that the bank (in our case Westpac) does all of the dealings through solicitors and this serves to make everything move rather sloooowwwwly. So on the 5th of September we signed that contract. Today Lee called our real estate agent, Russell, who said he should have the paperwork back this week. Well that's what he said last week too. We're not blaming Russell for this - he's as eager to see this deal finalised as we are. In (more or less) his own words, he'll be very glad to finally see the back of this one!
As far as we can tell the contract has been sent to Melbourne (or Sydney - can't remember which) for the Westpac reps to sign and it then goes to the legal eagles in Adelaide. It may then go back to the interstate bank people before finally heading back to Russell and then to us. Where it is now, we have no idea. Precisely what we are waiting for is the 'Form 1' - the piece of paper that notifies us that the contract is now officially formalised and our 2 day cooling off period begins upon receipt of said notice. At the end of this time we need to pay our deposit then settlement may occur after the necessary conveyancing, money transfers, etc.
So we will post once again when something bloody happens!
Until then here are some new photos of the chateau.
A bientot!
For those less aware of the finer points of property finance nomenclature, the term "mortgagee sale" refers to the occurrence of someone defaulting on their mortgage and bank selling off the property to get their bucks back.
So how does this differ from a regular sale? Well, apart from the bank trying to get way too much for the property because they lent far too much against it in the first place it should be pretty similar. One point of difference is that the bank (in our case Westpac) does all of the dealings through solicitors and this serves to make everything move rather sloooowwwwly. So on the 5th of September we signed that contract. Today Lee called our real estate agent, Russell, who said he should have the paperwork back this week. Well that's what he said last week too. We're not blaming Russell for this - he's as eager to see this deal finalised as we are. In (more or less) his own words, he'll be very glad to finally see the back of this one!
As far as we can tell the contract has been sent to Melbourne (or Sydney - can't remember which) for the Westpac reps to sign and it then goes to the legal eagles in Adelaide. It may then go back to the interstate bank people before finally heading back to Russell and then to us. Where it is now, we have no idea. Precisely what we are waiting for is the 'Form 1' - the piece of paper that notifies us that the contract is now officially formalised and our 2 day cooling off period begins upon receipt of said notice. At the end of this time we need to pay our deposit then settlement may occur after the necessary conveyancing, money transfers, etc.
So we will post once again when something bloody happens!
Until then here are some new photos of the chateau.
A bientot!
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