Forum Replies Created
Tegan,
Just bought in Goulburn, … settles 30th Oct. Seems to be a town that is being discovered by first home buyers and investors especially since it's solved it's past water issues and its affordable compared to Canberra.
Goulburn Seems to be on the radar of a few so called property experts predicting that the town has a future. Good properties move very quickly especially under $300k. Canberrans are discovering it as an alternative to the high costs of buying in Canberra.
I've watched Goulburn for a few years now, … just felt it was a good time to get a presence in the town. I look at the prices in Canberra where the bottom of the market for a house is $500k plus and in Queanbeyan at $430k plus …… People can pick up a good property in Goulburn the low $200k and commute to Canberra. From what I've been told around 2000 people do the commute each day and it's only around 45min, … so not to bad.
API magazine had a good 4 page review of the town in last months (well I bought last month. It's the October issue) API magazine in "Around the States"… well worth a read if you can get a copy. Bunnings has built a superstore there which is due to open any day if it hasn't already done so, and Woolies has based a major distribution warehouse there as well. People talk about the mining, but I'm not sure that has a major impact, but it could in the future I suppose. Pop is around 23,000 at present, but obviously Bunnings are expecting it to grow.
I've seen some great opportunities of two bed fibro houses on 1000m2 plus blocks, ….. good for land banking for future unit development and only asking the low $200k's. The town has some wonderful historic and classical building, but many of the houses are run down and need work, but as people buy these places and do them up the appearance will improve. Many of the houses are owned by older people who have let them get run down, but as you've said …. you are looking for a doer upper and Bunnings is in town then it could be perfect for you.
You will find many houses have many cracks in the walls, … this is from when the town went through many years of drought and footings/foundations moved. Don't be put off … get the appropriate inspections and reports done to see if it is cosmetic or structural.
When looking for a house stick within close proximity to the town centre as these seem to be the better areas. We were told not to buy across the river or near the prison and the west area nearest Canberra as these seem to be housing commission type areas. Take a drive out … stay overnight and talk to the locals they will give you the best tips on where to buy. Basically buy within an easy walk into town.
Re: the high speed rail, … great if it happens, but it has been talked about for many, many years with no success. If it does go ahead, then this should really open up the area for population and capital growth.
Oh, … pretty good rent return for investors as well …..easy to get 6% plus from day one.
Good luck with your search
Mystery
I'm fairly sure this company contacted me a while ago and offered their services. It was going to cost something like $24,000 to handle the sub-division process including plans, council stuff etc, but didn't include council fee's and some other costs which I can't remember. I think from memory by the time everything was factored in it was closer to $26,000 to $30,000 ….. Very expensive.
We had a town planning consultant and surveyor handle this sort of thing for us in Queensland a couple of years ago including drawings, application paperwork and application fee's for around $6,500. I considered this very reasonable and factored in with the eventual construction cost it made for a profitable project.
Mystery
I can't really answer your question, but when I do a quick feasibility for any of my development opportunities. I base all my figures on today's values, … there is no way I can accurately predict what is going to happen down the track. If the numbers based on today's values work with good profit/equity margin, then I seriously look at taking the next step.
I basically take the property price (or if I already own the property, the loan amount) add up all costs associated with completing the project including surveyors, council costs, contribution levies, sub-division and of course the construction plus allow some dollars for extras that always pop up.
Basing the profit/growth on future predicted capital growth seems a bit dodgy. Others may do if very differently, but I'm comfortable with my way of working out if a deal has potential.
Anyway … good luck with your plans.
Mystery
dhodgson wrote:thanks for your help, turns out initial selling estimate was way more than market value (spoke to other estate agents), once that was factored in the deal isn't any good, in fact it only just about breaks even. Nevermind, onwards and upwards
Look don't take this the wrong way as I applaud your enthusiasm ….. but shouldn't you have realised the property was over-valued the first time you saw it?
I spend 3-6 months watching and getting a feel for prices in an area I want to invest in so that I have a very good idea of what is under priced and what is over market value. It takes time, but it will save you many initial buying dollars and this is especially important if you are looking at development sites.
As you have discovered, if someone pay's too much they are left with zero profit and they have to be looking at a minimum of 20% if the deal is to be feasable. Property Developing, even small projects is not as easy as some would have you believe and paying to much for the site just makes it even more difficult.
Take your time, … there are plenty of opportunities just waiting.
Good luck …. and be patient….. it will happen.
Martin
Tupuraki wrote:Hi,
we just purchased our 1st house in Ipswich qld, on a subdividable block…. we were wanting to subdivide and put a removable house at the back of the block….. Has anyone had any experience with removable houses?????
also, i have friends who buys of the plan properties, they seem to be doing really well…. just wondering…. with all the time and effort that is taken into subdividing, renovating and building…. is the time and money better spent in just buying new properties???? And waiting for them to grow in capital gain???? with this subdivision we are looking at making around $100,000 but this will take around a year and the time and the effort is massive compared to just buying a buy new property??? Any advice on this one????Have you spoken to Ipswich council about the possible sub-division yet? We have recently received DA approval for a dual occupancy development. It may not be the same in your suburb, but where ours is in Redbank Plains they require 800m2 min for dual occupancy, 900m2 for sub-division and 1200m2 for sub-division on a corner block.
