It's a new house! : Finding the block!

Where to build? That was the question!

Our search for a block of land encompassed both vacant lots and Knock Down and Rebuild opportunities. We toyed with the idea of moving further out of town to an acreage, however we decided that we wanted to stay closer to town - for now!

So our search was narrowed from the get go into a few suburbs close to where we are living now. We didn't want to go too far - the children were settled into a school that we love, we had only just moved from NZ and didn't want to uproot them again. We also wanted to be a family friendly suburb, close to the city, and close to school & friends.

In terms of the site itself, we wanted a larger block (at least 750 square metres - I would love an acreage, but that doesn't happen close to town often!), and enough room for a good backyard for the children.

Ultimately our choice was an eas-ish one, because there's not too much land around, and the KDR opportunities were way out of budget anyway!

One weekend we decided to check out a new development in our neighbouring suburb, which had opened up about 12 months earlier. It was a rarity of sorts - the council had opened up a new section of bushland within a very established suburb, and the development encompassed about 30 new, large, sloping sights!

The View from our Estate

By the time we looked at the development, there were only 3 sections left. All were sloping, however we liked the elevation and views, so that didn't bother us. But which one? All of the sections were large (over 800 square metres). I immediately discounted one that overlooked a busy road (from a distance, however I just didn't enjoy the view or exposure. The other 2 were very similar, only 2 blocks apart.

We decided to go with Lot 27 - 962 square metres of sloping bushland, higher up on the slope and further away from the noisy road (you might notice there is a theme, road noise really bothers me!). Like most of the lots in the development, Lot 27 had a large covenant area on which we couldn't build, mainly to protect the large established gum trees and foliage on part of the site. We really liked the trees, they provide shade, privacy and a pretty view, and we still had a large building envelope.

As I write, it seems as though the decision was straightforward, however it wasn't easy for me. I was really unsure that building was the right thing to do, and I truthfully wanted to live in another suburb. However DH was so keen and as the idea of building is such an exciting one, that finally got me across the line.

So after our first visit, we visited again the following day and signed contracts that week. No mucking around, the decision was made! There is some comfort when you do make a decision like this - the certainty of our next step felt good!