Would You buy this property?

[schebib]

I turned up late to an auction today for a rundown property on a large block. As a result I missed the auction, however as the property was passed in, I am considering putting an offer early next week.

I haven’t seen the s32 yet, in the meantime just by doing a simple Google search I discovered that the property has a Heritage overlay on it. The heritage overlay is due to it being in one of the firsts concrete housing estates built in Vic.

Pros
- Close to shopping centres, trains (Zone1), cafe's, schools all less than 5 mins walk
- Large block (728 sqm)

Cons
- Heritage Overlay
- Directly next door to a school
- Steep renovation costs (approx $70k- $80k to bring it to a comfortable liveable state)
- concrete house (is this a pro?)

I intend to do my DD on Monday and speak with Council about my options, however in the meantime I thought I’d get some opinions here...

1. Would you buy a property with a heritage overlay? If you’ve done it before, what have your experiences been like dealing with council? Is it worth the pain? What should I look out for? I’m intending to renovate the front house, subdivide and build a unit or two at rear.

2. Would you buy next door to a school? Besides the school bells and announcements going off, pick up/drop off traffic, is there any other cons for being next door?

3. The Department of Education own the property. It seems like the property hasn’t been lived in for over 10 years. How would this change your offer strategy? I’m assuming since it isn’t an emotional decision by the vendor, I should be able to get a bargain. Not like the public servant will get a cut from the selling price.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Sam

 

[saiman]

Only depends on one thing - price

 

[Aaron_C]

Heritage Overlay is no big deal - not really a 'con' unless you are intending to bulldoze the whole thing. It tends to increase values in the area because all the original period homes are preserved on the street and hence increases the appeal. Which suburb?

 

[JessP]

3. The Department of Education own the property. It seems like the property hasn’t been lived in for over 10 years. How would this change your offer strategy? I’m assuming since it isn’t an emotional decision by the vendor, I should be able to get a bargain. Not like the public servant will get a cut from the selling price.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Sam

This can sometimes be a bad thing as well because the DOE doesn't necessarily NEED the money whereas a vendor usually does and so can be more willing to negotiate.

The H/O could mean lots of different things but in and of itself is not a problem depending on what you want to do. You probably can't subdivide because of it though.

 

[travelbug]

Is this to rent or live in?
Might have difficulty getting tenants.
I looked at a house next to a school once.

I work in a school and know the number of complaints you get from neighbours. Bells, announcements. People parking in driveway. Kids hanging around and going in the yard. High school would be more of a turnoff than a primary school. At least parents pick up little kids and they are all gone in 10-15 minutes. High schoolers hang around.

Nope. Not for me.

 

[MTR]

We lived opposite a primary school and Travelbug has mentioned just some of the issues, I will like to add that whenever the school needs maintenance they do this over the weekend and start at 7.00 am a real pain. Children also like to use the school on weekends to hang out.

I would never buy a property next to a school.


Cheers MTR