Telstra did a round of upgrades in March/June and there was a little speed increase for me. However since then it has dropped again to unusable levels.
If you missed…

I've only recently started running again in the Plenty River estate. I'm doing the Couch to 5k for a second time. I have a circuit that borders Resort,…

Hi everyone,
I'm in Stage 1 in Plenty River and you should be aware that the entire area is composed of hard clay. The stuff sticks to everything and is…

Sorry to bump this old thread but I thought I'd chime in with some information.
The area around Doreen and Mernda has its ADSL serviced by the Mernda telephone exchange. …

Thanks for your feedback everyone.
I'm sitting on the fence as to whether I do this myself or pay for it to be done. I know if I…

Hello everyone,
I have a clause in my land contract that states the landscaping must be done within six months of moving in. As one of my neighbours took a…

I've just built a new house in the north of Melbourne and I'm now looking at my backyard. The soil here is mostly composed of clay, large clumps of…

For me building turned out to be possible where buying an established house was impossible. I looked around Mernda/South Morang/Epping for a long period of time but because I…

I built the Daffodill 1900 with Burbank and I didn't have any problems with them. They were prompt, accessible and didn't dispute anything during inspection. Everything just went…

Hello everyone,
I've moved into my new house in a new estate and I'm now looking at getting a fence put up. I've gone digging for my survey pegs and…

Mystery at least partially solved. I did some digging and found a larger peg with a white painted top. Measuring out based on the plans I found another…

If this turns out to be true then you are a king among men sir!

I've just moved into a new estate and the stakes marking the location of the survey pegs are long since gone.
I'd really like a fence so I need to find…

I just moved into Doreen this weeked. It's a strage feeling after so much of a struggle, there's no sense of achivement or victory. Just fences and landscaping…

You to can join in on these fun activities if you're the only person living your part of a new estate!
-Standing crouched behind your front door with a baseball bat…

It's interesting reading the "Doreen is so far away" issues people are coming across. When my parents purchased their house in Montmorency in 1981 my mum's sister asked how…

I had a nice surprise over Christmas, the tiler and the painters are obviously keen to get paid as they seemed to have worked on my place over the Christmas/New…

I'm in my final stage with Burbank and so far it's been good news all the way. I was like you, looking to buy established but pushed into building…

I was hoping it wasn't going to be me. It would feel weird to be the first people to move into a new estate.
Then again you could say you've…

Time to jump in again as I'm one payment away from completion. It's been a rough ride for me but hopefully it will all be over by next Feb.
I've…

An interesting end to all of this for those who are still reading. I went to see my solicitor when to hand over the money I managed to pull…

Trust me, I'm wondering a lot of things at the moment.

I didn't think they'd be lending me the full amount. I'd already put a 10% deposit on the land.

I only have one loan and it's for the house and the land, I would have thought that if I didn't build it would invalidate the loan totally.

Good catch. I just checked with my solicitor and she said it was fine as the house and land are only in my name.

What I don't understand is that there is enough money in the loan to cover the land, why wouldn't St George allow that to be used in the settlement and…

No, I've accepted the fact that my broker is rubbish. St George didn't mention anything about Family Pledges either. Fortunately for me I have some very understanding relatives…

As I posted in the first post I have already done that, as has my broker, as has my solicitor. They are refusing to do anything to fix this.

I've checked around. St George is the only lender who does this. I've checked myself and my solicitor is expressing the same level of disbelief.
EDIT: Furthermore, why was…

Hi everyone,
I'm in a world of hurt at the moment but the least I can do is make sure it doesn't happen to someone else.
My loan was approved by St…