spalen

Just looking at buying a first house in Aus but have the option of building too.

In UK building your own was a sure fire way to increase the value of the house ,ie Resale Value was always greater than House Build + Land Costs.

Is the same true in Aus? I know its subject to all sorts of variables like the market fluctuation etc ,but does the same generalism hold true here? Or because self-building is so common is it less valued and they just net-out the same at the end.?

One reason I thought of that a built house would be worth more than a plot+self build is that you have to fund it for 6-8mths whilst its being built so there is the 'double' mortgage etc.

Also interested to hear any wisdom on corner-plots vs central plots. Corner plot in UK psyche is goodness because of space on one side, even if its a road, but where we are looking lots of corner plots seem to be available whilst the central ones have all but gone... ( I know I can ask the agent butI want some speaking without forked tongue).

We're not primarily looking to build to make money - this is our home after all and not looking at it opportunistically but on the other hand if there is neutral position at the end thats another consideration.

Anne4Terry

[QUOTE=spalen]
Also interested to hear any wisdom on corner-plots vs central plots. Corner plot in UK psyche is goodness because of space on one side, even if its a road, but where we are looking lots of corner plots seem to be available whilst the central ones have all but gone... ( I know I can ask the agent butI want some speaking without forked tongue).
QUOTE]
I've noticed this about corner plots too and couldn't understand why

Be interested to see what answers you get to this.

wanderingwombat

Corner blocks are not popular because of the extra costs in establishing (ie landscaping & no one to share cost of fence) as well as on-going maintenance (extra grass to cut, etc).

Also depends on how much traffic will be using the intersection (noise).

Building setbacks can dramatically reduce the size of the house footprint compared with a centre block.

However flat blocks can be in demand by people with boats, caravans, trucks, etc) as the access to the rear blocks can be easier.

Hope that helps.

WW

ABCDiamond

Are the corner plots more expensive ?

spalen

Not that I can tell from the plans on the place we're looking. I will have a look at other less developed sites where there is a better range of available plots.

PeteY

See if you can contact Ceri.....shes a wealth of building information.

surfdude

Just coming to the end of a build now. When we first starting looking at homes we were strongly advised to go for existing property - already established, no further outlay etc. When we starting looking at houses for sale we noticed that the current owners (in general) were moving to build a new property ! Also, funnily enough their 'standard' 7 year builders guarantee was nearing an end !

We thought well if the Aussies are doing it we will too. Land prices have come down quite a lot in this area but building costs have been steadily rising. The house we have built now costs near $10K more than when we signed our contract !

We built with a builder with a 25 year structural guarantee but found out later that they nearly always class you lot as a 'H' (soil class) thus meaning more money for the foundations. This 'H' class (highly reactive soils - may move) is how they can (again in general) state a 25 year structural warrenty.

Our original budget has risen over $35k and we haven't started the landscaping yet. What you get included in your standard house price is not a lot and therefore you have to pay for the extras, tiling, electrics, TV points ect.

We are, after 17 months of living here very excited about finally having a home BUT it is with a large morgage ! Something we did not expect !

In summary, to build new is a great idea but very expensive. If you find a great established house - I would buy it !

Good luck,
SD

spalen

Good advice - I noticed some of the show homes are all maxxed-up to the hilt wi the optional extras ,no different to test driving a new car I guess they load the best they can. But one we went round had big a4 stickers on nearly every surface saying ' this is extra ' , it was really really offputting made it look like a car-boot sale.

Paul2004

I was recently out near The Gold Coast looking at both land & house packages, plus buying a 'piece of dirt' and getting someone to build on it for me.

Now as to the Corner Plot, I explained to the agent in Oz that Corner plots were sought after in the UK, but he said it was the opposite over there for reasons already stated, but he also said there is a distance you HAVE to keep from your next neighbour's boundary, and if on a corner the distance is bigger! ..... and in turn having less of your land you can actually build on!

Haven't a clue if true, but sounds believable I guess.

In the Coomera area of the Coast, we was looking at 900m blocks for about the $185k and http://www.barryjoneshomes.com.au/Ma...t_Welcome.html will build you a 24sq house for $144k

House comes with carpets, kitchen, etc etc

That's obv a total of $329k (£138k) and we didn't see any land & house packages of this size for this money!

We haven't gone any further to be honest, as altho we was looking, it's a long story as to why, but we have decided to hold tight for now.

*pennies worth!*

PeteY

Remember the extra costs such as connecting the water/power. In some cases this can cost up to $15000.

Paul2004

yeah 'hidden costs' was something I was very dubious about, and prob a big factor why we've put on hold for now! ...

spalen

These are in bayside where plots range from

600 sqm for 500K$ with a glimpse of the bay.
800 sqm (corner) for 280K$
700 sqm (residential street) 320K$

And best of all...
1000sqm plot in raby-bay 1.2m$

My local aussie mate told me that the Raby bay plots were 60K$ 8 yrs ago and people were saying 'crazy who'd pay that for a piece of land out here'. Amazing eh.. And you still see these old houses a bit run down with loads of land round them stuck in the middle of two plots with 1.5m$ houses on them. I dont know why they dont just cash in and flog the house /land to get the 1m$ for the land.

pootle26

another thing to factor when looking at plots for a new build is time - we have a plot but it was going to take 18mths for our house to be built - so thats another 18mths of rent - plus rates for the land - the firebreak has to be done- the land has to be mowed etc - total nightmare - needless to say last weekend we went out & bought an old house - :scared:


ttfn

pootle

A dogs life

We only ever did rough calculations for buying land and building on it, and for the life us we could never get the maths to add up to less than the same land and house already on the market in the same area (Ormiston).

Okay, you would have a newer house (with all the snags and faults that come with a newly built house), but it does not work out cheaper in our calculations.

Oh, and just to be at odds with everyone else. I was always told to avoid corner plots, even in the UK. Lack of privacy (everyone can walk past both parts of your garden, traffic noise, planning laws about building extensions. Anyway, I was given that advice about 8 years ago, and accepted and agreed with it, and have never considered a corner plot in the UK or here. I'm suprised to hear they are sought after

NIGENABBY

Hello

I don't know where you are planning to build, however something else to keep in mind (cost wise) is the stamp duty.

If you build using a house and land package you only pay stamp duty on the land. If you buy a built house you pay on the total.

Eg, $200K stamp duty $7,660 - land only
$500K stamp duty $25,660 - house and land

calculator site
http://www.sro.vic.gov.au/sro/sroweb...set=iso-8859-1

Also you will find many builders now offer 'all inclusive' prices for home, including all carpets, tiles, fixtures etc, rather than just a basic cost that can escalate out of control before you notice.