One step closer...

Last night we attended our first ever body corporate meeting at our soon to be new place of residence. I don’t know if I mentioned it previously but our land is one of 15 lots within a ‘gated community’ (sounds so cult like huh?). Accordingly, we have a body corporate and quarterly fees (which are only small, something like $150 a quarter). We also have a committee which Trevor has volunteered for (it’s ‘bout time he showed some initiative in relation to this project – although ‘initiative’ might be the wrong word; thinking more along the lines of persuasion). We have remote entry to the complex – to keep all the baddies out! We received 2 little clickers yesterday which provided some excitement – it’s not like we have a slab yet so anything *new* related to the house provides us with some form of amusement.

Back to the meeting - boy was it an eye opening experience. By the sounds of it there may have been some previous animosity in relation to the issue of water – hopefully that gets sorted out quick smart. I was actually surprised by the type of residents who have purchased land. There are quite a few older couples – I guess I was hoping there might have been some young families (but...with the price of houses these days is it any wonder). One lovely old man, who happens to be a landscaper *wink*wink* took us on a tour of his back yard...I was trying to pick up some pointers. There is one young couple who are getting married next year and they seem lovely. They have bought the block of land next door to us. I have actually had some email communications with them previously and I can certainly see us sharing a few drinks over the coming years.

The quest for completion of the new house (or at least a slab) is well and truly on the way. I had a meeting with our builder this morning, bright and early at 7.30am. He was an interesting chap – much older then I thought he would be (or maybe that was me dreaming about hunky builders *sigh*). He seems experienced enough and was recommended by some friends so it was a lucky break to end up with him as the builder.

As expected, one does not come out of these exercises saving money – Oh no! It seems there is more money yet to spend and most of it's to do with electrical work. We also upgraded the termite protection. I’m still thinking about whether we need to upgrade the water tank. Anyway, I think today added $3,000.00 plus to the bill and we haven’t yet started building – I’m sure there will be other surprises along the way. People weren’t wrong when they said it never works out to be what you thought it would. Even so, we will be well and truly ahead (with equity) when it is all complete. We are getting so much more for our dollar then what we would have gotten having bought outright albeit with some pain and suffering along the way.

As for the slab, the infamous slab, the builder expects it to be laid within the next 3-4 weeks (they have excavating, drainage and stuff to do before then). That will be one step closer to the achievement of our dream. He wouldn’t commit on a completion month other then to say we would be in next year (Umm H-E-L-L-O! Next year is 12 months!). Once he gets started things should keep moving. I hope to have bricks and a roof by Christmas. I hope to be in by the end of March, early April.