Sword of Damocles

That's what things feel like today. After weeks of research, quotes and running around, we got to the point where we found out how much it was going to cost us to get power supplied to our piece of land (if we buy it).
There is no power to the boundary, so we'd have to hook up to the neighbour's transformer - $3500. Then we discover that the transformer would need upgrading - $4000 more. Then just before telling the vendor that we'd still buy the property if they helped with those costs, the neighbour phones up and says he won't allow access to his power pole (it's on his land). We would therefore have to either get power from across the road, or put up our own power pole. Either way we're looking at $20,000.

$20,000

This is completely unreasonable, as if the land had been subdivided less than 3 years ago, the vendor would have HAD to ensure a power supply to the site, but it was done over 3 years ago when the councils were less strict. As it is, we've instructed our wonderful lawyer to let the vendor know that we would only buy the property if it has a power supply at the gate. I don't think they will agree to it, so we're back to square one.

If we lose this land, we also lose the chance to build, as we simply won't get another piece this cheap, and now we know how much it will cost to build, we couldn't afford to pay more for land at all. So we're looking for a house again, or maybe a small house we can extend.

I am sad.

Vendor has til Thursday 12th March to decide.