3 steps to owning your own home

1) The money: Finance options for GJ Gardner Homes

Buying a GJ Gardner House & Land package is going to be an exciting turning point in your life. Selecting a design that suits your families needs and suits your block, finding the right area and organising finance can sound a little daunting. Yet, it isn't as complicated as you may think and your consultant from GJ Gardner can help make the process as hassle free as possible.

We recommend that you investigate your financing options within the market carefully as part of your journey towards building your new home, to find the finance package that best suits your current financial situation, and your future financial ambitions. We particularly recommend NAB as a finance vendor, who offer a diversified selection of financial packages which we believe offer a wide range of financing options suited to new home buyers. Information regarding the various considerations relevant to finding a finance option suitable to you, and the various financing packages offered by NAB, may be found at www.nab.com.au.

Want to work out your monthly repayments or borrowing power? Use the NAB finance calculators now for some quick answers.

NAB borrowing power calculator
NAB loan repayments calculator

2) The Land: Factors to Consider Before Buying Land

Zoning Requirements: Check with local authorities (city, county and state) to determine zoning ordinances and whether you can build the type of home you want before committing to buying the land. Check that it is large enough to accommodate the home you want. Ask your GJ Gardner Sales Consultant to size it up for you.

The Neighbourhood: Check the area you are buying in. Is it close to industry? Is traffic going to be an issue? Is it close to farming? Could there be issues with smells, etc? Check that the land block is right to financially support the home you are building on it and that your capital value will not be affected. Its never good to be the best house in the worst area.

Soil: Get your GJ Gardner Sales Consultant to do some investigation into what soil conditions you may have on your block. It may be necessary for them to obtain a soil test for you. Soil can vary hugely especially in regional area and this in turn can affect the cost of your foundations.

Slope: Get your GJ Gardner Sales Consultant to look at the land slope for you. Slope can affect cut and fill and in turn may have an effect on whether your block needs retaining. All of this will need to be budgeted into your costs.

Easements: If access to your land is provided by driving across an adjoining parcel, you should obtain an easement and make sure it is recorded. Find out who maintains the roads and what your prorata share might cost for upkeep. What rights do neighbors have to cross your land? Are the boundaries clearly marked? Obtain title insurance, which will disclose easements and restrictive covenants or conditions. You might want to order a survey of the land.

Utilities: Water is important. Not all water is potable. If there is no Town Water you may need to budget in for much larger tanks or possibly a bore. Find out the depth of your water table and determine the difficulty of digging. Is the ground mostly rock? It can be costly to bring electricity, telephone or cable services to the property if they are not already established nearby. Consider a generator for back-up during power outages. If you cannot hook up to a sewer, what will it cost to install a septic system? Your GJ Gardner Sales Consultant will easily be able to get you the answer to these questions and help you budget properly for your job.

Appraisal: It's common to pay cash for land. If you're not planning to finance the land purchase through a conventional lender, which will require a lender appraisal, then obtain your own appraisal to determine an appropriate price before making an offer. Comparable sales are sometimes difficult to find when buying land. Your Gj gardner Sales consultant will have a superb local knowledge to land values and can help you to source out advice to land values.

3) The house: Choose a House Plan That Suits Your Land

Choose a plan that fits the characteristics of your land. It can be very expensive to haul in dirt or grade a lot to make it suitable for a plan. It's better to make the house fit the land rather than try to make the land fit the house. Also, the size and shape of your lot affects the type of home you can build on the lot.

GJ Gardner have experience building on all types of Queensland soils. GJ Gardner homes also has a vast amount of plans to ensure the right house fit for your land.