Back on the horse - buying new PPOR

Hi all

Been a bit quiet while dealing with family and business issues for a year or so, but things must be better now when I have time to go looking for forum posts

Just thought I'd share our recent experience with the Brisbane property market.

About 5 months ago we tyre-kicked around a house on one acre which is located only 12 km to the Brisbane CBD (Brissie is such a weird town - how many other cities still have an under-developed 4,000 sq m block 15 minutes to the city centre ?!)

It was poorly presented, tenanted, smelly downstairs due to damp issues (poor waterproofing of downstairs wall). But the position was awesome, it had a 90,000 litre ig resort style pool, and the house seemed to have reasonable bones. They wanted around $800K which we thought was too steep.

A few months later it dropped to offers in the 700's. We had another look, but still couldn't quite make the commitment.

Recently it went to $699K list price and we had another look. This time we figured it is so close to land value, we'd be mad not to consider.

After a month of negotiation, building and pest etc, we just purchased it at $100K below asking. We take possession at end July when some serious reno begins . This will be the new PPOR (easier to be close to town for work and 4yo daughter ballet, swimming etc).

Guru Rolf Latham secured us the funds (as he always does!) on 80% LVR with no val required.

Our major issue now is we are very poorly tax-structured because the current PPOR was always meant to be the last one, and it's nearly paid off ... and unlikely to sell well in the current market ... so we'll leave that restructuring challenge for another day !

Will try to take some before and after shots of the reno as this will be one of our more challenging but rewarding projects I think

All the best
Carl

Hi Carl.

Looks like a great find. May I ask which suburb? Or even just which direction (North, South, East West)?

Ash.

Hey Ash

Sure, sorry wasn't trying to be secretive, just rambling.

It's at Kenmore Hills, west.

Cheers
C

hope its not near the kenmore by pass!

LOL - I might look stupid but I try not to act it Kenmore "Hills" is about 4 km from the Kenmore bypass. I think it's a safe bet only non-locals would be buying anything on the gazetted corridor for the bypass. Personally I can't wait till it's built, the traffic couldn't get much worse.

Keep up the good fight

Congrats Carl!

But I thought you loved your old place (or should I say new?) - you were all set. Was it the distance that changed your mind?

I'm loving living on acreage and wouldn't swap it for anything else now. Sure, the travelling can be a pain at times but the scenery sure compensates for it.

Hey Jax - we still love the acreage, but having a 4 year old daughter means one of us is never here, between ballet, swimming and whatever ... also I figured I had better do some work again, so the business is expanding and we really need a much more purpose-built office. If this new place hadn't been on an acre I don't think we would have moved ... it's actually more private than our current place on 12 acres, 'cos the neighbours built quite near us So it's sort of a compensation plus something to make me feel like I still have a project in the quiet times Being a 10 min drive to the CBD instead of 30 mins will make a big difference on the days when I am in and out of town.

We're going to keep the current place because of the rarity of the acreage we reckon... just gotta try to keep that income coming in to keep all those banks happy

Glad you're still loving the acreage lifestyle ... I know I could never now go back to 'true' suburbia (maybe I'd tolerate a 4 bed penthouse on the river though, when the knees go )

Cheers!
Carl

That sounds like a fabulous buy! Especially for that close in. Is there development potential for down the track when you are old and grey?

When I'm old and grey, next week Joan ?

I was amazed there was a 4000 m2 block where it is to be honest, it's sort of up a side street then another and you end up in the middle of this old subdivision on 1 acre blocks but they're enveloped by suburbia.

BCC isn't very big on rezoning of 'rural' zoned stuff, so I can't imagine they'll let us do anything with it, but I suppose who knows what Brizvegas will look like in 20 years time (when I am properly old and grey) - it would be hard to imagine they could justify leaving 1 acre blocks within 12 km of the city centre given the pressure on land.

Looking forward to showing some before and after photos... 'cos the 'befores' are pretty scary ;-)

I figured I should post some progress on renovations. We're into Week 5 and as always it's taking a lot longer than I planned. Although we have got a bit done, tradies tend to be tripping over each other a bit Stuff completed is cut holes in internal walls, sawed holes in external brick walls, removed old internal doors, removed downstairs windows, replaced some of the flooring, fitted new kitchen, resurfaced swimming pool, new pool fence, tiled downstairs, plumbing rough-in, tiled downstairs bathroom, roughed in new electrical, got new aluminium doors, polished all timber floors, plaster ceilings downstairs, plaster walls upstairs. It feels like we did more than that, but there was a week of getting rid of rubbish (30 cubic metres in skips and whatever else I could hide in the wheelie bin) !

There aren't really any photos to do it justice as nothing is fully complete but as a rough idea there's some below. (with the benefit of another 2-3 weeks I should be able to show a better result ) :

POOL :



KITCHEN IN PROGRESS :



BATHROOM NOT QUITE READY FOR BATHING !



FUTURE MEDIA ROOM ... I hope