Car Stackers vs actual parking spaces

Hello,
Does anyone have any data to show the relative value of a car stacker vs real parking spot position in relation to the overall value of an apartment?

What I'm trying to find is for example if you have 2 identical/similar apartments, one with a stacker and the other with an actual parking spot that the overall value of the one with the stacker is less because the actual land component of the stacker is shared by 2 or more owners.

 

It's less because using the stacker is a PITA. You can't just drive your car into and out of your spot in a hurry. I'm also imagining if there was any breakdown of the stacker then you'd lose the availability of your spot for a while and be up for extra costs. I don't have the data though.

 

You do need to insure there is sufficient height and the floor can take the additional loading

 

Earlier this week I spent about 20 minutes trying to get assistance to get my car out of a city carpark with auto ticket machine that malfunctioned. Eventually I was told to describe my car, drive to the gate and it was opened remotely for me.

I shudder to think of the chaos if the car stacker mechanism malfunctioned!
Marg

 

Theres no way Id buy a place with a stacker. It's annoying enough moving cars around in front of a double garage when someone wants to go out.

 

I sold an IP earlier this year with a stacker. Valued at around 8% less than otherwise identical apartments in the same building. Agent reported that a few people mentioned the stacker as a deterrent, and one seemingly genuine buyer (requested a contract) withdrew all interest after measuring that his car wouldn't fit in the stacker.

As for usability (I lived there before it became an IP) it's a pain in the proverbial, only saving grace was that it gave me time to chat to neighbours as we all waited around for the stacker lift to go up/down.

Was also a minor pain after it became an IP as my body corporate emailed me asking me to move my car, as it wasn't parked properly and blocked the stacker from going down, preventing residents from retrieving their cars above.

 

I used to know that the apartment near wynard (Meriton) has it and it broke down nearly every week and having to tell someone on fri night to come back mon to pick up your car! I also shudder on the strata levy for the 'emergency funds'

 

A stacker might make more sense if you were buying a townhouse where the people using are soley the people living in the dwelling (as in not apartments) and the land is very expensive.

E.g. Toorak I think it would be more acceptable to have a DLUG with a stacker as they can stack their weekend car (e.g. Maserati) and during the week they can just park their work day car (e.g. BMW). This could be seen more as a positive but again the carpark would be worth more but having 4LUG would be very expensive due to the land component.

In apartments/units it would be a much bigger negative as everyone has pointed out. As for price difference it would again depend on suburb. The cost to maintain it would be a pain along with those emergency call outs as people have parked the car in the wrong spot or if it stops working no one can get their cars out.

 

I'd imagine that a stacker would go on the negative list when weighing up to purchase. That would probably be the kind of thing that leads to higher body corp fees.

And when they break down you can't get your car.

 

Thanks for the replies. Does anyone having any comparable data, of say 2 similar apartments, one with car stacker, another with parking space, and be able to show a difference in purchase or sale price?

 

Knew someone who worked at a unit block in York St Sydney snd he operated the stacker (only trained personnel are allowed to operate it). Reckons it broke down at least twice a year and a contract fitter would come out to fix it....took about 3 hours.

I vusited the complex. Amazing building, built on top of a church. There are headstones in the entrance wall lol.

There's a one bedder for sale in the complex at the moment. Asking over 800K. The strata levies are 10K pa !

 

Pass!
I look for strata levies of under 1k per quarter ... psychological barrier.

 

The issue is this:

A contract for an OTP apt was signed and the car position in the contract was an actual spot, not a stacker. The complex is nearly due to settle and it appears that the car spots have been turned into stackers, ie 2 car stackers in each position. The prospective buyers have not been notified yet, and the conveyancing solicitor for the purchaser is attempting to reach a resolution by way of a cost reduction on the contract price, however the vendors will not budge. The purchaser is worried that the val can come in under contract price.

What can be done by the buyers solicitor to get this through? The vendor/vendors solicitor is not prepared to move on this. Surely something can be done rather than settling under protest or taking the matter to court as this is clearly a gross change to what was signed under contract?

 

Just watching this video made me feel frustrated let alone waiting in person !



We don't have a parking spot (street parking only) and I'm tempted to say I'd rather street parking to this solution !

 

I believe most OTP contracts allow the developers a variance of 10% in the total area - i.e. if you pay for a 70sqm apartment, they can give you a 63sqm apartment and you can't do anything about it. Obviously, you'd want legal advice to be sure but I doubt there'd have to do anything in the situation you described - you still have somewhere to keep your car.

 

Oh dear god that system is horrible. In comparison mine was quite elegant, just 2 platforms that went up and down on 2 posts. The building was designed with them in mind though so had recesses in the ground to accommodate.

Another thing to note is that even if you have a non-stacker space, you can't avoid having to wait anyway while someone's car is unavoidably parked in the middle of the carpark while they operate their stacker. It's bad for everyone.

 

Thats seems to be ok for a Camry but a tenant with a '59 Cadillac or a Unimog might find it a bit awkward.

And is this stacker common property where a strata is responsible for repairs and/or damage?

 

Some potential owner-occupiers with low, tall and/or long cars will simply not be able to use it, so the property will not be viable for them.

In my old unit, strata covers repairs, not sure about damage caused by residents though.

 

Why isn't terminating the contract an option? And if the matter went to court, what would the buyer be seeking exactly?

 

I'm a property valuer turned buyer's advocate and I'm recommend clients walk away from apartments with stackers unless there is easy street parking without time limits and that's rare anyway. When I lived in The Philadelphia Building on the corner of Spring St & Flinders Lane in Melbourne, the apartments with the actual spaces in the basement of the original office building section of the resi-conversion always did better than the apartments that used the car elevator to get up to their parking space. The car elevator broke once a month and we couldn't get to work those days.

Now I'm in an apartment in Malvern. My Statesman doesn't fit in the stacker (two cars on top, two on bottom, stacker sinks into a pit in ground) so I put my Mazda in there. The pit flooded with the recent rains and the pump pickup is higher than the foot of stagnant & dirty water in the pit so they had a plumber pump it out.

As of last night we are banned from putting our cars in the stacker until further notice as the water has corroded the gears, pumps, hydraulic rams and wiring which has been submerged for a month.

Car stackers are the work of the devil, take up minutes of your day that you'll never get back and the inventor should be shot.