joeyb

We do not leave for Oz until next Summer but are thinking of buying a block of land over there before the year is out. We notice that prices in QLD are on the up so thought that we would buy it early. We originally thought about buying a house but we have always dreamed of building our own. Husband is a builder so that will help!!

I need some pointers/advice on what we need to do when buying land; such as are there any hidden costs to the prices stated by the agents, what about services to the land, average frontage we need to look for?
How long would the whole process take on average from having an offer accepted to completion?

Any advice (good or bad), checklists, etc most welcome as always

Cheers
Jo

superchick

Prices are definately on the up. We are just buyng a 6000sq.M plot near Caboolture, the further out you go from Brisbane the more you get but plots this size are rare. At Warner for example the biggest plot you can get is 600sq.M for the same as we are paying. Worth shopping around but close to the city is expensive and the plots are small.

joeyb

Thanks superchick.

This may sound a bit thick but do they come with permission to build or is this something you have to apply for (like UK planning permission)?

Cheers
Jo

walaj

one bit of advice we had was to choose the house first, then get a suitable block of land (as not all houses can be built/adapted to all blocks of land).

The area you want to buy, you need to be aware of the council requirements - for us there are a lot of regulations that a lot of builders won't build in the area or v few of their range they will build. This re project houses.

When I enquire re land, I want to know the street frontage width, shape of the plot (thus the other diamensions), aspect (nth/sth etc) to rear, is it a battleaxe or is there one behind, slope & if L to R or front to back, and of course guide price.

If there is an existing house to allow for knock down (likey to be dble brick, which is more than brick veneer)
What trees would need to be taken down & if you would get council approval

Viewing the site - any visable rock (adds to site costs)

Here in NSW rates are paid from purchase of land, even if nothing to live in!

service - depend if you are building in middle of nowhere or suburbia

planning - of course. For this council, need approval to demolish a house, to cut down most trees, and def for the house.

prob some bits missed out, but enough to keep you going for now

Wol

It's a truism that, in the more populated areas, all the best lots have been taken and built on a long time ago. Therefore you either look elsewhere or buy a rundown place and D9 it (pull it down).

If a lot *is* available in a desirable area, look closely at the reason for it not being previously sold: could be difficult land, access or any of a hundred reasons. If it's a question of a difficult site requiring expensive foundations (as ours was) it might be a buy if you are prepared for the expense.

Don't rush into buying: there are a lot of sharks here and it's too easy to get bulldozed into buying land that has problems.

NEVER buy without casing the area by day and night, weekday and weekend, and take the time to chat to the neighbours: mines of information.

And, the more you learn about a site the more you can find out: if a neighbour thinks you know more than you actually do he will always come out with things that he might not otherwise tell! You actually end up knowing a lot more than they do - and certainly more than the agents, who define the word "lazy"!

paulhill

Hi,

Where abouts in QLD are you planning to move to? We purchased some land at Pacific Pines on the Gold Coast in February (3 weeks after we arrived here) and are glad we did. We purchased a 1000sqm plot and now the biggest on offer (on the last release) was 800sqm. Why not come over for a holiday before then you can look at the areas you are thinking of purchasing at?

Hope this helps.

Sue

PS We are orginally from Lytham - small world!

JohnandMichelle

We're in the middle of building and the only problem we found is that the builder we chose wanted to check out the block of land we bought before being able to give us a price.

walaj

we've decided which house, then when a possible bit of land comes up for sale, we ask them to look at it and they quickly produce a tender for that land. So whilst we did not get one land we bid on at auction, we have a good idea of costs for a tender we are about to receive for another bit of land that is for sale.

BrisbaneBound2008

Hi Jo,
Where in QLD are you planning on moving to? We recently visited Springfield Lakes area - unbelievable how much development is going on and how much land in being released. We hopefully plan to buy a lot (not plot - thats a completley different thing over in Aus - think funerals!) and build, my husbands a builder too (bricklayer by trade)!

After spending 5weeks looking about we decided that if we were buying first off then we'd buy an established house and in the future build our own with Ian's fair hands. He wants to work there a bit first and see how things are done, get contacts etc, as building will be different out there - different building regs, keeping heat out and not in etc! In Springfield Lakes they will be developing for next 10yrs - it really is quite something! The main company selling the land etc is http://www.delfin.com.au/ - perhaps you can speak to them for ideas/tips?

joeyb

Thanks everyone for your replies. They have all been very helpful and given me loads of extra research to do (I live on the internet at the moment!).

Basically, we are looking to live between a suburb called Regents Park (South Brisbane - we have family there) and the Gold Coast. I have heard of Springfield lakes before but a bit unsure of exactly where it is. Also, same with Pacific Pines. I will look into them both.

Brisbanebound2008 - Thanks for the info and link. My husband's a brickie by trade as well. We should meet up over there! Would be interesting to see what the work situation is like!

Sue (Paulhill) - Lytham! You are right, it is a small world. There are a couple of others who post on here who are also from Thornton!


Once again thanks everyone and I'll let you know how we get on.

Jo

sassie

Hi. Just to add to everyone else's comments, if you buy land in a new estate/development,then quite often the developers will impose a covenant whereby you have to have started building within a certain time. Where we are, it was 9 months.

Also, if you are looking to build between South Brisbane and the Gold Coast, I would recommend checking out Jacobs Ridge at Ormeau, which is 1/2 way between the two. We built our home there 12 months ago, and wouldn't live anywhere else.

BrisbaneBound2008

Good luck Jo, I'm sure I'll be posting away when we get there re jobs for brickies so look out for them! Would be good to met up - we should be there end of May - Catherine