QLD North suburbs of Brisbane

Discussion in 'Where to Buy' started by dan2101, 8th Jul, 2015.

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  1. Azazel

    Azazel Well-Known Member

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    Very close @Angel !
    @jaybean No worries, I'll type up some of the details tomorrow.
     
  2. Azazel

    Azazel Well-Known Member

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    @jaybean As I said, it's fairly mundane, but it's just about being 'thorough' I guess. Most of this is common sense and most are probably (or should be) doing this already - obviously if you miss something it could prove costly.
    It's important to use an experienced building and pest inspector. I got recommended a guy that was 'too thorough'. My friend was reluctant to recommend him because he was too thorough, and scared some other of his friends away from potentially buying. That's my guy!
    I lost almost 5 days on the B&P clause because I signed on Monday and wanted to be there for the inspection, but earliest I could get up there was Saturday morning. Fortunately, B&P inspector was available to chat after hours and organised it subject to the RE agent being available - this is their busy day when they usually have a lot of opens. Again, fortunately the agent was flexible and was able to open the house at 8:30am on a Saturday.
    The inspector showed me through everything, had me up the ladder with my head poking through the manhole in the roof, shining a torch around as he commentated. He had me in each room explaining little things. Tapping walls, poking things, using his infrared moisture meter (that sounds dirty for some reason). He had me under the house, all around the house, looking up at the roof, all around the entire property. He explained everything there, emailed me a thoroughly detailed report and was available to chat for a while about the things picked up in the report. He also highly recommend investigations be made for Development Approvals for the addition/extension, extra carport etc (I asked the conveyancer to get an 'urgent' (3 days) report from council - $150).
    It was a fairly old house and you expect there to be some minor issues. The main thing was there hadn't been much maintenance. All little things, but it starts to add up. I asked the conveyancer to get an extension on the B&P clause which the other party allowed. I used this time to organise quotes on things that could have gotten quite expensive. Even on the last day of the extension I was waiting on a quote. I compiled all of the issues and repair estimates into a .txt file, then transferred it to a Word doc to put headings and make it clearer. I put a clear total of the estimated repair costs at the bottom of the document.
    I should also mention I may not have gone to all this trouble if the agent hadn't previously mentioned that the owner was willing to fix something if it came up.
    I rang the RE agent and explained that we had budgeted for kitchen, bathroom, paint, carpet, lino etc... but there was a lot of other issues with the property that were starting to add up. None of the issues were the end of the world, but it was all starting to add up. We went over some of the issues and I gave him the big total (<>$25k). He said that if we asked the vendor for that price reduction, he would put it back on the market. He also reminded me that someone else had offered slightly higher than we did (I didn't remind him that they would probably find the same issues - playing nice). I said we didn't expect him to reduce the purchase price by that much or fix all of the problems all at once, that's just what the estimate of all of the issues came to. I emailed him the estimates and said that hopefully we could come to a mutually beneficial outcome (smiley face).
    RE agent came back from the owner, he had said "Does he think he's buying a brand new house?". I laughed, it was good it wasn't a full on serious negotiation. He said he was willing to reduce the price by $2,500. I said that we were thinking around $12k, but if he was willing to cover the largest single expense ($4.5k - helped that I used someone the RE agent knew for this so could verify the quote) we would agree. He came back and said he was willing to do $4k. Not a massive amount, but better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick. Pretty happy - keeping in mind someone else had put in a slightly higher offer than us - PLUS I think I would have killed myself if I had paid full price for the 1st time ever! ;)
    So hopefully there's something there to get something out of, it's not rocket surgery, not some magick negotiation skills, just a normal example.
    Blah.
     
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  3. Vanillascent

    Vanillascent Well-Known Member

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    I live in Boondall and it's great. I live in the pocket behind Nudgee College and it is soooo convenient. I live 5 mins from 10 train stations; 1 of which is an express line. I feel that Boondall is currently undervalued when you compare some properties to Bracken Ridge. They have just announced major upgrades to the Boondall railway station and there is a lot of things happening in and around the area. That's just my two cents.
     
  4. sash

    sash Well-Known Member

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    Okay it went unconditional today.....Strathpine.....
     
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  5. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    That was very quick Sash!
     
  6. sash

    sash Well-Known Member

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    OK not quite....but close enough

    Waiting on the state trustee to sign the other one off....bloody gubbermint!
     
  7. Fungus

    Fungus Well-Known Member

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    Gun, I had Strathpine in my sights for the last 4-5 months. Glad other members onto it - might even be one that I enquired about. :p
     
  8. Whitecat

    Whitecat Well-Known Member

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    Was that a house or town house. Good price for a house
     
  9. sash

    sash Well-Known Member

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    House.

     
  10. Hanison

    Hanison Well-Known Member

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    oooh so close
     
  11. Azazel

    Azazel Well-Known Member

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    Very good. That's closer in than Clontarf & Mango Hill.
    $300k for a 3 bed brick house there? Nice one.
     
  12. Whitecat

    Whitecat Well-Known Member

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    Post some photos and the approximate address. I'm not looking in that area but I do know the area as I live in North Brisbane
     
  13. C-mac

    C-mac Well-Known Member

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    I'm interested in Strathpine too, but I have heard bad things about Morton Bay Council. Are their rates really that extortionate?

    Can someone give me a ballpark quarterly council rate for say an old 3/1/1 house on say 600sqm?
     
  14. pugstar205

    pugstar205 Well-Known Member

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    Did you visit Strathpine as part of your DD, or buy soley on the numbers?
     
  15. Hanison

    Hanison Well-Known Member

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    $320 -$420 a quarter

    Logic being I pay $420 for 1100m2 single dwelling
     
  16. sash

    sash Well-Known Member

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    I visited and saw the house twice.

     
  17. pugstar205

    pugstar205 Well-Known Member

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    Cool. I've inspected a few myself in that area - Strathpine, Petrie, Lawnton, Bray Park, Brendale, Kallangur. They're generally nice little suburbs but I found that you have to pick your street carefully.
     
  18. sash

    sash Well-Known Member

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    Very true....you have to pick extremely carefully....

     
  19. Pier1

    Pier1 Well-Known Member

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    Have you checked out what the new Town Plan may bring your purchase?:

    http://mplu.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/
     
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  20. Azazel

    Azazel Well-Known Member

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