New Home Buyers Blog

Many First Home Buyers are becoming more interested in purchasing an Investment Property. This can be a sound idea and able to set yourself up well for the future. With many First Home Buyers still living at home this gives a great opportunity for saving and investing. Berstan Homes have investor packages starting at around $290K and well worthy of investigation with rental from these properties around $320 per week makes them a sound investment.
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Stockland are celebrating the opening of their sensational million dollar recreational park at Eucalypt Estate Wollert. A great opportunity for families to see this wonderful park and the numerous facilities throughout this great Stockland Estate in the north.   Location: Corner Vanin Street and Weerona Parkway Wollert. When: Saturday 14 February 2015 Time:  12-2 pm. Family Fun: Free ice-cream van and BBQ.  Fitness sessions,  Yoga sessions fun for the kids: Featuring Disney's Frozen, Live Karaoke experience.  Free face painting, Balloon
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The sign has been erected on Epping for the Third place cafe at Eucalypt estate and it's now open for business. I dropped in there over the weekend with some clients and what a coffee they make! Both the clients and myself stayed on for lunch and we weren't disappointed, the food was fresh and very filling.  
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  Many new home builders are not designing facades unique in style and many are starting to look the same. The over use of stack stone on new homes springs to mind another 3 small vertical windows.  New home builders need to pick up their game and design new homes that wont date.   
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Forecasting what to expect in the property market in 2015 is a matter of looking at the economy. The economy is growing not as fast as many would like it, however it is growing and this creates wealth.  The best news for property buyers is that interests rates will stay at current levels and some leading financial forecasters predicting a fall in rates.  Most of the country is experiencing a healthy upswing in real estate price with Melbourne and Sydney
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I having noticed lately many new home builders are not doing any landscaping in their home and land packages.  This leaves the landscaping to the home owner with many significant problems about to arise from this.  Many landscapes I have seen lately are installed incorrectly and will cause many serious problems for all concerned in the not to distant future.  Some of the issues are listed below:           -  Sloping towards the home.      
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When considering knock down rebuild multi-site development research needs to be undertaken as to what is selling in the area. This can save a lot of additional holding costs by building a market fit property. Many areas have different builds and designs that are unique to that particular area.
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A small fortune can be made by doing a knock down rebuild with the right size land. With a shortage of home units in the Diamond Creek area it makes sense to do a knock down rebuild.  If you have a right size land you can build home units and sell them for profit or rent for an income. With an ageing population home units are in high demand and with Berstan Homes we can make it happen.  Berstan Homes
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Timber window frames are not used very often in the housing industry with aluminium taking over for various reasons. Initial costs of the aluminium framed windows is less and no need for painting or staining. We now use very few timber framed windows on our projects with the odd exception. However we do tend to use timber framed windows for our front facade details for a sense of warmth and blending with the timber look panel lift garage doors. 
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Many issues need to be considered when doing your budgets for a knock down rebuild I have listed some below: Location Land size  Street setbacks  Cost of land Area growth Tax implications Finance Council Street scape Market These items are all pivotal components in the knock down rebuild process to returning you a profit.
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Berstan has experienced strong sales in the last month at the Eucalypt estate Wollert. Strong sales are probably because Eucalypt is definitely the premier estate in the area. Stand out features include the landscaped gardens to the surrounds of the  Findon Creek reserve. Another would be the view to the East of the open pastures creating a feeling of space and tranquillity.  
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There are many reasons you should consider a sloping home site in lieu of a level home site.  - Custom design to suite your needs. - Views are better. - More inspiring landscaping. - Land is always at a discounted price due to the slope. - Visually more appealing home.
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Over the weekend between sales, I dropped into the Third cafe located on Pine Park Drive in the Eucalypt estate and had a wonderful lunch and cup of tea.  What an asset for the estate to have a fully operational eatery of this calibre within the estate. A great meeting place for business and social events or just catching up with friends and family over a fresh brew. 
