Planning on moving to Brisbane for work and looking at options for buying a house or land as close to the city as possible. We have done really badly on a downward property market in north QLD and need to try and claw back some equity. My partner has been finding lots of old houses as projects which he thinks we can do up but neither of us is handy and both work full-time so in reality we’d probably need to outsource a lot of the work. Other option would be to buy a really good block of land and build a basic house that we can spec up over the next 2-3 years with addition of pool, landscaping, nicer flooring, outside pathing etc. to hopefully sell on (we're expecting some extra cash in next couple years). Some old houses add $100-150k to the cost of land alone so can’t just level the house plus you aren't allowed to level some old character homes. A concern for me is living in an old house with no insulation as I like to be warm!! I feel a basic new build with the money in the structure (highly energy efficient) would be far more pleasant a project as we can add to it at our own rate but won't be living in a drafty cold house while doing it. Interested in the financials of the two options from those with experience?
Can't help with financials as we've never lived in, built or owned an old house. We are currently having townhouses built in the back yard of two houses we bought around 20 years ago, so I'm loving that we didn't have to "buy" the land, but of course creating the block didn't come cheap either. But sitting in my 1959 built house I'm in a tee-shirt right now. I've just taken off a sweatshirt I put on when I got up because I'm getting a bit warm. We do have our air-con on at 20 degrees. I've lived in four houses in Brisbane myself. The coldest one was a 1930 built Queenslander but that was because the enclosed front verandah still had the original verandah floor, ie. gaps between the boards through which the cold would enter. For me, I'd buy in Camp Hill, Holland Park, Coorparoo, Greenslopes. Those are areas I know well. I think people (generalisation?) are old character house people or new and shiny house people.
You can look at this several ways ..To buy a vacant block close too the cbd depending on the location and street the starting range will be over 400k plus but that's only in the inner south-side from Moorooka into West End and a sliding -up--price scale into the high range in West-End.. Myself as i know the value is in the land not what's built above the footprint ,so i would go with the old house and as large as block can afford..imho..there are a few listed in the Qld Public Trustee site both north and south that are zoned xxx-xxxx that with a bit of trade skills would be turned around over time ..good luck..imho..
