Grand Designs - For Sale

W

wylie

The house that was built at Cottage Point has come on the market. I put a search on because at the end of the build it seemed that, whilst the end result was fantastic, it cost a lot more and it was hinted that he might not be able to hold it.

I remember thinking at the time that he wanted this spot for his children, and if he had reigned in the ideas and costs, he could still have had a lovely house but more likely be able to afford to stay there.

What a pity if he has had to sell for financial reasons. That would be tough to have build a dream home and not be able to keep it.

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-cottage+point-107240820?rsf=emailalert-propdetails
 
If he'd foregone the media room, the gym and the nightclub (nightclub??) maybe he could have held on.

Some people throw rationality out the window as soon as they start building.
 
Amadio said:
If he'd foregone the media room, the gym and the nightclub (nightclub??) maybe he could have held on.

Some people throw rationality out the window as soon as they start building.
Click to expand...
See, those things would actually put me off buying the home. The rest of it is just spectacular. All you need is a few rooms with lots of glass and the pool. The location does the rest.
 
wylie said:
The house that was built at Cottage Point has come on the market. I put a search on because at the end of the build it seemed that, whilst the end result was fantastic, it cost a lot more and it was hinted that he might not be able to hold it.

I remember thinking at the time that he wanted this spot for his children, and if he had reigned in the ideas and costs, he could still have had a lovely house but more likely be able to afford to stay there.

What a pity if he has had to sell for financial reasons. That would be tough to have build a dream home and not be able to keep it.

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-cottage+point-107240820?rsf=emailalert-propdetails
Click to expand...

I live not that far from Cottage Point, and bumped into the guy literally the day after watching the program on TV. He was in the car with his kids and I went up and asked him if he still had the house. He said he was still "holding on" but I later said to my wife that he had a look of resignation in his eye when he said that. Shame really.
 
there were some sad stories ,on grand desighns, i was going through similiar issues building this home of mine , income gone and the GFC, changed the world , reling on the capital gains means that we just had to hold the massive mortgage long enough to see through the termoil, that proceeded,
we built 700m2, and are soon to sell , believing that re investing our profit into other IP's , thus allowing other people to pay the mortgages ,

After seeing what these people went through, i knew i had walked in their exact shoes , size shape and desighn.:(
 
Ms Jade said:
See, those things would actually put me off buying the home. The rest of it is just spectacular. All you need is a few rooms with lots of glass and the pool. The location does the rest.
Click to expand...

the down fall as i see it was selling his buisiness, no income = no money.
thats the way banks see it most of the time , this then leads you to 10% loans and even on interest only it kills ya!

M$$ homes like this on would still leave a short fall of 4k a month even if the rooms were rented out seperatly, and when the top end dips it realy dips, take it from me stick to simple homes and keep buying them untill they make you 3k a week to follow the MC mansion idea!
 
Thank you very much for posting that. I looked last week and it hadn't come up.

I was very saddened at the very heavy development on that block. The end result wasn't completely awful, but so sad to put something so big and heavy on a delicate block. And his 'landscaping' was nothing more than trying to re-create Surrey (ie deliberate weed infestation) in an hitherto relatively untouched area. I view that as criminal in itself.

I have a passion for Hawkesbury real estate and cringe when I see some of these things being built.

Glenn Murcutt has become a reasonable acquaintance of mine - he just says 'it takes all sorts'. I get upset:( Especially when the clowns at RFS and council basically tell you to rip up the landscape to build concrete boxes. Hornsby Council dictates you can't cut into the natural ground fall by more than 1m - but that doesn't stop anyone doing it...

They are hoping for $6m+... Hope they get it (makes my places worth more) but I think that might be a bit of a stretch in this market, my 'feeling' is things - especially for 'lifestyle' properties - have quietened down quite a lot since Christmas....
 
Yeah, way too much for that site, but gee there are some nice elements in that house - that overhang with the louvres, the raked ceiling with the sloping glass gable etc.

But a 'nightclub' in a house on the Hawkesbury? What a dill.
 
often, when watching the uk grand designs of pre-2008, i wonder how many of them managed to survive the gfc and what their multimillion$ houses are worth now.

was watching one last night where they paid 1mil pounds for the run down folly, and then probably another 1/2mil+ for the reno ... and (from memory) he was a merchant bank IT guy.

a for the house re this thread ... there is no accounting for common sense (phffff - nightclub!) and as for "blending with the bush" (abulltishit!) i think it's an ugly house from the outside and could have been so much better done.

rather embarrasing that these types of houses are being put up as australia's grand designs
 
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Can't believe they wouldn't put a floor plan up of the house. Such a huge house but left with no idea what is where and how big the rooms are.
 
lawsjs said:
They are hoping for $6m+... Hope they get it (makes my places worth more) but I think that might be a bit of a stretch in this market, my 'feeling' is things - especially for 'lifestyle' properties - have quietened down quite a lot since Christmas....
Click to expand...

Not sure if that price was in the ad when you wrote it, but looking at the price guide in the source code, it's saying $3M-$5M, so that's a fair way short of what they wanted originally then.
 
The original house and land, which was knocked down, the guy bought for $1.7-ish (according to onthehouse.com) ... and the build wouldn't have come in much under $1.5 ...

I've got the DVD series and have been watching them again - really enjoyed the burnt down house, the small house and the prefab house.

Bet the prefab firm made a bucket out of it as the house was really nice ... but was interesting to see, one it got on site, how small things, like windows lining up with the view, didn't quite work.

There's a house being built near out (different st) where it has fabulous views but the house just doesn't take advantage of them at all (small boxy windows - stairwell in the middle of where the view should be etc) ... according to the builder, the owners skimped on the architects fees and employeed some real cheapie.
 
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