Great, a forum for property developing! This is an area I’m getting more and more interested in!
As you know, as an investor, one of your main considerations in choosing an area to invest in is whether the property will remain vaccant for too long and then chew up your chances of making cash flow. That’s if your investing for positive cashflow.
I have been thinking for a few weeks about a dynamic development and even approached council to ask about zoning and what needs to be done in order to get approval from them etc. They gave me a bit of a disapproving look when I told him I wanted to be able to rip the whole place up and move the development, if they weren’t being rented no more. Though he was stil happy to give info about what council needs!
I thought well since if a town goes a bit quiet and then there is no longer as much a rental demand, generally you would be stuck with the house/flats/units etc and maybee faced with not being able to sell and if so maybee have to sell for a lose.
So I want to start a discussion about ways and means of making a dynamic number of units. And the idea as the ‘Dynamic’ suggests is so the whole block of units can be moved to the next development site in a town where they can be rented in. I’ve choosen five units. That could be set up on a block paddock and then developed with fences put around them, drive ways, power connected and one sourage system for them all.
Here is the enitial idea:
Purchase five tranportable units $20,000 each (includes delivery). units come self contained.
i.e Tiolet, shower, loungh, room(s) kitchen. Jayco style units.Put up some sort of cheap fencing that looks presentable , neat and tidy. Each unit would have there own fence. Like little unit picket fence type thing and a driveway. And a reasonably dynamic garden of some sort.
You want the place to look like a permanant steady structure and everything and hope that you don’t have to move it on in the future. But if you do the development is able to be transported to a more suitable rental enviroment.
That’s the enitial idea, anyone what to rip it apart and give details about how it could work or how it couldn’t? And or ways and suggestions and ideas on how to do it.
My first question would be, “Who would want to live in a place like that?”
2 – What happens to the costs of setting up the development each time ( sewerage, power, water etc)?
I just reread the post – do you mean accomodation for contractors etc while they are working on a site?
“Looking forward to the day when I can tell the boss where to go”
Where I grew up in Sydney there was something that sounds sort of similar to this.
A large triangular shaped block with three SMALL but self contained houses. It was originally designed and used as self care retirement homes by some church or another.
Around fifteen years ago the church either abandoned or sold it and the three houses sat vacant for a number of years. Local kids broke in and used them as somewhere to have parties etc.
About five years ago they were put up for sale (land value only) and all local people (my mum still lives in that street) thought that they would be demolished and a new development of some sort would be built. The clever purchaser didn’t do this but simply fixed the little houses up (amazing but they weren’t in too bad condition) and rented them out individually.
Although they are entirely self contained (with their own clothes lines and gardens) there are no fences between them, there is no off streeet parking (but it is at the very end of a quiet culdesac) and they are really minature houses.
They rent for about halfway between what a standard house and a unit would in that suburb. They are never vacant for long.
On the down side they seem to attract tenants who, in general, (may or may not be good from the owners perspective) have loud parties that go untill late at night and end up on the street, have unkept and/or undisciplined children who (depending on their ages) fight with other local kids, break & enter local houses and generally get into trouble, leave unregistered cars sitting on the road out the front for months on end – you get the idea.
As a final thought from someone living in a rural area, if you are going ahead with this IMO location will be crutial to the success of your idea. Make it close enough to town and in a nice enough spot and it may be a real gold mine.
Heaps of people around here (Leeton NSW) use relocatable buildings. Depending on where you are looking at they won’t be a bad thing in themselves as they seem to be far more common in rural areas than they are in Sydney.
Let us know how this goes for you – I hope it works for you and it sounds original.
Cheers
SonjaMy first question would be, “Who would want to live in a place like that?”Well I can’t beleive you asked that question, but the answer would be, ‘people tenants’. I don’t know what neck of the woods your in. But if it’s the city , that’s not the area I had in mind for the tenants.
I’m from the country , that’s where i grew up…it’s what i know..so i stick to what i know. And I know these type of miniture houses, as Sonya so nicley put it, would rent no problem around the area where I am from. And the develpment would be for places like this where the city folk or ‘Investors’ for the more larger towns, shy away from. Because or the risk of them becoming vacant. So the whole idea is to weather or not it would be viable in these smaller places where the rent would be stable for 5-10 years in populations of anything from 3,000 up to 10,000.
