Removable house moved to vacant block..

[Connolly]

Selamat Siang from Indonesia,

Looking at evolving our strategy a little which to this point has been buy below market value houses on 600+ block that need serious renovations (only cosmetically) in good fundamentally driven markets. We renovate them, tenant, reval and repeat however looking at trying something slightly different on our next purchase

My question; have any other somersofters been through the process of buying a block and transporting a removable house there and creating a new dwelling that way?

If so,
1. Can you detail the timeframe (working with council and planning) to get it across the line
2. Associated costs (transport costs, planning, utilities reconnected, renovating any damage endured, etc)
3. How the numbers stacked up initially and upon reval
4. Would you do it again?

Cheers
Ben

 

[nww]

What do you mean by removable house??

If its like a mobile house which comes in two sections and has a chassis
you will find some councils will not allow them.

 

[chindonly]

Prefabricated home vs relocatable home??

 

[Connolly]

What do you mean by removable house??

If its like a mobile house which comes in two sections and has a chassis
you will find some councils will not allow them.

As in a house that is split in two, put on a truck and transported to the given site/ block.

Common for developers to sell an existing dwelling on a block prior to commencing a new project, saves them paying demolition costs.

 

[Connolly]

Prefabricated home vs relocatable home??

Hey chindonly,
Not prefab; existing older dwelling.

 

[Tim86]

Most new blocks are 10m wide, most removal houses are wider than that. So that's your first hurdle. The removal houses can be very expensive. So you have to get it for less than they usually go for. Usually when the seller just wants it gone. Stumping will sting you for a fair bit, two or three times more than diy. Councils can also hold a bond until you've finished. So that might be $60 000 you've got to cough up. Banks won't lend against a removal house like they will with a normal construction loan. So you've got to come up with a cool $150 000 to do the project and pay the bond.

Throw in some extra fees from the engineer to say the house can be removed, and lots of council fees.

I think that's all the bad points.

 

[nww]

Ok so your in Perth so you need advice on the requirements there for removal.

Here in NSW is has become unviable for certain homes , all Asbestos has to
be removed before transport so buying an Asbestos clad home and transporting is
not possible now , also Roads and maritime now require nothing over 6.0 m??
so where a previous house could be cut in two , they now require three cuts
so again makes it hard , because if this some house movers have closed up shop over here.

 

[serendip]

Ok so your in Perth so you need advice on the requirements there for removal.

Here in NSW is has become unviable for certain homes , all Asbestos has to
be removed before transport so buying an Asbestos clad home and transporting is
not possible now , also Roads and maritime now require nothing over 6.0 m??
so where a previous house could be cut in two , they now require three cuts
so again makes it hard , because if this some house movers have closed up shop over here.

Great info, this has been bubbling in my mind, good to know the challenges

 

[Connolly]

Most new blocks are 10m wide, most removal houses are wider than that. So that's your first hurdle. The removal houses can be very expensive. So you have to get it for less than they usually go for. Usually when the seller just wants it gone. Stumping will sting you for a fair bit, two or three times more than diy. Councils can also hold a bond until you've finished. So that might be $60 000 you've got to cough up. Banks won't lend against a removal house like they will with a normal construction loan. So you've got to come up with a cool $150 000 to do the project and pay the bond.

Throw in some extra fees from the engineer to say the house can be removed, and lots of council fees.

I think that's all the bad points.

Thanks Tim, lots of solid info in there
Have you done this before?
Can you detail the notion of the bond? Why would council require a bond and is the bond amount a percentage of block value and or is it a council by council requirement?

Also if you have done before- how did it pan out.... The numbers never lie!

 

[Tim86]

Thanks Tim, lots of solid info in there
Have you done this before?
Can you detail the notion of the bond? Why would council require a bond and is the bond amount a percentage of block value and or is it a council by council requirement?

Also if you have done before- how did it pan out.... The numbers never lie!

My dad has done it a heap of times. I'm currently in the process of doing it. Council charges a bond so that if the person puts an ugly removal house on a block, and then just leaves it there, council can use the bond to finish the job.

However bond by rights should only be $10 000 in my opinion, considering that's all it would cost to knock down the house. But council will charge you more like $50k+ in bond. Not sure how they work it out, I haven't gotten to the stage of paying the bond yet.

I'll be posting my experience over the next 4 months with the project here: http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106129&highlight=removal