Hi guys, I'm looking at a house in Brisbane (Moorooka) for my first IP proposed by my BA. The street the house is in has a character residential overlay (which means the heritage frontages of the homes need to be maintained to keep the character of the street intact and the 640 sqm it sits on is hence not subdividable; also can't be knock down and replaced by townhouses, same hold for all other houses in the street). It is 3/1/3 (open) house and in my opinion looks quite old and ugly, and is very expensive (they estimate it at 600-630k, rental yield estimated at 4%). There is a potential to build a granny flat at the back of the house. A few questions: 1. Are these character homes normally more expensive than the brick houses? 2. Do the houses with character residential overlay have any advantages/disadvantages over the ones that can be knocked down and townhouses developed on their blocks? I suppose the advantage is the whole street will remain low density residential living free of townhouses (hence providing more family friendly environment) whereas a disadvantage is that I can't develop in the future on this block. Much appreciate your thoughts!
Not too much point in granny flatting in Brisbane City council... You can't rent it out to unrelated parties to the front house.
Hmm good point, I didn't know that! So you can only rent it out to the family? What do you think about my other points? Are these character timber houses more expensive? I attached a couple of pics
Hey, I know that some of these houses have stumps. Does this affect the property price? is it worth going through the restumping if it doesn't add value. Thanks
I think I actually prefer a house on stumps rather than a wooden lowset. The stumps let airflow happen under the house which cools it down. You maybe able to jack it up and build under, though sometimes it makes the house look odd. At least to me anyway. As long as the stumps are solid and you have no uneven floors inside the house.
I appreciate your opinion. It gives me an insight into the benefits. But I just don't want to pay to get t redone. How much does it normally cost? So let me get it right, the stumps don't necessarily give value right?
Take them out and see what damage you have done to the value. Cost <> Value. @Realist35 - if you place no value on the heritage overlay or respect the heritage values, look further afield.
I believe character homes are THE most prized by OOs. The street this house is on is in the gentrification process and some homes cleaned up nicely (even raised) are very attractive. It would appeal to a different investor than the "develop in the future" investors. I actually think it could be a good Buy and Hold but I have no idea about prices in Moorooka. I would also wonder whether last week's tragedy will create a stigma that will have a value impact in the short-medium term. **No, I haven't read the other thread and I'm going to work now
Thanks Scott. I definitely appreciate heritage houses. Also I am looking at this from the investment/business POV; if tenants wanna live there, I wanna buy it. However in my opinion, this house seriously lacks aesthetic appeal, especially when compared to other character houses in the area.
Bump...spotted a similar house in Banyo under Local Character Significance classification, but similarly it didn't have any heritage appeal thay I could discern. Consensus seems to be these would be best avoided?
