Dear Hernan,
Welcome to the forum.
Before you purchased this property you must have had an idea as to what you were going to do with it. Otherwise on what basis and fundamentals did you purchase it on?
I have done some research and apparently i can build a warehouse on it. But i feel the costs and risk involved in not being able to rent it out is quite big, given my cash flow doesnt look so pretty.
Time for you to do some more research.
Do you have a zoning map for the area?
What has been done with the neighbouring properties? (Are they warehouses or light industry?)
Is it on the edge of the "future industry" zoned area or in the middle?
Is it beside a main road? (What type of traffic goes past the property?)
Is it within 500 metres of a train station or shopping centre?
Council will always have a range of uses that various zoned land can be used for. Study this. Work out what your end objective is and then it will be easier to find the best road to achieve this. Do you want to increase the yield of the property? Do you want to value add? Do you want to keep it or onsell it?
After knowing the range of uses for the zoning then you can do some research as to what is specifically needed in the area and the types of returns you can expect to receive for it.
Does anyone have experience rezoning future industry and could anyone give some suggestions how to best add value to the property?
Again research first. Then develop a basic idea what you want to do with it.
Some possibilities:
If busy road:
-Put a billboard on front of the property. Substantially increase the yield on your property and get your cheapest commercial property.
If residential activity is allowed on block:
-Dual occupancy with second dwelling being placed in a position that would allow for possible subdivision later. (Note you can do a subdivision first but it will add more time to your development process, add more to your ongoing rates (Is important if you are going to permanently hold it) and you may have more problems with your current lender. A quicker way to bring in a second revenue stream on the property and then gives you time to go through the approval process for the subdivision (If you want to.)
If demand in the area:
-Make a proposal for a self-storage unit complex. Get approval and then approach bigger operators to purchase the block from yourself with the approval. Or go through the full development process yourself.
Again I do not recommend you going out and attempting to rezone it without knowing what your end objective is for this property. Once you have worked this out and you still purely want a rezoning without doing anything to the block, find yourself a knowledgeable local surveyor who operates in the local council area. He should be able to guide you through the process and put in the application for you.
“Knowledge in Continuous Action = Results” - Terence Tam
Terence is a nice guy. I have met him. However I was concerned about his research relevant to finding cashflow positive properties. He said he couldn't find anything cashflow positive except for inner city apartments which he invested in. This was 12-18 months ago.
Let us know how you go.
Cheers,
Sunstone.
