I have found a property which I am interested in purchasing. It is a 3 bedroom weatherboard house in good condition set up the front of the block. There is a pretty run down granny flat at the back with its own water & electricity. The gas is common. There is also a garden shed & old carport for about 3 cars. I am hoping to build a 2/3 bedroom unit on the back & then sell one of them. (Remove Granny Flat & Shed)
It is in an older area of the town with houses either side.Block size is approx 730sqm – is this big enough?
Is it a huge drama/expensive to separate the gas?
Is it advisable to leave front house vacant whilst building on the back.?
Any words of advice/caution from someone who has done this?
Is it hard to separate the title.Thanks
Tara30Hi,
Depending on where you are, the question of whether or not it is big enough is more a question of the footprint that you can build.
Assuming you can get a planning permit, your could build a small one bedroom bedsitter out the back… but I’m not sure this would meet many planning codes.
The bigger issue you will have is having access for parking. Not just a garage, but the turning circle for the car. Also, you will need to be careful about having sufficient private open space for the existing dwelling.
This is why the positioning of the existing house is so important. Ultimately you will need to have two garages / carports on the site.
Re: services… anything can be done for a price. I suggest you call the local gas company and ask them what the price and process is. Naturally, it will start to become expensive if you have to run the mains a long way.
The subdivision is not so much hard as it can be expensive and time consuming.
And some final advice… the real key to success is not what you buy or build, but how much can you sell the project for as this will ultimately determine if there is any profit in the deal sufficient enough to make it worthwhile.
Hope this helps.
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https://www.propertyinvesting.comSuccess comes from doing things differently
Yes. Thank you. Something to think about.
in the overall cost of things the gas conversion over to it’s own connection won’t be much – just a guess but maybe $2-3k max. will depend where they are connecting it to, what trench they have to dig etc.
the bigger overall picture and cost will be in getting a subdivision through to sell one off.
this is likely to include site survey, arborist report, landscape plan, engineering drawings with drainage plan. depending on your site coverage of property and council you may have to put large stormwater pits in.
you’ll have to clear the existing structure in the backyard and create new garaging or space for the front property. there may be trees you need to remove which will cost money, and a new driveway will more than likely (almost certainly) be required.
these are jsut some of the things that i can think of at the moment. there will be things that pop up along the way. you don’t say what state the property is in but i definitely wouldn’t recommend doing it if you are living in a different state to the property, especially if you’ve never done it before.
you have to really want to do it and do some budgets that are pretty reliable. if you’re not really wanting to do it you will quickly get sick of the phone calls to council about matters and chasing things around constantly. development is a job in itself.
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