Your advice appreciated: Buying a free standing property facing a car park

[Louisianna]

Hi All,

I would love to hear what people think about buying a free standing house that is opposite a council car park in the Inner West, Sydney.

Inspected the property a few times on various days and times and it seems to be pretty quiet. Traffic noise is also not an issue.

What do you guys think? Would this deter you from buying?

Cheers,
Louisianna.

 

[Spades]

Hiya Louisianna,
Ppor or ip?
Cheers Spades.

Ps.Btw welcome to to a fantastic forum.

 

[Louisianna]

Hi Spades,

Thanks for responding. Still working out how to use this forum. Also think its a great place to pick out the brains and thoughts of all the savvy buyers and investors out there

The property is for PPOR. It's moments (less than 5 minute) walking distance to the cafe/shopping strip so it has the convenience factor.

Louisianna.

 

[Louisianna]

No-one has any thoughts to share?

 

[Belu]

it would be really handy when having a party to have heaps of car parking available?

 

[Louisianna]

@ Belu - I certainly did not expect that response. I guess a car park can come handy in that way

I'm more interested if anyone thinks this would devalue the property when trying to sell. This is what concerns me. Or would buyers overlook this due to the close proximity to the cafe/shops etc?

 

[MTR]

Hi Louisianna

It limits your market when selling, because not everyone wants to live opposite a council car park, high traffic area at certain times of the day, noise, litter etc, just like some people would not buy opposite a school, church etc.

I would personally not buy opposite a car park considering that it would be your primary residence, street scape is very important to me and I would find it quite depressing having a view of a car park.

Will it reduce the value of the property, not sure? How long has this property been on the market? Is it cheaper than comparable properties in the area?

I do not like the fact that you have no control over what can happen to this area/car park in the future. I would move on.

MTR

 

[BayView]

Hi All,

I would love to hear what people think about buying a free standing house that is opposite a council car park in the Inner West, Sydney.

Inspected the property a few times on various days and times and it seems to be pretty quiet. Traffic noise is also not an issue.

What do you guys think? Would this deter you from buying?

Cheers,
Louisianna.

Opposite a Council park is not that much of a problem on its own.

It would depend on the wider picture a bit -
Is it on a main road (not as attractive)
Is it near to public transport such as train, bus and/or freeway (more attractive)
Is it near to schools, decent shopping, hospitals, etc (more attractive)
Does the traffic around the park on busier times create problems for parking, and access for residents (not as attractive).

It may be advisable to do a more thorough scan of the wider area for these other criteria.

 

[Louisianna]

Just to set the scene, the suburb is less than 10km from Sydney and will be undergoing gentrification soon. It's also close to the bay run.

Here's my attempt at answering Bayview's questions, plus some:
1. It's not on a main road
2. It's moments from the bus stop (<5min walk)
3. The suburb has no train line and no foreseeable plans to build one.
4. <10 min drive to the ferry
5. Two streets away from a primary school
6. Moments from cafe/deli/supermarket/library etc (<5min walk)
7. No parking in front of the house
8. Car park is generally full so people also park on the street

MTR, those are my concerns and it's doing my head in!!

 

[Spades]

G'morn Louisianna,

I'd be more concerned living across from a school than a council carpark.

Good prox to cbd.

Do you like the area?How long do you plan to live there?

Do you know if there is much interest in the property?

Obviously you can see past some of the fog re:gentrification.

Cheers Spades.

 

[chilliblue]

Post some images if you want a more detailed reponse.

The outlook, proximity, gardening and the like will all have an impact on the answer.

 

[Spades]

Hiya chilliblue,
Personally i wouldn't post images of the prop,what's to stop someone looking it up on re/com,it's not hard.

Cheers Spades.

 

[MTR]

Just to set the scene, the suburb is less than 10km from Sydney and will be undergoing gentrification soon. It's also close to the bay run.

Here's my attempt at answering Bayview's questions, plus some:
1. It's not on a main road
2. It's moments from the bus stop (<5min walk)
3. The suburb has no train line and no foreseeable plans to build one.
4. <10 min drive to the ferry
5. Two streets away from a primary school
6. Moments from cafe/deli/supermarket/library etc (<5min walk)
7. No parking in front of the house
8. Car park is generally full so people also park on the street

MTR, those are my concerns and it's doing my head in!!

