NSW CC - North Arm Cove

We are thinking of purchasing a property up at North Arm Cove and was looking to see if anyone else has had experience up there? Family friends of ours have purchased a few properties over there in the past 10 years and have had nice capital gain. (Waterfront purchased for low 300's - now worth low 1 mil)

The property we're looking at is a 1500sqm piece of land that's been subdivided into 3 separate sized lots of 500sqm. All for sale together, with a single house on the middle piece (1 bedroom, nothing special).

They're asking for roughly $330k for all three.

My main concerns are:
- No proper sewerage system in the area - sceptic tank only.
- No water
- Councils have applied for funds to fund water/sewerage services although not guaranteed.
- Low amount of nearby amenities

Has anyone else had experience up there?

 

@See Change is that your neck of the woods??

There's options out there for sewer these days, enviro cycles etc
Water wise, rain water is fine. Or you'd be able to get it trucked in you'd just need a tank

 

Cheers for that Bob.

 

Hi

We have a weekender up there on the side facing south , towards lemon tree passage . 3 1/2 years ago .

The pump out is what it is . Every one is on pump . Don't expect sewerage any time soon . rumour has it is that it would cost council around 100 K to put it in . No one expects it to happen ( though they might surprise us )

Rain Water , no problems . We have two big tanks and it's never been a problem , BUT we're only up there on weekends . When we moved there , the tanks were about 20 % full with a family of 6 and it had been very dry . Some of the neighbours had had water trucked in around that time, but no one's mentioned it since then .

For us Water and sewerage aren't an issue . We'd do a pump out maybe 5-7 times a year $ 110 / time , but we don't have long showers . Our son was up there with 20 friends at Easter . If there Girls had long showers we'll need an earlier pump out . There are limitations on putting in Enviro cycles in if you're close to the water , and I think it costs around 10 k

There are three groups up there . Weekenders , retiree's and " normal " people .

We love it . We did spend three months up there two summers ago ( I worked in Tea Gardens ) and would have been happy to stay there , but my wife missed sydney , friends and Family . I might have missed that after another year or two . Of the neighbours , only one is restless , but that's probably b

Because we're not up there all the time , the lack of shops isn't an issue and it doesn't seem to be an issue for those up there all the time . There are supermarkets in Tea Gardens , Raymond Terrace and Medowie . Medowie seems to be the favourite amongst our immediate neighbours . The Rock and Karuah are under ten minutes away . The rock for milk and papers . Karuah has an IgA .

1500 m2 for three blocks sounds too small , double and triple check . you need to be very careful re zoning . Council has recently changed their approach and before a block of 2000m could be split into 2 , but the grape vine says you can't do that now .

We have heard people complain about mosses and March flies , but that seems to be more of an issue up at the north end of the actual cove .

There is a very strong community up there with activities based around the community hall etc . I've spent most of my time rearranging our water front prior to putting in an application for a jetty which we're doing with our neighbour . We spend most of the time relaxing and Vegging out and now I've got more time , kayaking , stand up paddle boarding or fishing .

Value wise , like a lot of costal communities , it goes up after sydney booms ( around 18 -24 months after ) . When it stops , IT STOPS and people have MAJOR PROBLEMS SELLING AND NEVER BUY UP THERE WITH ANY EXPECTATION OF BEING ABLE TO SELL QUICKLY AND FOR WHAT YOU THINK IT"S WORTH …. ( unless you really know / time the market very well ) .

We bought with the expectation we will pass this onto the kids .

The place we bought had been on the market for over four years and we paid just over 50 % of the initial asking price from 4 years before . The previous owner had had the place revalued , refinanced and spent the money on expensive toys . We subsequent ally found out if we had n't bought when we had he would have probably gone bankrupt . When we bought it seemed that every 3rd-4th house was on the market and we saw several houses that had been on the market for around that 4 year time frame , initially asking 1.3 - 1.4 and now asking in the 700's . Water front , nice houses . Now , not much on the market and many places are selling within weeks of going on the Market . Brian Stephenson ( and his wife Ivy ) are local Tea Gardens REA's , live in the cove and seem to sell most of the properties there , knows the area very well .

Markets probably gone up around 50-60 % so far and still seems quite strong . Don't know how close it is to peaking ( but it's not a question that interests me …) . The wealthy parts of sydney are tracking well . Lots of the retiree's up there come from the North shore / northern beaches .

Cliff

 

Hi Cliff, thank you so much for the detailed response. Can't begin to tell you how much it helped. Ultimately, we decided to keep looking. The idea is that the property would have been an investment, have someone rent in there until we were in a position to build something like a holiday house for ourselves and future kids. I think a combination of the not having water/sewerage and also having to travel from Sydney to do a construction job for a few months straight put us off from the idea(Also if we decided to sell, not wanting to have the property sit on the market for extended periods like you mentioned). Although we will definitely keep looking around those areas, it's quite peaceful! My parents (retirees) are currently up there now with some more family friends, they have a place on the water and are having a blast. (Fishing, relaxing, eating! etc.) To be quite honest, I would have preferred something with an absolute water frontage, although naturally the price is quite different between those and the properties a few streets back!

 

If you're looking for a weekender , waterfront , in the next trough , you will be able to get good deals .

1-2 years ago , we know someone who picked up a water block / house on 1/2 acre for just over 300 and there was an mortgage auction on a water front block on the edge of Heros beach that sold for just over 400 around one year ago . ( Very solid house , though needed cosmetic work ).

Cliff

 

i know nth arm cove very well

yes i know nth arm cove fairly well its true no sewerage as for water i think its by tank almost no local amenities thats correct youd have to go to karuya and almost no bus services closest bus stop as best i know is to the rock and thats about ten to 15mins in a car to main part nth arm cove ie coastal strip

 

can anyone up there rent me a lawn mower or mow a tiny bit of lawn for me for fifty dollars in nth arm cove there just a 15 feet by 10 feet bit of grass just off market way there

 

Check on the NAC website or the local newsletter . Our neighbor does ours , though they just keep going from their side . Don't think they're looking to do it as a second job

NAC is not public transport friendly , though the school buses come in and pick up and drop off .

Cliff