timsorrell

Hi Essexnobby
It’s been a long while since I went on the Britishexpats board and thought I’d take a look. Just like to reassure you that Samford downs is nothing like an “estate�! In fact I only heard someone refer to it as the estate after being here for two years and I thought they were joking! We’re talking about a wonderfully green area that’s 3 miles wide and .5 to .75 miles high, with acreage plots from 1 to 3 acres + 40 acre hill tops, an array of cul de sacs, and a sprinkling of parks. Each home is totally unique and the area looks fantastic! The earlier stages of the downs probably have better screening because the trees are more mature…. Recent stages have houses that are a bit closer together e.g. 1 to 1.5 acres. It was when we took a drive through the later stages of the downs that we realised we wanted to be somewhere in Samford downs. It is nice to have separation, yet still have quite a number of neighbours!

To get acreage areas for slightly less money, but still close to Samford, don’t forget Camp Mountain, Wight’s mountain which are off the Samford Road. Also there’s Samsonvale, Bunya, Clear Mountain, Cedar Creek and Warner. While I love and recommend Samford to everyone, there's every reason to consider buying land further out and perhaps getting something bigger, or saving/investing your surplus. We have friends in all these areas and again, and all of these homes are wonderful. In fact, when driving around the Samford area, you keep coming across yet another long road that disappears off into the distance up to the foot of yet another mountain that you haven’t seen before… it’s amazing just how much land there is around here! You can also trek out another 20 mins from Samford to Dayboro which is presently a growth area but remain good value… and some very large parcels of land are available.

We do want to pursue our dream of building a house to our own design, and now that we feel established and have many friends here, we don’t think we will feel isolated even if we were out on a larger piece of land with less neighbours. The idea of having a larger piece of land is to provide scope for all the extras that you may want to create over the years (tennis court, pool, orchard, shed, teenage retreat, relative’s property for some ideas!)… not to mention the investment potential for further subdivision many years later. I guess that we wouldn’t want to go through the arduous process of building our own house more than once, so getting the right plot is important. I can see therefore that we may soon sell and move out a further 5 minutes from the village in order to buy 5 to 10 acres. It will be a great shame to leave the Downs and we’ll miss it very much . I just hope we can find somewhere with similar elevation and a great view, or we might just end up staying put!

Thought you might like to see a view across the Samford Downs from the deck outside our bedroom shown below! Wish I had a wide angle lens to get more of the mountain in.

For those who really don’t want to hassle of looking after acreage, I’ve seen some very nice houses near Samford at Albany Creek, Eatons Hill and Ferny Hills for $350k and up.

For folks coming from the UK with some capital under their belts, Samford prices probably still look very good but it is beginning to be a higher priced area.. though not as high as Bridgeman downs, Kenmore and Pullenvale which were other acreage areas that we had considered.

Prices have gone up about 40% or more since I wrote my emigration website in 2000, but I’m sure they’ve gone up even faster in the UK over the same period. The highest priced property to sell in 2000 was $575k. Now there are properties selling for just over $1m. The houses that were $500k+ back then are now selling for $850k+ now.
£250k is presently $600k which will still get a very nice property here in Samford.
To give you some examples, looking through April’s booklet from PRD estate agent I’ve found the following:

$585k Set on an elevated 1 acre block at the end of a quiet court, 3 months old. 4 bed + study with wardrobe so could be used as 5th bedroom. Guest bedroom has its own bathroom. Master bedroom as walk in wardrobe. Lovely kitchen with top appliances. Fully insulated… Large tiled family/meals area with aircon. Formal dining room, formal lounge with aircon.

$580k+ (offers) 1 year old property on 5 acres in the prestigious Dress Circle “Estate�. 4 large bedrooms all containing ensuites. 1 theatre room. Formal lounge. Formal dining. Rumpus/billiard room, 6 bay garage. 1 large work shed with 3 phase power. Large enternatinment viewing deck. Study

$280k 5 acres of land, elevated with views facing north east. 10 mins from village
$349k 5 acreas og land in Samford Valley, Wights Mountain.

$550k 4 bedroom house on 1 acrea, ensuite, multiple living areas, designer kitchen, pool, wide wraparound verandahs, shed

$570k 4 bed sandstone home on 1.5 acres, 2 years old.huge family room + kitchen area + pool/landscaped.

$612k 5 bed home in Samford downs

And for $649 a very nice looking 5 bed two storey home on 3 acres.

Presently there’s a release of smaller home sites right in the village of 600-875 sq metres. (3/20th acre to just over 1/5th) I believe this is the first time sites smaller than an acre have been released for a long time and caused a bit of a stir in Samford.. After all, anyone subdividing has been restricted to a minimum of 5 acre subdivisions, so it does seem strange that such small sites have become available. There was the concern that it could lead to the village looking built up, though apparently there will be trees that screen the development from the road. Not long ago, the Samford Royal Estates was released – also right near the village, which were acreage sites up to 3 acres.

Regarding the heat, I wouldn’t have said Samford is any hotter than anywhere else and haven’t found the beach 40 mins away to be noticeably cooler. However, I did discuss this with an Ozzy mate (an aircon specialist by coincidence!) and he confirmed that it is typically 2 degrees hotter here than say at Aspley just 11 miles away (8 miles as the crow flies). Well in over 4 years we didn’t notice… but hey….is there really much difference between 34 and 36 ??! Of course, every area has local temperature variations and elevated areas should get more breeze. I’ve heard of some people getting a frost in winter in the village!, but in 4 years I have never seen one with my lowest outside temperature reading for the year being 2.8.

BTW.. thanks for your comments in your other threads regarding my emigration website . I haven’t updated it for so long, but still intend to do so and will then email everyone who has contacted me. I plan to include pictures of Samford and surrounding areas.

PS The newly refurbished pub in Samford is fantastic… family friendly, three bars, play area, garden, good food etc. If you fancy a 40 min trek north of Samford past Dayboro, then I can definitely recommend Munchkins up at Mount Mee.



Cheers
Tim