I am now very anal when it comes to location... as we purchased opposite a primary school 21 years ago, lived there for 16 years, I was never happy with the location, in fact it made me miserable, ie noise, people parking on my verge, litter, people utilising school on w/ends and many more issues.

I was also concerned it would not sell due to location, when we finally decided to sell, it sold before it hit the market, the people interested were those who had young children and saw the benefits/convenience living opp a school. Perhaps I got a little paranoid, funny thing is we purchased it for $185,000 and sold it 16 years later for $1.325M (5 years ago now), one of the best performing properties we ever owned.

A side issue, the school got burnt down by some children, I think 2 years ago now, its costing government $8M to rebuild, there is no control with regards to what Government will build, I would expect a much larger building, considering the area is surrounded by period homes this would definitely kill the street scape.

My point is if you have concerns about the public parking and this will be your primary residence don't buy it, you are kidding yourself because it will always be an issue, I know been down this road. Buy in the best location that you can afford and keep your sanity.

MTR

 

[LoneWolf]

Perhaps I got a little paranoid, funny thing is we purchased it for $185,000 and sold it 16 years later for $1.325M (5 years ago now), one of the best performing properties we ever owned.

I really wonder if we still can see this kinda of growth in near future, including my own IP's & PPOR

 

[Spades]

Anyone,

Would it be possible for Louisianna to ask council to allocate carspot out front of said property and erect sign eg:Resident parking only,illegal parkers will be towed etc?

Parking meter?Extra income

Cheers Spades.

 

[MTR]

I really wonder if we still can see this kinda of growth in near future, including my own IP's & PPOR

This is certainly well out of the range of what you would expect property to perform even in boom times.

I have read many posts where investors state that in today's market "we will not experience the property growth that was achieved in the last decade". I disagree, perhaps not the example I posted, however some markets have been moving 20-30%+ over the last 2 years, I consider this a very healthy profit for just sitting on your hands. We will always have boom/bust cycles this wont change.

 

[Spades]

Nice result MTR,

Period homes will always do well and i presume yours was?

Cheers Spades.

 

[chilliblue]

Hiya chilliblue,
Personally i wouldn't post images of the prop,what's to stop someone looking it up on re/com,it's not hard.

Cheers Spades.

Images of the car park and its proximity to the proposed purchase are what I proposed.

You cannot answer this type of question without them to any great degree of comment.

 

[Louisianna]

@MTR - WOW. That's a fantastic result! You did very well!! It was worth the misery don't you think???

The car park as-is does not really bother me. It's quiet. I lived opposite a community pool once and OMG that drove me insane!! The noise and trespassers at night was a major major issue.

The house is a period home. Has some of the lovely features that go with it too - lead light windows, fireplace (not working) and high ornate ceilings. But that's where it ends. It's untouched so will need the love put back it in as the bathroom, kitchen needs to be replaced, old carpet pulled out, floorboards polished and definitely a lick of paint on all the walls.

I love the suburb! It's probably the only place I can afford in the Inner West at the moment. The suburb has a lovely village vibe. A bit tired, but I expect that to change in the next 5-10 years as the council has plans to make it a more vibrant one.

@Spades - Great idea, though I doubt council will lax their no parking restrictions. Guess I'll just have to start asking council if a driveway can be put in front of the house. Neighbours have done the same too, so I don't expect this to be an issue.

A few people are interested. Offers being placed but the house will go to Auction. I'm planning on living there for at least a decade.

 

[Spades]

Images of the car park and its proximity to the proposed purchase are what I proposed.

Fair enough but what's to stop crawlers from using str33tview?Espesh when rough coordinates have been posted.


@Louisianna,

Imo,i think the only issue here is the driveway and as you mentioned it may not be a problem as per other neighbors.
You've done your dd on the noise factor,amongst other things.Good luck at the auction if you go for it and please post some pics if you get it.I lurve period homes.

Cheers Spades.