Don't forget to allow for the council contribution cost in your calculations … ours is $14,000 to go towards concrete paths in the shire. This is on top of all the other costs associated with the development application process.
Good returns can be made with the right structure for your block and affordability, … research all aspects to maximise the capital gain/rent return. We have just gone through the exercise of doing a numbers breakdown as to the best option for us ….a) knock down existing house and build a 2 storey duplex
OR ….
b) reno the existing house and build a detached 4,2,2 new house.Although both options would make money we found that plan b, offers the best return for us. With plan a, we found that by knocking down the existing house it makes it an expensive block of land.
Good luck ….. keep us updated
Martin
marco_install wrote:hi james and michelle
if you need help in asemble and instalation of kitset kitchen i can help
i do tilling plastering an carpenty work allso
ihave done 100s of flat pack kitchens
iam in melb so email memarco_install, …… I think you are about 3 years too late. James and michelle's post was written in June 2006.
The council may allow you to do a dual occupancy development, ….. give the council town planning dept a call and have a chat.
We had a similar issue with Ipswich council, …. they wouldn't allow us to do a sub-division, but dual occupancy/duplex was fine. Crazy really …… we can build a 4,2,2 second house (existing is 3,1,1) on the land as a dual occupancy (800m2) development, but we can't sub-divide as we need minimum of 900m2 ….. can you work that one out.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you take the time to research property investing over a few months, read books, join forums like this and read magazines like API … Then why would you need to pay others to make decisions for you and hold your hand.
Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but for me part of the enjoyment of property investing is the research and taking responsibility for my actions, …. after all it is me that is investing a few hundred thousand each time I purchase.
Maybe I'm just out of touch with the new property investors ways.
I'm pretty sure if you go onto the Carly Crutchfield website you should be able to buy what you are looking for.
Or at least they should be able to tell you if it's still available.
Lightyrs wrote:Hi All,Has anyone from the Forum had or have business with Custodian Wealth. I have a friend who seems to be doing quite well from it and his portfilo is groing nicely with very little hassle. Im wondering if anyone here is buying property through them or an equivilant company and how it is working for them?
I'm pretty sure that Custodian Wealth is John Fitzgerald of "Seven Steps to Wealth" and "Success from Scratch" fame. I'm guessing that the structure and concept Custodian use is what John Fitzgerald advocates in his book and course material. I believe that Custodian have/build developments that they recommend/sell to Custodian clients only, but others may be able to correct me if I'm wrong.
I have the reading material, but didn't buy into any of the developments as I prefer to do my own DD and negotiate when I buy. John Fitzgerald seems to be above board and seems to have a genuine desire to see others succeed, but he is also in business to encourage others to follow his philosophy as he will also benefit as well, .. as he should when he's sharing his concept, but like anything else with investing, … do your research before jumping in.
Tupuraki wrote:We have a house in ipswich on a 1027m2 block, we can't subdivide it but we can do dual occupancy, we were looking at doing this and spending around $130,000-$150,000 to build a 3 bedroom home at the back, just wondering if anyone has any experience in this and if it is a straight forward process to strata these two homes. and how much this process generally costs?, and will this bring our property value down?
Tupuraki,
Ipwich Council are a funny lot, ….. they have no problems allowing 250m2 – 300m2 smart blocks in new developments, but they don't seem to want to allow sub-divisions in older housing estates. We had the same problem with one of our IP's in Redbank Plains (800m2 corner block) ….. not allowed to do sub-division, but dual occupancy okay. They told our Town Planning Consultant that handled the application for us that if we had 900m2 it would have been possible, so I'm not sure what they object to with yours.
We have just had approval on the dual occupancy option …. we figure if we want to sell one of the houses in the future we could set up a strata scheme.
Anyway, …. like you we are looking to build in 2009/10, and now that we have approval we have 4 years to build. Oh yeah … apparently our infrastructure/holding costs by Ipswich council will be $14,000 for pavements through the area. Basically all up with applications fee's, plan drawings, surveyors and consultant costs and infrastructure/holding costs it will come to approx $20,000 to do the project (sub-division can cost up to $50,000).
Good luck and let me know how you go.
Martin
We are happy to sit tight at present. We are concentrating on building up the cash savings and happy to sit on the sidelines. Several of our IP's are on large development size blocks. This is where we see our next IP's coming from. No hurry, .. the land isn't going anywhere.
