Belarmine Woods, Stepaside - Megathread

Thefact wrote: »

Looks like prices have increased for the next phase, below details are from the sf email

2 Bedroom Homes From €345,000 85sq.m./915sq.ft. (approx)
3 Bedroom Homes From €395,000 104sq.m./1,119sq.ft. to 117sq.m./1,259sq.ft. (approx)
4 Bedroom Homes From €495,000 155sq.m./1,668sq.ft. (approx)

Is this normal? Do prices go up this much for a phase 2? I was planning on trying to get a house here based on the phase 1 prices, this price rise has pushed me out of the market.

deco72 wrote: »

Hey
Just wondering how long it took to sign and are they still giving the appliances even if outside the 21 days that's stated in the brochure? We put a deposit down on a 3bed for phase 2 last week but haven't even got a receipt for that yet.

Same here we paid the deposit last week but no receipt, did you gave your solicitors name yet? Did they received the contract?

deco72 wrote: »

Hey
Just wondering how long it took to sign and are they still giving the appliances even if outside the 21 days that's stated in the brochure? We put a deposit down on a 3bed for phase 2 last week but haven't even got a receipt for that yet.

As far as I remember our solicitor got the receipt. They are so busy and slow I wouldnt worry. We never got the contract within the 21 days from them so dont worry about that. Its only in the brochure. Once you get the contract your soliciotr will send back questions to them so again you will have to wait for the response only then you should sign. The appliances are included as we asked about it since it took ages to sign the contract and get all the answers.

shulja wrote: »

Do you now that the waiting time for now is 1.5 year!!

We were advised May next year?!

shulja wrote: »

I don't believe them, as people who were waiting for this march/April has been told wait until october for now. And then, you believe they speed up and build another 2 roads during the winter? No way! So 1.5 looks very good for me.

Another point here banks don't give approvals for so long. ((

Where are you getting this information. Did you buy in phase 1

JustaGO wrote: »

We bought in phase 1 and got the letter just this week that ours won't be ready till October. When they were selling phase 1 they said Nov/December 2015 , Feb/March 2016 and Jun/Jul 2016 completion dates depending on where the house is top of show houses or 2nd cup de sac. Its 3-4 months behind the schedule which is not the worst but I can't see how can they finish the whole place by May 2017.

Yes but wasn't the launch only last September so that's just over a year to have your build ready. We'll just have to wait and see. It's making the mortgage application more difficult as we will have to reapply in 6 months time again :mad:

shulja wrote: »

Yes, this is the point - Banks will not agree to extend letter for 1 or 1.5 years. And now we have to give them the 10% payment with no guarantee that the bank will give the mortgage (same amount) next time. I wouldn't like to risk with 40K as it is not refundable. Or we can all strike ))

Aks your solicitor to include the caveat re ban approval and circumstancenal change they can do that. Which will mean that if something changes they have to give the money back. It wont be simple changes but for example if banks now wants 30% initial money that will allow you to withdraw frome the contract !

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Also have your solicitor ask that the vendors solicitor holds onto your deposit money in their client account rather than passing it to the builder.
That protects your deposit in case the builder goes belly up.

We were recommended to that by our solicitor as well.

Hi,
Can anyone tell me who are supplying the kitchens and countertops for Belarmine Woods? Thanks!

Can anyone see how many houses are now up on the 2nd cul de sac? Or are there any at all?

hmmm.... I did a photo, but as a new user can't upload it here ... ((

So, just quick overview. If you remember the first house (opposite the show houses) it had only base at the time when we were buying early April. Now it has the roof but a lot of work inside. Over 4 houses finished until the roof in this line and 2 more cross the road. On the Photo I sent you is the roof only of the next line house. Hope you understand ))

JustaGO wrote: »

Oh ok. Our house in the 2nd road - 1st cup de sac that is already done and people move in and then on the left of the office show house down so was wondering if there were any houses up on that road or are they only working at the moment on the houses opposite the office.

They just started 2nd cul de sac. At the moment there is only basement. Looks like they want to finish opposite the office first and then start 2nd cul de sac.