Screening tenants is the way to prevent the ‘Bronks’ mentality from happening in the area of your units, as i put it.
Sonya you put it right, somewhere between a house and a unit is what it would be. But with the units not joined together. They would actauly be quiet a reasonable place to live, and given the high cost of living, people are looking for these smaller units to live in.
But more importantly is this viable because if it’s not it could be nocked on the head as quick as it began. I’m not about to race out and do it imeadiatly because I don’t have the money, but i guess there is other ways of doing it (without money).
Transportation is an issue, so the units would have to be about 5 meters wide and around not too much longer then 10 meters long. Which is quiet enough room for a small cosy unit. Then a tranport truck can carry two at a time anywhere about 600 kilometers for around $2000 shorter the distance the better. And the structure does not need to be dismantled then! And maybee a fold up garage carport.
Sewerage, is something I’m not sure of the costs yet. But I’m thinking some sort of above ground system that is easily moved and able to serve all units in the developement. And the power only needing to be connected to one which connects them all.
Buying a block with power and water would be needed. I been thinking, ‘buy an older units and render the outside (or even the new ones) to make them look modern and weather that be cheap way to get them set up’?
Would be interesting to hear Peter Comben’s thoughts on this. I’m only new to this and would be interesting to hear from an experienced developer and weather or not you think this type of thing could be viable and if so ways and ideas on how to go about it!?
Thanks for the replies so far!!
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Positive Cashflow Financial Analysis Calculator Onlinei would love to know where u could get a 5 by 10 fully self-contained transportable for $20k?????
Also,bear in mind,council may deem a transp’l as “not suitable” for permanent accom,so u may then have to get some extra plans,computations & adjustments done to the unit to turn it into a “suitable” perm. site.But truly,do u know where to get them at $20k?I looked into buying one of these transportable homes to put on a block of land as our PPOR before we found a free house that was going to be demolished for a development.
Some of them are VERY nice (also VERY expensive). The council here is OK with them but some of the new subdivisions have protective covenants that will not allow them unless you get brick venering done.
They range in price and size by a huge amount, also depending on the manufacturer – there are quite a few in Wagga and also a couple near Albury. I’ve also seen secondhand ones advertised for removal in the local papers.
The more I think about this idea the more I like it. In a smallish rural town I think there are a lot of reasons it could work if done well.
Cheers
SonjaSo long as you take into account plumbing, sewage, electricity & phone (I assume that gas would be too difficult to guarantee) it could work quite well.
Take a look at Buckminster Fuller’s inflatable Geodesic dome houses.
Cheers,
Aceyducey
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.– Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut
Thanks Acey’
“Take a look at Buckminster Fuller’s inflatable Geodesic dome houses.”
Sounds interesting, whats that going ta bring? A Sydney Opera House feel to the rural areas [biggrin]?? Good if it does, but seriously that’s the type or line of thinking, we want on this duscussion (lot’s of ideas on ‘how to’s’ so can pick what’s best way) something transportable and with the minumin of fuss imperative!
Where can we have a look at these dome houses? is there a web site? I guess they come with a heafty price tag.
About sewerage: I remember speaking to a plumber shop when i was looking for ideas on how to do my house boat resently. They had a machine there in demonstration that basically vitamizes sewerage all you need to do is direct the flow to it and it does all the work; self primes – vitamizes sewerage – and can pump it up to about three story’s high ( so therefor can pump it in storage tanks above ground). It cost about three grand, but i imagine it other way to get it cheaper then buying it brnad new off the shops i.e. second hand or warehouse sales etc. But the benifit of this is that it would be transportable and easier to set up, less hazzle and no digging.
I haven’t seen the councils about weather or not this is allowd, but it’s food for thought.
Jaffasoft
It sounds like you want to build a caravan park. I would be careful to make sure such a development is permitted before going ahead.
Regards
Alistair Perry
http://www.town-planning.com.auDeafenantly far from a caravan park. It’s more like half a small block street with small unit type dwellings with fences around each of them.
Hi Jeffasoft,
I have to disagree with you there. There are many caravan parks (particularly those with permanent residents) that sound exactly the same as what was suggested.
I’m almost certain a council would see it this way too. They don’t like people coming up with creative ways of getting around their planning controls.
Regards
Alistair Perry
http://www.town-planning.com.au
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