You often see house and land packages advertised and they may have an attractive price . . . . . but are they a good idea?
Here are a few more things to think about:
These sort of deals are popular with property investors who just want to get a new house built and get tenants in as quickly as possible. . . Wouldn’t you prefer to have the houses next door owned by occupiers who are going to be more likely to care about the appearance of the house and garden than a tenant who has little interest.
It seems to me they are usually offered on the hard to sell and the least attractive blocks which is one reason why they are cheaper. Typical problems I have seen include:
On a major road
Poor orientation
Be an odd shape
Have access issues.
They are often based on the smallest possible block that will fit the house. Often they will have the houses so close together they will look more like a terrace and the back yard will be minimal.
One of the Real Estate maximums is that the way to make money on a house is by buying the right house.
Make sure you don’t harm your chances of a good future sale by buying a bad House and Land Package.
So you have visited the Developers Office and been shown a site plan with some blocks for sale that are the Size, and Orientation, you want.
The next thing is to get a copy of the Title Plan and go and look at the blocks you think may be OK.
Here are some things to think about.
Find the Boundary Pegs Normally the actual boundary peg will be driven in so the top is at ground level, there is normally a tall peg next to it to help locate it. Once you have found the pegs you know the piece of land you are thinking about buying.
Manholes Sewers and Drains A lot of blocks have Easements for sewers and drains which will restrict how much of the site you can build on. (The Title Plan will show the Easements) If you can see a manhole you will also need to think about how this might limit what you can do in the garden.
Site Slope As little as a 1m slope from front to back can add $3-4,000 to your site cost. A 1m slope from one side to the other can add even more. The steeper the slopes the more the builder will charge for site costs.
Below or Above the Road Where there is a sloping development site some blocks will be above the road and others below. Sites above the road are less likely to flood and can be more private than ones below the road.
Effect of Building on Neighbouring Blocks. Shading and blocking views are common problems that can affect your proposed house and garden. If you are keen on building a solar pasive house you can minimise the effect if the block you choose is higher than the one to the north. Obviously if the surrounding blocks are already developed its easier to consider the effects.
Road Crossover Many blocks now come with a driveway crossover if this doesn’t suit your design it will cost quite a bit to get it changed.
Look Up One thing I didn’t notice on my first visit to my current block was the overhead power cables just outside the block. They aren’t big pylons or anything and the poles are some distance away so its just a single cable. It does however restrict the size of tree we can have in our garden.
You will be very lucky if you get a perfect block so you are probably going to compromise on some of the above points. Good Luck!
Want to build a new house in an established suburb?
One way is to look for a subdivided block, or even buy a house on a big block and sub-divide yourself.
I see quite a lot of large suburban blocks sub-divided with one, or more, house blocksadded.
In a number of cases the original house the original house is demolished and 3 houses are built on the block.
If you want to build the available block will normally at the rear known as a Battle Axe Block
So what do you need to think about when considering a subdivided blocks?
Here are some issues to consider:
Vehicle Access
Any shared vehicle access can be a cause of contention so a separate driveway is much the preferred option.
If you have the rear block and put a gate near the front this can provide extra play space for young children. That can be very useful as the backyard area will be fairly limited.
Adequate Off-Street Parking
With two properties sharing one frontage and the loss of parking if there are two crossovers On-Street parking will be at a premium.
I would recommend having space for at least two vehicles off the street (this can include the garage)
Privacy
When you are squeezing a house on a small block windows are going to be closer to your neighbours on all sides, so overlooking, and being overlooked, is a potential issue.
Orientation
A South facing block with living rooms to the rear (North) is going to give the best results if you are looking for a passive solar house to minimise heating and cooling costs.
Costs
For a rear block you could be hit with extra costs for:
15m plus driveway construction.
Extra utility costs due to distance from existing services.
Builders charging a restricted access fee in addition to the typical/normal advertised price.
Sewer and Drainage Easements
Easements are often run along the back fence of the original block.
A typical 2-3m easement can severely limit what you can build on the block, particularly when you might also have an easement to service the front block running through your block.
I have heard of sewer lines on subdivided blocks running down the middle of the block, so its important you check this before you buy!
Planning
As part of arranging the subdivision the sub-divider will often get planning approval for a type of house.
If that’s not what you want make sure you get the owners written agreement to the design you offer to buy.
It might even be worth making an offer subject to planning permission.
As I haven’t personally built on a subdivided block I may have have missed an issue you have experienced. If you think so why not leave a comment?
To better understand what you can build see Restrictions in the Blocks section
On a summers day, during a period of dry weather, I came across these recently built houses with lines of sandbags!
You would think that the houses must have fronted a river!
Not much chance of getting a car in the garage!
So. . . . What’s the story?
Well its in a long established suburb where large blocks are being subdivided.
That means the drains, which were designed for an estate with lots of gardens, are now in an area where all the water quickly runs of the roofs.
Any heavy rain and the drains become overloaded and then water starts pooling on the road
Well the houses are built facing a low part of the street, so it doesn’t take long for the water level to rise to the footpath level and then start flowing down the driveways.
What makes it even worse is cars driving through the flood water and creating a wash!
Its not unusual to see local flooding around a house, or on streets, during exceptionally heavy rainfall.
If you are unlucky you might even see a manhole ‘Pop It’s Top!’ like this one!
This is because the council drains don’t have the capacity to deal with these really heavy rains!
Why It Happens
The roof drainage to get the water off your roof will be designed for very severe storms.
This is because the risk to your property from gutters and downpipes not being able to cope is very high. (see this link: Roof Risk)
Some localised shallow flooding around the house, that will be drained away over an hour or two, however is low risk.
Council Design Considerations
To design the public drains to cope with extreme events would have huge costs. . . Even if the pipes were big enough downstream flooding of rivers would be made worse.
For this reason although the roof drainage will be designed for a storm that may occur only over every 20, or even more years apart; the public drains may be designed for no more than a storm that occurs every 5 years.
The difference in additional rainfall between a 1 in 5 year storm and a 1 in 20 year storm can be an extra 50%. (See this link: Rainfall Intensity)
This is the water that could cause short term flooding around your house.
What You Can Do
Basically the best advise I can give is to avoid buying blocks at the bottom of slopes (These will be the worst affected by temporary flooding)
If you do get some localised flooding in your garden that either
Doesn’t drain away as the rain eases; or
Occurs every time it rains.
You should contact the council as it could be a sign of a problem.
I see from the papers that a significant number of properties are bought by Chinese Investors.
Also I have noticed many visits to my web site are referred from Australian based Chinese language website oursteps.com.au
So for all my fellow Gweilos’ (Ghost men) here is a quick guide to checking if the street number of the new house block you are buying is, or isn’t, auspicious.
Best Number is 8 八, which signifies Money
Could add thousands to your house price!
Worst number is 4 四, when spoken sounds like Death
Get in some lifts in china and you will find no fourth floor, or 14th floor!
Auspicious Numbers
3 三 – The Mandarin word sounds like “life”. 9 九 – Sounds like the phrase longlasting, also associated with the emperor.
Unlucky Numbers
5 (五 Associated with the word “Not” 13 – Although a Western Superstition this has been adopted by some Chinese
Combination Numbers
A repeated auspicious number like 88 is extremely auspicious
The first number can multiply the effect of an auspicious number – 28 means “Double Money” and 38 means ‘Triple Money’.
5 can negate the effect of an inauspicious number so 54 can become ‘Not Death”