We signed already. The tiles / paint will be next march - April, closer to the end

KingCong wrote: »

The first 8 houses on the right side of the second cul de sac are nearly fully roofed/slated (another day or two left), with the next two at the end on the right not far behind. The block work is also almost complete on the first 8, I'd say that should be finished by the end of the week. They look like they are making good progress, the houses are flying up (and wrecking the nice view we temporarily had out the back window :P )

Only reading your post now. Thanks so much for the update:D
How is the life there so far? Did you get internet and tv sorted without any problems?Do you know if Sky dish is allowed?

KingCong wrote: »

We bought a mid terrace Belvedere, they wouldn't agree to make any changes I'm afraid. We were looking for them to change the door on the under stairs storage, the small square door makes no sense, wanted to shift it closer to the bathroom and have a bigger door for hanging jackets etc. They said they won't make any modifications as they were already providing far more choice than most new homes (kitchen, tiles, paints etc). I'm not too bothered to be honest as planning on putting in slide out under stairs storage units ourselves.

Hi, just wondering if anyone has had any wins on getting the builder to agree to any changes since? Hoping they may have started to give into pressure :-)

JustaGO wrote: »

KingCong wrote: »

All good so far, got internet sorted no problem with Virgin, going to go with Saorview for TV so haven't gotten around to sorting that out yet (can't stand Virgin's TV service). Not sure about Sky, think one of the houses has it (or a dish at least, with a wire running out a window and across the roof), I'd be wary though of a Sky installer drilling through the wall and puncturing the air tight membrane, it'd be bye bye to a lot of the advantages of an A rated house. Speaking of which, the air tightness and solar panels are unreal, gas and electricity bills have been really really low so far.

What about the walls? Are they strong enough to hang shelves and TV?

They're still standing so far anyhow!

I'm planning on hanging a TV on a wall in the kitchen/living area, it's low down the list of priorities at the minute though so it'll be a few months before I get to it, can let ya know then. One annoyance is the lack of sockets on the wall i want to hang the TV, seems a big oversight not to have any there as its the obvious wall for a TV (or a lamp etc on a sideboard). Socket placement in general could be better throughout the house, for example there's no sockets on the boundary wall with the house next door (assume that's for sound insulation reasons) which isn't ideal in the bedrooms.

Also watch out for the paint during your snag, we found the quality of the paintwork overall to be fairly poor, with cheap paint used and it badly painted on the walls. We spotted this in our snag and they rectified some of it, but we've noticed tons more examples of rubbish quality painting since we moved in.

The above sounds a bit negative but its minor stuff really, overall we're delighted with the house so far.

KingCong wrote: »

The first 8 houses on the right side of the second cul de sac are nearly fully roofed/slated (another day or two left), with the next two at the end on the right not far behind. The block work is also almost complete on the first 8, I'd say that should be finished by the end of the week. They look like they are making good progress, the houses are flying up (and wrecking the nice view we temporarily had out the back window :P )

Any more visible progress??:)

shulja wrote: »

Yes, this is the point - Banks will not agree to extend letter for 1 or 1.5 years. And now we have to give them the 10% payment with no guarantee that the bank will give the mortgage (same amount) next time. I wouldn't like to risk with 40K as it is not refundable. Or we can all strike ))

Similar situation here. Our solicitor told us that the contracts are unconditional and 10k booking deposit ( paid already) plus balance 10% of property price ( due to be paid after contract is signed) is non refundable if banks don't agree to lend when we make another application early next year.

Any suggestions how to deal with this ?

Anyone talked to Sherryfitz to see if October is still the date and got any news on the progress they are making??

schalken999 wrote: »

Similar situation here. Our solicitor told us that the contracts are unconditional and 10k booking deposit ( paid already) plus balance 10% of property price ( due to be paid after contract is signed) is non refundable if banks don't agree to lend when we make another application early next year.

Any suggestions how to deal with this ?

There's nothing you can do now if you have signed the contract but your solicitor should have added the clause JustaGo mentioned before you signed so they've messed up and left you in a bad spot.

Hope it all works out for you with the mortgage in the end.

Could anyone who moved into 3 bed extended house tell me what's the floor area downstairs?
Also does anyone have any updates on the completion date for the remaining first phase? There is not much information available from the agents nor from the builders.

deco72 wrote: »

Anyone else get a completion date of March 2017 for their house in 2nd phase?

Nope haven't been speaking to Sherry Fitz since the 2nd phase launched. Did Sherry Fitz mention this date to you? Would be brill if they were ready this soon!