Building a dual occ in Newcastle

[Simon]

I have just been offered a 900+m site in Newcastle and am considering buying it and building two homes on it.

Has anyone on the forum had some development experience in Newcastle?

Obviously finance is no problem I just need to make sure I understand the whole process. Some of my questions are

What is involved with the DA and what might it cost?

Should I consider doing the owner builder course or just find a builder to take it on?

I am also considering whether to go into a JV or just fund it myself and sell one on completion or off the plan.

If there are any Novocastrians who have some experience with this then I'd love to buy you a coffee!

Cheers,

[Macca]

Simon,

What suburb is it ?

If you go to Ncle Council they will show you a map of the city showing permitted density. With 900m2 you may be able to do more than 2.

To cut off a block in Port Stephens costs about $20k. I would think it will be similar in Ncle.


Macca

[Simon]

Thanks Macca,

The land is in Kahiba and I was thinking that three might fit but I will go into the council on Monday.

Cheers,

[Macca]

I thought Kahibah was Lake Mac.

Kahibah can be steep in parts, what is it like. I find that builders are very fussy these days. They seem to have forgotten how to build on a slope. If it is not fairly flat they really charge a premium.

Would be good renters though, close to Charlestown

Macca

[Simon]

Macca,

Are you in Newcastle? Tried to PM you but couldn't. Can you email or PM me a contact number for a quick chat?

Cheers,

[StevenO]

Hello Macca,

I'm in the process of doing my first sub-division which happens to be in Port Stephens. I'm learning as I go and would like to hear from someone who has already done one here, if you wouldn't mind dropping me an email sometime.

Regards,

Steve.

[Jas]

Try looking in the yellow pages for 'town planner consultants'. These guys will help you with the DA. Cause I'm planning on doing it in another city, it's handy to have someone there who's both an expert, and on my side.

I spoke with one who is willing to have a looksee over places that I'm thinking of buying and will give me an 'off the cuff' idea of the difficulty in putting it through council.

Cause he's doing it for free, I wouldn't abuse it thou.

Jas