Well, you'd still be caught up under the margin scheme anyway. The only difference being your exposure to borrowing and the duration of the project.

1/ You will need to hold an NSW Agent's licence, not just a certificate of registration. Being an agent, it shouldn't be too high a hurdle to jump. You should, depending upon the agency, be able to negotiate a 50/50 share of commission

The fees are not owed by the conveyancer but by the vendor. You have been reimbursed by the purchaser the unexpired period of the levies, you did not disclose to the conveyancer that you had not paid the levies. The onus is on the vendor to disclose these things, not upon the purchaser to discover them. There is a principle of unjust enrichment which applies

If you ever get around to reading the fine print on your mortgage documents, if the bank was ever looking for a reason to foreclose, this could be it. By leasing the premises to a tenant, you have effectively parted with posession and are no longer in control of the premises.

In the case of commercial premises this is extremely relevant – mortgagee signs a consent which is filed (for registed leases).

2nd hand kitchens – check out demolition sales in the local paper
Toilet – replace the pan and the cistern (you will need a plumber to do this) – you will need to choose the fixture carefully to make sure it will suit the setback for the pipework.
Is the plumber supplying the vanity & tapware or is he only removing and installing the fixtures?
Bathtub – get it resprayed on site.
Likewise the floor tiles if they are in good condition.
Bathroom – I'd suggest getting some of the waterproof prefinished board from Bunnings or again, get them sprayed
Put in a ceiling fan/heater to get some ventilation into the room as well.

Of course there is an over supply in this part of the north shore. The boffins in the Dept of Planning took the planning powers away from Kuringgai council, foisted its own plan for 20000 additional residents (about a 30% increase) and released all of the land at the same time. This area is traditionally low density and should have been kept that way – high density highrise is not the way to go in an environmentally sensitive & heritage area.  The area does have good rail (although no stations have a lift), pacific highway is a bottleneck, no planning for transport interchanges or upgrade of the rail system (in fact they have reduced the number of trains by diverting them through the Epping/Chatswood line).

This developer's dream of being able to put up virtually unlimited high density dwellings on totally inappropriate sites will cause a slump in unit prices for a long time. There is little demand for this type of housing as the locals are used to living in low density on larger blocks – logic would have dictated a medium density solution with a mix of townhouse/villas not multi-storey.

(Back in your cage Scott)

(PS if you need to edit you can only do so if yours is the last post, just use the pencil at the top of your post. If you want to find your post either search your posts or click on active topics).

Seek out  some of the more commercial agents (even though it is only a small resi project). Get a few of them to put a proposal to you including their estimate of site value, proposed method of sale (auction, EOI, tender or private treaty), their experience in similar sales, how many similar proposals that they may have on the market at the moment, market analysis (what is the market doing at the moment) etc?

(that explains why I'd never heard of the agent, you're not).

Any agent worth their salt would have several developers and investors in their networks – why hasn't the agent hit on their network? (I've not heard of this agent before).

Does the agent have a sole agency agreement or can you approach another more proactive agency?

One way to consider the project, depending upon how much you owe on the land, is whether you can achieve 2 presales and then get finance for the project (on top of buying the house near your parents).

Alternatively, do you need to sell this one to fund the purchase of the house? If not, then delay this project until you can secure funding for townhouses.

The portion of the BC fees which were unpaid at the time of settlement are your responsibility as you were the legal owner of the property and 'enjoyed' the services provided by the BC. If there was any adjustment of the levies made by your solicitor it would have been noted eg 32 days of 90 days with the balance being paid by the purchaser.

The solicitor couldn't be held for not picking up on this however as you have received payment covering these charges you are still liable for them.

If current fixed interest rates are above your fixed rate, the bank would be paying you an incentive to refinance as they have more lucrative products on the market (ie at higher rates). How long ago did you get them to quote your exit fee?