House relocation cash or cashed?

You need to be more obnoxious for me to understand

 

Monster moves on SBS is all about moving houses in the States - I find it interesting to watch. I spent some time 20+ years ago setting up new stumps etc for relocatable houses to be shifted onto. Councils in NZ were making it hard even back then - don't imagine it has got any easier.
Have fond memories of my boss lying upside down under a relocatable house hammering and ending up with a petrified mouse falling off a floor bearer straight into his mouth!
Not sure it always ended up as economical as the customer thought by the time they had done all the power/ sewer connections and tidied up the house. There were some beautiful Victorian homes coming out of Auckland though that looked magnificent once relocated onto rural blocks.

 

Haha @Stu, still sounds pretty good to me, hardcore renovations and a free lunch!

Win.. Win

 

Have you got an idea of how much it cost on top of the house and relocation?

 

i know guy at work who bought a house to be relocated from eastern suburbs to daylesford in vic. cost 99K plus extras roof etc. Apparently they cut the house in 4 to transport it. Maybe for country relocations it is worthwhile.

 

Cut into 4? Must've been quite a house.
I would do it in the city if I knew they were trustworthy.

 

i think he mentioned it had to do with vic roads and safety requirements etc.150-160sqm really u can get volume build for ard 129k without the headaches.

 

We need JWR back so he can ask about relocating brick houses brick by brick using tafe students

 

This is our strategy. Total costs for us to move a house, connections, minor reno, landscaping (ready to rent) is between $70 - $100K depending on the house. Plus a cheap block and you have a pretty economical way of obtaining houses.

We are currently doing our 3rd house which has been moved to a block that we are subdividing into 3 (total). We will move houses to the other 2 - hopefully finishing all three this year.

I did a couple of posts about this on Somersoft, don't know where they are though!

Numbers for anyone interested:
1st project in Orange

Land: $45,000
Legals et al. : $8,285
House move: $52,050
Finish (incl. connections etc): $13,700
Total in: $119,035
Bank valued at $185,000
Loan received against the land: $36,000
Top up equity loan received (for reinvesting): $110,000
Currently renting at $250 per week.
This property is currently cash flow positive even with the equity withdrawal which is financing the next project.

2nd project in Castlemaine:
Land: $89,000
Legals: $7,500
House move: $55,000
Finish: 16,800
Total in: $168,300
Bank valued at $260,000
Loan against the land: $79,000
Top up loan: $125,000
Currently rented at $310 per week.

The next few places will be interesting because we are in the same area as project 2 - hoping to get a val of ~ $300K due to the size and quality of the building and the next couple of houses after that will be heavily positive given the land only ended up costing us $50K per block (plus subdivision fees). Similar size blocks in the area are around $120K.

Looking to start pulling a "wage" out of the equity for the next few houses to replace the 9-5. If all goes well this year we should be working property only by next year.

Looking at trying to move into bigger regional cities next - looking around Geelong and Ballarat just because they are close to home. But also considering Albury, Bathhurst or Orange again.

 

@JessicaP congratulations!! This is a great for me to hear, although I'm sure even more so for you to be involved in. I'm taking steps towards this myself now, just relocated country's and job to better position myself for this kinda thing.

Would you mind if I PM'd you from time to time with a few questions?

Are you guys using your own builders licence?

Hope everything goes to plan for you, exciting times ahead!

 

@Tim86 did this for his last reno, I think.

 

Happy for you to pm me @JKWS

We have used the movers license in the past (less of an issue in NSW than in Vic) and the current project is owner builder. Partner is just waiting to hear back (had his last interview late last year) as to whether his DB-U (domestic building license -unlimited) has been granted which will make moving forward quicker and easier.

 

How do you deal with the council approval - do you have to buy the house, then lodge plans..I mean you can't draft up any plans unless you secure the 2nd hand house first correct?

 

Correct @Lacrim

This has been the toughest issue for me. I'm all good with money budget (rarely going over and doing well so far with end figure estimates) but time budget continually blows out!

The timing is actually quite difficult because if you take too long there is a chance the owners of the house will hit their time limit and just demo it (has happened) and then you've wasted time and money on plans etc.

I usually secure a block, then a house and work on getting the soil tests, plans for the house, BAL, energy rating, engineering all done in the settlement period ready for the lodgement once the block is settled. I've have blocks that don't need a planning permit which saves time but did have to get one on our most recent project which blew the time budget a bit. We did prepare the building permit at the same time as the planning permit which came back conditionally approved (the condition was the planning permit approval). That saved some time.

 

Thanks I'm actually considering doing this to a property on a black of land in the GC. There is a house at the front though so the 2nd dwelling will have to be craned OVER the house at the front. Don't know if that's a no go zone.

And in relation to the numbers, the turnkey cost of a brand new 3x2x2 hovers around $220-230K or so at best. Based upon the numbers you've given, that compares to about $80K turnkey for an existing house give or take. Quite a saving.

All this doesn't include any infrastructure charges of course which are ridiculously astronomical in the GC - $28K per dwelling!

 

That's right. Huge money saving and time. BUT you don't get a brand new house. You get an older house that's been renovated (and all the issues that can go along with older houses).

Craning a house in isn't necessarily a total no. It can be done but there are a lot of boxes that need to be ticked to make sure it can happen. If you talk to a few different movers you will get an idea of whether it is viable or not.

Big points to note if you are going to do this:
•decide with your head not your heart. It is so easy to fall for the beautiful period home but the headaches are just not worth it. Easy and cheap to move are key points.

•try to go for a house that doesn't need much work (good bathrooms and kitchen). There's enough to do without having to worry about the bigger rooms to Reno (that being said, a kitchen/bathroom spruce up is ok - gutting a redoing cost too much)

•look at the external cladding and roofing material. Go for a house where this can remain in tact/be reused. This saves heaps.

•don't pay much, if anything, for the house. Most people will list a house for say $10k. I always approach these people and let them know I'm willing to take the house off their hands for free and that I've done it before so will be efficient. Sometimes I offer to do the demo permits etc as a sweetener. Most tell me to go away and then call back 2 or 3 months later accepting the deal (after they realise what it actually takes to move a house and what it would cost to demo it). Most I've ever paid for a house was $5k and that's because it was only 7 years old and needed nothing done to it.

 

This has turned into a great thread

 

The very first time I drove a car in Australia I got up early to avoid traffic, wanting to get a feel for things. I had learned to drive in Europe and hadn't driven for about a year.

I was on the back roads of Moorooka. I was very surprised to see a house driving towards me on the back of a truck.

I realised then that Brisbane was a very unusual place.

 

Thanks absolutely gold. So how do you find these houses...do you just scour gumtree and ebay?

 

Yep. All the houses so far have been off either gumtree or ebay. Trading post is a good one as well. The next house we have lined up is a sweet little California Bungalow that our house mover got word of. I think that will probably be what will happen more in the future as we build relationships with people in the industry.