The competition...not much there of.

When we first found "the world's greatest broker", he had another couple building the same house as ours, just in the next estate over about 1km away.  They went through the same bank, with the same builder, but the difference was they had little modifications to their design (ours is fully customised), and they were lucky (very, very lucky) with the valuer they were assigned.  They began their build process at the same time as us.  So, our house plan went one way and their's another:

David and AM's house, June 2012

"Their" house, June 2012

As you can see folks, our house is still just a little patch of dirt, whilst "their's" is completed, with landscaping (albeit average) complete.  They clearly have this one in the bag.