Are there advantages in buying the neighbour's house?

[Seeka]

The house beside my IP has come up for sale. Both properties are council listed as RES A and so can't be subdivided (I believe). Would there be any special advantage in buying the neighbouring home (if the price was right) above buying in another location? The neighbouring home is on a corner block.

Thanks

Seeka

 

[Sultan of Swing]

Hi Seeka

Without knowing the location etc, buying the next door neighbour may have some huge advantages.

It will give you a large parcel of land ideal for future development for units or townhouses and a corner block would normally also be an added bonus because it makes gives you more options with access etc.

Building up a large parcel of land is referred to as 'land banking',

Not knowing the area you're in though, just check that those sort of developments are something that could be done there. Me being in a regional town, there are parts of town here that I'd steer away from as far as development went, ie housing commission areas.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers

 

[willair]

The house beside my IP has come up for sale. Both properties are council listed as RES A and so can't be subdivided (I believe). Would there be any special advantage in buying the neighbouring home (if the price was right) above buying in another location? The neighbouring home is on a corner block.



Seeka,
imho,
i think it would depend on the land size,and if you can rezone the property
for developers some time in the future,location in Brisbane plays a big
part and the proximity to the CBD,ring up the BCC and ask the
question,if you own both blocks is subdivision on the cards,
but im told that very soon you will be unable to split any
block under 900sm,im just unsure if that is in place..
good luck
willair........

 

[Bargain Hunter]

Council Development Control Plan

Hi Seeka,

You will need to get a Development Control Plan from your council relating to Development in their Residential Zones.

This will outline what requirements are to be meet in order to convert two blocks in to three or other proposals.

For instance one of our properties is on a corner block and is sub-dividable. However the same size block with a standard street frontage cannot be sub-divided.

Regards

Andrew

 

[lizzie]

agree that you need to know exactly what your council will allow - in our area a corner block allows increased development by 30% above standard. this means for a res block only needs to be over 230m for a 2bed instead of the normal 330m.

if this is also the case in your area another idea may be to combine the two blocks so that both become "corner" block, hence increase the capacity of your current own block, and then perhaps do a small multi-dwelling development (townhouses/duplexes) across both blocks.

just an idea to increase developmentability - if you go down this path make sure torrens title, which is nearly as good as subdivision (torrens means the owner can do what they like to their own space without permission from the others).

 

[Kamak]

Can someone say "land bank". I am hoping to soon combine two adjacent blocks then subdivide so I can get a normal block and a duplex block where now I just have two normal blocks. Apparently pretty easy to do.

 

[Rixter]

The house beside my IP has come up for sale. Both properties are council listed as RES A and so can't be subdivided (I believe). Would there be any special advantage in buying the neighbouring home (if the price was right) above buying in another location? The neighbouring home is on a corner block.

Thanks

Seeka

Seeka, it all depends on your goals, objectives and time frames as to what strategy/s you intend to apply in relation to using property as your chosen investment vehicle. If purchasing the property fits into your big property picture then yes maybe its worth looking into further.

What I find alot of newbie or inexperienced property investors is that they dont know what it is they want and by doing so dont have any real set strategy or plan. In turn they end up wasting time and floundering from one idea/s or strategy to another.

The point I'm trying to make here is that it's "what your trying to achieve" in the time frame/s you've alotted that will determine the what, where & how of property investing.

Hope this helps.

 

[Seeka]

Thanks for all the advice. Although my plans are just buy and hold at the moment, having the option to develop because of a larger land parcel has to be advantageous - maybe for me in the future or for resale.
Will talk to council as suggested and get some more info.
Thanks
Seeka

 

[wylie]

I'd go for it. We have just bought the house behind another IP. Really scary mortgage payments, heavily negatively geared, but the opportunity to get 72 perches with two street access was too good to pass up.

I'm confused about Res A. My understanding is that under the City Plan there is no such thing as Res A and Res B anymore, but I notice real estate agents still put it in some ads.

I am happy to be put straight, but I thought under the new plan, that anything can be built anywhere, as long as it fits in with the City Plan. For example, a house in our street (was Res A under the old Town Plan) auctioned a couple of years ago was being fought for by a townhouse developer and a family. Luckily the family got it because on 60 perches we could have had townhouses opposite. Instead the house has had a pile of money thrown at it and the value of the street has increased more than if some townhouses had been built (in my opinion).

Can anyone tell me whether Res A and Res B still exist?

Thanks, Wylie.

 

[khangu]

Res A & B do not exist anymore.

It'll be Low or Low-Medium density now. If check bi-map, that will tell you what zoning it is. If you don't have bi-map, check with your RE.

 

[Seeka]

Good for you Whylie on buying the two blocks! Good luck with owning those 72 perches.

Saw the Res A on some RP data info, so it may be out of date. Will inquire further to get a better understanding.

Nonetheless, I will only consider the property if it is in itself a good buy. Having the two together for me would be a potential bonus at this stage, but not the objective in itself.

Thanks

Seeka

ps (Glad none of those property developers got their hands on property in your street ! )