South Brisbane Splitter development

HI @beachgurl

Glad to see your neighbors have gotten on board. You'll be able to breathe a sigh of relief once you actually get it from them!

With your build, is it for a common wall duplex? or 2 freestanding homes? Yeah I can imagine the variation in build costs...I've seen them even vary a lot without a slope. Are you looking to do a split level design? Have you had a soil test done yet? Our soil test came back and it was a 'P slab' requirement but that's because of the many trees around and not due to the reactivity of the soil so shouldn't be too much of an issue (I hope) .... Also not sure about the design yet.. haven't delved into it too much but we will be starting the design process early next year with our architect. We agreed to 19k for everything including the right to the designs, and this guy has a very good reputation for the style we want and also has worked closely with 2 of the builders who we want a tender from so when he designs it, it will be done in close consultation with the two builders to try to keep the build cost down with designs that are 'engineering and build friendly'. Our aim is to add a lot more perceived value in the building designs whilst at the same time not necessarily costing that much.

Looking forward to your updates too!
Cheers.

 

My build was going to be 50sq in total, for a single dwelling. Double garage at bottom and then two flat levels of house above.

My block up there has a 3m back slope. I'm hoping to do a double or triple split level downstairs and a flat level upstairs.

 

Very nice! Love the triple split level downstairs and a flat level upstairs idea.

How much of that will be internal living space? Sounds huge!

 

Hey Leo,
I was under the impression that buying something under market value was illegal?
Or maybe I was misinformed?
Cheers

 

ah.. are you serious or just joking mate...?

 

Haha no I'm not joking? That was my impression?
Perhaps I was just severely misinformed?

 

Ok well BMV is subjective in some ways but it is really paying a price for an asset that is less than the value you think it actually represents. This can happen for a few reasons but is certainly not illegal. Who told you it was illegal?

 

I remember reading an article or a thread? Can't really remember.

I know you can buy mortgagee houses in the states. Where during the recessions houses where going for half of what their worth because the banks where selling.

Once again I thought banks in Australia were only allowed to sell at market value? I might be mis informed again though haha

How much under 'market value' have you bought for?

 

Only in the case or mortgagee sales via bank does it have to be at market value and they often determine 'market value' by selling at auction so that answers the question of what the market value is.

In all other sales you can offer and agree to whatever price you want.

 

Well in my opinion, based on my research at the time, between 70-100k. That's not taking into account development potential value.

 

Congrats @Leo2413! Hope you'll do well! I'll looking to do something like this in future.

Could you please share how you plan to get finance for construction of something like this? Is it just a plain resi construction loan? How much of your own money/equity will you be investing?

Trying to get my head around how much money I need to be able to do something like this. Learning in the meantime...

 

Thanks @Observer! I also hope we do well Yes mate just using resi loan, we'll reval the property and most likely will be able to get a nice chunk of equity from the land to help fund the deal and the rest will be other equity from various places. Probably will put in around 30% finance.

Cheers mate.

 

Thanks @Leo2413. Do you plan to sell or keep one/both?

 

We worked our feasibility on keeping both but we will most likely at least sell 1 of them. Don't like holding high end stock especially when most of the value will be already sucked out of it once its built and wil take awhile for prices to climb past the price it will be worth after its developed.

 

True. However, depreciation will be quite high which may work nicely under certain circumstances.

 

Same here. Will be a long process, but much a lot to learn off someone else doing it.

 

Once you have the finance, if you can team up with someone who has done it before and get some practical mentorship from them while you undertake the project, that would be ideal mate.

 

Keep an eye out for my call when I get ready to do it

 

arghhh.........waiting....waiting ...for BCC to approve my subdivision proposal.......tired of waiting....i'm checking every day...common !!

 

Hi Leo, do you mind if I ask a few questions:

Is this your first property development?

How many properties did you have to inspect before seeing this one?

Any tips for selecting a site for development when you are live in another state (says you live in Sydney in your profile)? Did you keep flying out and viewing lots of different sites?

How did you know this is a block you can likely split? Just a call to the council with the address? Look at similar lots that have been split in the area and check out zoning maps?

Sounds like you are adept at negotiation to get a good price - did you learn this through real estate or other business or just that way inclined? Any tips, books to read etc. for this?