Welcome to Miravale
Welcome to Miravale Alicia and Alex! We chatted to this happy couple about building their first home at Angle Vale…
Welcome guys! And congratulations on your first home. What made you choose to build over buying an existing home?
Thank you so much! Yes this will be our first home and we are extremely excited for this next chapter of our lives.When my partner and I first started talking about our first home we both agreed that we would prefer to build rather than buy, even though buying is a quicker and easier process, we really wanted the experience and think itʼs a great achievement to have especially when doing it young. We also wanted the freedom to choose and modify our own floorplan and design the interior/exterior how we want!
And what made you choose Miravale as the place to build?
We had actually never heard of Miravale until my mum mentioned it to us. We were so set to build at a different development but she recommended we check out Miravale as another option. We visited the estate in June and instantly fell in love! Even though it was still only new at the time, we knew straight away it will be such a beautiful, thriving area and we were set on making it our home. The team at Lanser have been incredibly friendly and welcoming, helpful and have gone above and beyond for us which we appreciate so much!
Tell us about your home building story. How did you choose your particular home design?
We were set on Statesman Homes as our builder from the start due to their affordable pricing, floorplan designs and finishes. They had a few different floorplans that we really liked so we visited the Building Consultant at the Statesman Virginia Grove display home, Yuki Wang, as we had heard really great things about her. We got a few quotes for the different courtyard designs we liked but due to having a certain budget we had to work with, we had to go for something smaller. So we found a Villa size home which was still a 3 bedroom, 2 living which was perfect for our first home build. We explained to Yuki that we had a budget we had to stick with and she helped us modify the house design how we wanted it while keeping the price as low as possible, we couldnʼt thank her enough for all her help and patience with us!
How hard was it to save your deposit and do you have any tips for people saving at the moment?
Once we were set on it all and had the official quote with our modifications and received quotes for things we chose to do external, we took it to our mobile banker and he told us what savings we needed to save for our deposit. We worked hard, saved hard and were very strict on ourselves with our spending which was worth it as we managed to get our savings amount to where it needed to be in two and a half months. We then met with our banker again and he got us pre-approval within a few days and then it all started to happen, it was all real!
My tips for people saving at the moment, especially those that are wanting/
planning to build sooner, save everything you can after paying your bills and groceries etc. It may be hard for the time being but it will all be worth it!
What was the process like as a first home buyer – did you have any problems along the way? And if so, how did you solve them?
Being first time builders, most of the time there will be problems along the way. There will unexpected costs that jump out of nowhere, you may get disappointed with some unexpected things, but as long as you find and go through the right people, do lots of research, be prepared for anything to happen, have close family and friends by your side… everything will be fine! The Lanser team are very helpful.
What are you looking forward to most about life at Miravale?
We look forward to everything about life in Miravale! Watching our future neighbourhood continue to grow and thrive, watching our house and all our selections come to life, knowing we have other friends and family also building in Miravale as well as meeting new people in the neighbourhood and knowing that we will have our first child in this house.
Did you use any grants or incentive schemes to buy your home?
To help us for our build process we will be using the First Home Owners Grant as we are first time builders. Our bank also got us a spot for the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme which will help us cover all of our costing fees and we are also applying for the HomeBuilder grant that the government released this year due to Covid, which we will be using for our flooring, paving, fencing and landscaping.
How far do you have to commute to work?
Neither of us will have to travel too far to our current jobs from Miravale as itʼs only another 10-15 minutes on top of where we are now, depending on traffic and I definitely think that itʼs close enough to Adelaide, especially being able to access the expressway so easily.
I hope others enjoy reading about our process and experience so far and it can help or inspire other young couples that plan to build.
