Selecting land in an estate

Virtually none

 

In addition to all the physical aspects and contractual obligations, you'd want to be accurate with your figures too. From construction costs to your projected rental returns. Loan amounts, rates, if there's an owners Corp?? You'd want to know what your outgoings are as opposed to you rental return.
Are you positive, neutral or negative?

Another aspect that you'd want to look at is comparing what your build is, to other similar ones within the estate. Cost wise is your build coming in at about the same? Cheaper? More expensive?
Planned right you can quite possibly come out the other end with Abit of equity.

 

Not a fan of a block facing a T-intersection... Unless the potential block is elevated

I have a worry that drivers came plunging into my house in this manner ...

 

Not to mention headlights shining into your house.

Does the estate have Zero Boundary allotments?

What are the Covenants. A house that requires a water tank and rendered external finish can add at least 10k to a build. As can a house that requires "Acoustics" if near a highway or airport.

Corner blocks are good for possible future development with dual street access, with some estates allowing/promoting/zoning duplex builds. You only have two neighbors. Excellent access to rear yard for caravan, boat, pool. Negatives; you need to be mindful of the truncation of the corner which can reduce the available building space. There will also be two street frontages to upkeep and two lots of passing traffic. I've had several corner blocks and have noticed the wind patterns have a tendency to make any loose paper or plastic rubbish in the street end up on the yard. But that might just be me. Corner blocks also seem to make a good congregation point for all the neighbourhood kids.

So for investment I prefer to go one or two in from a corner with a north facing rear yard (unfortunately this has allowed me to end up with number 4 street number sometimes, which is bad, apparently). Unless I'm specifically aiming for a duplex build, in which case corner block wins.

As others have noted it is best to get in on the early Stage Releases as later Stages are pretty much always more expensive. Have also noticed the sneaky practise of some developers raising the price of unsold early Stage blocks to match current Stage pricing.

 

Depending on the developer they may be able to offer insight to the class of the site. If looking at a development I would choose an A in preference to an S in preference to an M. If they are saying H1, H2, E or P I'd want to be getting a really good deal on the land because slab design and cost is much more expensive.

 

That's not entirely fair. If it's Level 1 controlled fill its still normally identified as a P class slab. H and P should only add about 6-8k to a build yet some builders gauge like crazy here for profit as their prices are low for the base build.

To me it's better to buy well in the first place and just allow for a H class in your calcs. Or you can fix site costs for insurance. I have done this before.

 

You are correct - Level 1 controlled fill is a P. Even at a slab upgrade of $6-8k I would prefer to put that into fittings and fixtures rather than into a slab that buyers/tenants don't see value in. This is based on assumption that builder won't stick you more than $6-8k, I've heard plenty of stories where post soil test - price has gone up $15k. You are right they come in low and make it up on site costs and upgrades. 4 sites @ $8k is $32,000, even worst 4 sites at $15k is $60,000.

My intent wasn't to say this is the be all and end all, lots of great points in this thread - I didn't see the point repeating them. I felt I could add value making this point as a lot of people overlook this, and if you are looking at a whole bunch of sites and don't know which to choose this is a way of narrowing down options. I do believe it can be a smart decision where they can save money on the build that can be used to upgrade façade, put aircon in, or even go on a holiday - if you can help it, there are a lot more fun/savvy things to spend $8k on then concrete and steel.

 

I know 4 is unlucky to the Chinese though 13 ? Do ppl really mind that.

In box hill u will most often come to some streets where there is 2A instead of a 4. In new estates they don't allow it but in established housing they do. I remember reading an article of a Chinese developer taking out 17 floors or something which has number 4 in Sydney. My apt building does in south Melbourne does not have the unit 4 on my level

 

If your future buyer base are superstitious then why limit your numbers

 

Agree with everything you've said. But I have rarely ever seen a non modified M class slab and less than 300mm of fall. Maybe you've had more luck in this are than me.

 

couple of other things not mentioned yet
- views: ocean, city, park
- distance to proposed amenities in the estate : school, shops, parks.
- I like laneway or corner lots


+1 on the covenants, covenants, covenants! Also find out what exemptions/extra overs the estate has on the standard setbacks/overshadowing/site coverage. Sometimes it's in your favour sometimes not.

 

some great info, thanks..I am glad I started this thread!

 

What stage are they selling in the Estate?
The developer and the amenities in the Estate also important.

Are blocks getting snapped up, from experience better chance of growth if you buy in the first initial stages as with each stage there will be land rises?

I would be looking at the Estate and what has happened in terms of growth and how much/many stages in the Estate.

I know nothing whatsoever to do with the block but performance is just as important.

MTR

 

in estates for melbourne - the estate guidelines will specifically mentioned that you can only have one single dwelling on the block. it's different from buying a house in lalor or thomastown as opposed to building a block of land in pt cook or craigeburn.

 

Mostly the same up here in QLD. Unless it's zoned as a duplex block, though shalt build a house on a corner lot. Duplex Lots are getting down to 450sqm in some of the new estates.

 

Try 250-350 m2 in outer Sydney

 

note this can be fudged by developers hiking the price of subsequent releases and rebating back a portion at settlement. this is totes legal for the developer to do, but isnt kosher for the buyer unless they disclose the rebate to their bank and tip in more cash.deposit. Most times the valuer for the bank is a wake up to this practice in any case.

 

Id get a builder to quote a fixed price contract on a couple of different blocks with differing amenities, 2/3/4 bedrooms, 1/2 car garages, theater room or not etc and get a local managing agent to give you an idea of the likely rental return.

Id suggest there isn't much of a rental premium to a lot of the things that cost extra to a build. A 2 bed 1 garage home on a smaller (cheaper) lot might rent for 80% of what a larger home would for considerably less outlay. Having a smaller home might not reduce the potential pool of tenants either as most rentals in the area might be 4 bed mcmansions that aren't suitable for everyone.

 

OK, Did not even realise this.

When land is in demand there is no fudging this one, as there is a clear shortage too many buyers and hard to secure.

 

It happens a lot. Its important to note even in a hot market, new development is often valued less than purchase price as the valuer needs to give comparable sales. Previous releases from the same development are often times excluded, leaving a very small pool of onsells from earlier releases, or the odd vacant land sale in an adjoining suburb.