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To the team at Berstan, Berstan builders have been very professional and whilst my project was quite complex in nature they were able to work through all the issues with a fantastic result. I would highly recommend them – Paul (the director of construction) is always responsive, always answers his phone and follows up on everything. He has great attention to detail and experience. I am very grateful and very happy with the outcome! Thanks. Joanne Essendon
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Is your family sick of that old home? Knock it down and build a new home with Berstan Homes.  We can design your new home with every detail you and your family could wish for. Instead of moving out of the area you know and love, stay there and let us build your new dream home.  At Berstan Homes we have and offer the complete knock down rebuild package from start to finish. We have a team of professionals to
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New offer for a limited time only, Hazelcroft is offering a $5,000 land rebate of all lots to assist new home buyers to get into the market. The $5,000 is given as a rebate at settlement and can be used to pay the stamp duty and other fees like conveyancing, mortgage establishment fee and so on. This is a great help and should be taken advantage of while it lasts. Berstan Homes has a good selection of home and land
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Knock down rebuild land cost Buying property with the intention of a knock down rebuild needs to be carefully thought out and here is a handy tip.  Do not over spend stick to your budget; this can be harder than most would think when in the heat of the auction battle.  
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Our Stockton26 design will be your family's perfect home featuring a captivating design offering both class usability. The centre piece of the home is the grand kitchen situated in the middle of the home for easy access to the dining, living and alfresco zones. Behind the kitchen is a large butler's pantry with plenty of light and storage in mind. A study nook has been included in an area well viewed from the kitchen, living and alfresco dining areas for
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At Berstan Homes we have just started a new home builders range of bricks for selection made and delivered by Selkirk bricks, a family company as is Berstan Homes and they offer a great range at competitive prices.  
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The cost of bamboo flooring is very similar to the cost of tiling with a quality floor tile. The benefits of bamboo in lieu of tiled floors are many.  Bamboo is sustainable, warmer than tiles and very attractive offering over a dozen different colours. 
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The Astoria45 is an architectural designed home with all the features you would expect from a luxury adobe.  Spacious living areas are common and five large bedrooms all complete with walk in robes. A home theatre is also of great size for entertaining and those nights in. The entrance is also impressive featuring a 1200mm front door with side light and a hallway width of 2 meters.  The kitchen has a full walk through pantry, a household essential offering more
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New display village underway. Construction has commenced at Berstan homes new display village in Doreen with a completion date of April 2015. The village will feature a couple of new Berstan Home designs the Astoria45 and the Stockton26. The Astoria45 is a double story executive home designed for a large family and the Stockton26 is a four bedroom single story design .
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Knock down rebuild design for the future. I have been advising a few clients lately to make space at the rear of their properties to fit another dwelling in the future. Some of our clients have been a little tight for finance lately to complete a two home build with their knock down rebuild project. So my advice was to build one home as close to the front boundary with enough space for a rear access driveway for easy second
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Many home designs fail to allow enough size to their balcony area rendering the area near unusable. A good size balcony can not only be a great useful living space but a great asset to your home. Positioning of the balcony is paramount to its usage and I like to design our homes with the balcony facing the North which allows the area to catch both morning and evening sun. .
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New home builder wall fail. A client came in last week with a problem and with photos showing a failed retaining wall. I was asked by the client to inspect the wall and I found the builder had not installed any drain behind the wall. Another issue was the lack of crushed rock behind the wall and just earth was behind the wall. These two items are essential for the construction of a successful retaining wall. The crushed rock is
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Surrounded by suburbs like Templestowe and Eltham, View Bank is certainly among some of the best North Eastern suburbs addresses.  Being only 18km to the CBD offers a great location for a knock down rebuild new home your family.  With our custom home design service we are able to create your dream home and guarantee the whole building process would be effortless.  
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Last weekend I was at a knock down rebuild site in Lower Plenty and I was surprised by the suburbs natural beauty. The knock down rebuild was overlooking plenty of tree tops and what a view it was. Lower Plenty is certainly a unique way of having a great natural environment to live in and just 16km from the CBD. 
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Extra power points installed at construction time should be charged out at around $50 if installed at the right time during build. If the contractor is asked to install extra power points after the wall linings have been installed then there would be the added costs due to the obstacles and extra time involved. 
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We are currently pricing many knock down rebuild sites in Eltham and I believe Eltham to be a suburb to keep on the radar for the future.  Most lots are of good size and the homes are ageing with maintenance being a large burden for their owners. The clients we are currently working for have seen an opportunity with a knock down rebuild in Eltham to capitalize on the location.  Eltham is located between St Helena and Viewbank just 20km
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A feature we are asked more about lately is an inclusion of a study nook close to the living areas for monitoring purposes. With so much internet bullying going on and inappropriate web sites available concerned parents are opting for a proactive stance by being within easy distance of the computer use area. Our designers are aware of these issues and we design home study nooks with this in mind, 
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