So now we wait

Well there are less than two weeks of August left, we are waiting for the final plans to be drawn up, then we have to submit them to Council, which could take 12 weeks to approve them, that's assuming they don't have any issues with the plans of course. Will we make it in time to start work in January? The worst part is that it's out of our hands and there is diddly squat we can do to make it go faster. So when does the fun start?

Yeah maybe we'll lend you the dosh

We finally have conditional approval to borrow money to build our house. Conditional on the bank deciding that our block is worth anything of course. Then we get to play the guessing game.
Which consists of:

Bank: so how much do you want to borrow?
Us: Well how much is the block worth?
B: well, you tell us how much you want to borrow and we'll tell you if we'll lend it to you.
U: Why can't you just tell us what it's worth?
B: because I'm not allowed to.
U: okay, can you tell us what 80% would be.
B: no, because then you'd work it out for yourself.
U: Dammit, saw right through that one didn't you. Okay can we borrow X amount?
B: yes. In fact we could probably lend you a little more if you wanted it.
U: okay, how about a million dollars?
B: no.
U: okay, half a million?
B: no.
U: okay, how about X + 5?
B: I'll just have to do the calculations on that. Yep that should be okay.
U: cool, but we don't want that much, we just wanted a better idea of what our block is worth, without having to pay an extra $600 on top of all your other fees and charges.

Sometimes it feels like your dealing with McDonalds. So do you want mortgage insurance with that? Except McDonald's can't insist that you take the dessert if you buy the meal. Unfortunately banks can.

Mortgage Misery

Two words most likely to make a mortgage broker laugh in your face - owner builder.

Bastards.