Nice people thread part 7 - a thread in its prime

vivatifosi

fc, probably not the right time to type but I may not remember tomorrow. Could you buy the land and hang off developing until you know whether the area will pick up?

If it is up and coming, this could be a good time, if it doesn't choose out as you've planned, it will still have development potential, though possibly not for your plans (and any losses would be less).

fc123

Happy NY to everyone on the NPT :j

Walked to end of cul de sac to join the hordes on the hill OH said, see just the same as going up town.......no it's not... but getting home in 30 seconds was nice.

misskool

I just couldn't bear the thought of inter-city taxi fares tonight.

Actually what I don't understand is how NYE is now such a big deal.
But OH says that's a sign of me growing old.

However, the shops will be quiet tomorrow so we will pop into Brighton and get some things. Last week of the holiday.

fc123

vivatifosi wrote: »

fc, probably not the right time to type but I may not remember tomorrow. Could you buy the land and hang off developing until you know whether the area will pick up?

If it is up and coming, this could be a good time, if it doesn't choose out as you've planned, it will still have development potential, though possibly not for your plans (and any losses would be less).

I'll save all the research to post here for another day (as stacks of it) but the area has a long long way to go before it comes up...however, as with all these places, there is stuff there that we like just as it is.

We have 'done' these types of areas 3 times now (not including the 2 where we have lived) and the raw ingredients of them at the time we opened were enough.
Obviously we were unlucky and leased and so got priced out once the areas reached their zenith....so to speak.

This wouldn't be a business but a second home/maybe holiday let (summer only). OH has family in a neighbouring town, we have visited it many times over our whole lives...it's got a feel in Old Town that we like and can connect with.
Sadly the main industry in Margate is HMO's and, despite council intervention, they aren't going anywhere soon.

The credit crunch has also wiped out a lot of potential incomers moving there too.

The fave phrase is it's the 'New Brighton' which is definately not the case in my view...Brighton had/has ingredients that just aren't there (2 unis for a start) plus when the housing of asylum seekers really took off Brighton was already too expensive property wise for it's B+B's to get Home office contracts.

The planning on this plot epires in 12 months.

It's 35k (and overpriced)....maybe 20k would be accepted.

Generali

fc123 wrote: »

Question for Generali (when you are about ) ; are you going to go for the land you saw?

How stressy is it to buy land and build from scratch as opposed to doing a renovation?

I ask as we have found 'land' as well as we are really really tempted.

Snag is my brain keeps tripping onto a hunny K McCloud moment (a la Grand Designs). Eco town houses in abandoned, neglected seaside towns feel like a grand design idea but may not be the most sensible thing to put our energy into.

I should add that 'The land' for us is actually a small yard with 2 garages on it and derelict buildings each side. I imagine 'land' in Aus is probably more fitting of the description of 'land'.

This was the land we went to see



Only they put a picture on the interweb of a flat plot that was already sold. The plot we saw looked a bit more like this:



The saving from buying cheap land would be more than swallowed up with increased building costs so I don't think we'll go for it. We saw a brilliant piece of land for about $400,000 next to the lake but I think that's out of our league for now.

The land itself is about 500sq m. Pretty good by English standards, about average for Aus.

It's relatively easy to build from scratch here as it's normal to do it. For the first time we'd use a builder with an off the peg design rather than going down the McCloud/architect route although that is something I'd like to do one day.

The thing is DA (planning permission) is pretty easy to get in towns and the off the peg builders know what is acceptable within their council's rules. Also, local councils have development goals which actually includes providing the expanding population with somewhere to live* so there is a presumption in favour of letting people build in town. Having known people build in the UK, PP is the hard part as there are always millions of objections and the council has a presumption that building is something that should happen elsewhere.

Over here I would expect to pay $150,000-$250,000 to build a typical Aussie huge 4 bed house depending on finishes etc. You'd be amazed at what some people will pay for a tap or a sink! I'd save some money by doing the garden because those new build gardens are always crap anyway and I am perfectly capable of doing a garden badly by myself.

Re doing renos, I reckon that a complete renovation here ends up costing the same or more as getting a new build done. It's only worth doing if you find a place that has some merit in itself as a building, something that is rare in Aus. Over here buildings are disposable: you stick one up and it lasts for 40 years. Then you knock it down and start again. Why would someone pay to build something to last 200 years? It's over-engineered and a waste of money as a result.





*A dangerous idea that will never catch on. It's probably why people were deported here in the first place as they had these sorts of ignorant thoughts. Thankfully we mere colonials can look to our betters in the Mother Country to put us right on these matters and in inner-Sydney it is becoming increasingly hard to build.

fc123

Generali wrote: »

This was the land we went to see



.

Now that's what I call land.

This what you get in the UK

Generali

fc123 wrote: »

Now that's what I call land.

This what you get in the UK

TBH I'd really like to get 1,000 m^2 to build on in town as that way you can have a pool and a nice garden too. 500m^2 means garden or pool. Rural land I'd hope to have a minimum of 10 hectares (about 40 acres) if it was near a city. That's enough to put a medium-sized olive farm on.

LydiaJ

Happy New Year Nice People

We've had my dad staying here since Sunday evening. Today we had our belated Christmas dinner (if you weren't on here just before Christmas, you may not know that DD and I were both ill so we couldn't do the usual Christmas things on the right day) and did a jigsaw puzzle together (all 4 of us) and watched the fireworks on TV. DS has now gone happily off to bed, but DD is upset and can't sleep. Special days of the year always make her miss her dad more than usual. So I am sitting up in her room to keep her company, but not talking. She is NOT sleepy yet.

Anyway, here's wishing a wonderful 2013 to everyone. Let's hope that this time next year we're all saying what a great year it's been.

michaels

fc123 wrote: »

Now that's what I call land.

This what you get in the UK

Well the address doesn't half sound posh

fc123

Generali wrote: »

TBH I'd really like to get 1,000 m^2 to build on in town as that way you can have a pool and a nice garden too. 500m^2 means garden or pool. Rural land I'd hope to have a minimum of 10 hectares (about 40 acres) if it was near a city. That's enough to put a medium-sized olive farm on.

....sounds nice Olive farm though? Second job or new career?

LydiaJ wrote: »

Happy New Year Nice People

So I am sitting up in her room to keep her company, but not talking. She is NOT sleepy yet.

Anyway, here's wishing a wonderful 2013 to everyone. Let's hope that this time next year we're all saying what a great year it's been.

aww... hope she nods off soon.