Martin
lopetha wrote:Hi all,Im due to settle on a property tomorrow at 11:30 but apparently the vendors are not ready as the bank has lost the title. Since their bank and my bank are both the same bank, Ive been told that I can settle without the title and that the bank can put something in writing agreeing to locate the title or obtain a new one after settlement. Is this true? Has anyone had any experience with this? Is there any other options besides waiting till the bank locate the title? My conveyencer said that they had the same issue a few months ago with the same bank and it took 5 weeks for them to locate the title and settle. Any downsides to settling without the title?
All input appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Is it essential that you settle tomorrow? If it's an IP then just delay the settlement until they locate the title and everything can be done as it should be. Would you really trust a bank? If it's going to be your PPOR or for some other reason you need to settle then you may decide to take the chance, but these things seem to have a way of going pear shaped.
Sandy vg, makes a good point in seeking a second opinion from a legal body if you are not getting sound advice from your conveyancer ….. find a solicitor with property experience and pay a few dollars to find out exactly where you stand.
Martin
Anrobel wrote:This will be the first time I have sold anything and i am a little nervous about regretting it in the future – i don't want to be one of the sheeple jumping on the bandwagon but with the rezoning i think it will be a very long time before i get the same money … and with zoning change i would have to build two storey untis which increases the development costs more than it increases the sale price …. if that make sense …I used to live in Mandurah in the early 1980's when I worked for Alcoa in Pinjarra, ….. Anyway, … moving on. Reading your post it reads to me like you've already answered your own question. The only thing I'd like to add is: ….
….. Are you looking to sell because you don't think you'll EVER get as good a sale price again? Remember that property moves in cycles and WA needed to take a breather. If it's well located and will be a multi dwelling development site then you'd imagine that it will go up in price especially after re-zoning.
Don't sell because of the fear of missing out, ….. You don't have to develop the site yourself to realise it's true value, ….. If a developer can see profit in the deal then they will pay for the block.
If you don't need to sell now, ….. logic would say that you'll make a heap more in the future. Mandurah is a popular town and now that they have the freeway and train linking it to Perth you'd have to imagine that the only change that will happen is growth.
Think seriously and research before making the sell decision, …. I have made several mistakes from selling property instead of holding …… if you do sell, .. do so for the right reasons and not through fear of missing out today.
Martin
Scamp,
You are just a big bundle of joy aren't you? …. Not a bad ego either.
I've been investing in property since the mid 1980's (as I imagine have quite a few others)…. I've seen a few downturns and managed to get through them without you being there to hold my hand. Your assumptions that us "suckers" are all blundering along blindly into the financial abyss is not only presumptuous on your behalf, but I would imagine highly offensive to many.
By all means contribute to this forum as it is designed for discussion /information, but at the same time please remember to treat the forumites with respect. These people have had the courage to take steps to try and create a prosperous future for themselves and families. They may make mistakes along the way but that is how we learn, …. they certainly don't need a walking ego trying to sabotage their minds with self doubt and pointing out the obvious.
You may think you have all the answers, but you'll have to trust me here, ….. you don't.
Martin
Does it really matter which one is supposed to be better ? … As long as one or both of the options can give you the wealth you desire. Share traders will say shares are better and property investors will probably argue theirs is the way to go.
I couldn't get shares to work for me. Share trading just didn't suit my personality whereas property is a different story. Neither one is better than the other IMO … Choose whichever one best meets your needs and learn every aspect of it.
Good luck whichever option you choose ….
Martin
blogs wrote:http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23599751-661,00.html"MELBOURNE'S property prices have plunged 8.4 per cent, or a record $40,000, since the start of the year"
But of course property prices will keep sky rocketing in price with record debt, petrol prices, interest rates and inflation up up up….
Have a read of this article from Hotspotting.com.au …. "Melbourne median falls, but cheaper suburbs show growth"
http://hotspotting.tumblr.com/post/32881382
Martin
Sandieb
Try contacting a town planning consultant in your state and preferably in the same council area as your development site. They handle these sort of residential dual occupancy/subdivision applications to council all the time. I am flying up to Brisbane this week to meet with one who we are looking to engage in stepping our application through council.
It costs nothing to talk to them and they will give you an idea on cost in your state/area, plus they know the process inside out and usually the right people to contact in council to get the application through.
I tried researching it myself, but found it just to difficult and confusing and I really don't have the time. I'd rather employ an expert to handle the process.
Hope this helps
Martin
magtron wrote:I have a corner block. The front of the block faces a small residential street, while one side faces a fairly busy road. How would it be best to subdivide to get the highest value? Split the block in half with one facing the small resi street and the other facing the main road? Or do a battleaxe subdivision with entrance from the small resi street? Any suggestions?Obviously I have no idea of your blocks exact location, but could an option be that …. on the quite street build a residential property and on the main road side a commercial office suite. It all depends on council zoning etc, but it is just an outside the square thought.
Martin
Geez, they are bargain priced …… lol
I used the currency converter on the cheapest property I found on your site and it is $753,000 AUD for a 2 room or 2 bedroom I presume. Way over my risk factor ……. good luck
