Happy Tuesday, guys!
I’m heading down the coast this afternoon and I thought I’d give you a bit of an update on what I’m working on… which I’m calling:
Nhan’s Property Report!
Here’s the video version (scroll down for the text version)
OK, so here are my updates!
Firstly, towards the end of last year, I secured three sites in Northside suburb of the Moreton Bay Regional Council. And get this: I never bought a property ever in that suburb before. But I saw the opportunities of what that market could do. So I bought two development sites there.
One was a 10,000 square metre site. And another one was a 20,000 square metre site. And the third one was a renovator in a joint venture with somebody else (they found the site and I funded it.)
So anyway, with the 10,000 square metres site, I was able to get approval towards the end of 2021 for 11 blocks. Retaining the existing house. And I was able to onsell that. That’s due to settle next Monday, cross fingers!
(If they don’t settle, I will probably develop it myself. No worries there –– really good margins in flipping the site with very little work and got some very cheap bank debt on that.)
The second site we sold to the same developer as the first one, but that’s subject to development approval. So that’s still another three to six months away from getting that approval. And I don’t have to settle that particular site for another seven months.
So I signed that contract in October, last year to buy that 20,000-meter site there. It was not subject to DA. It was just due diligence for roughly a month or two. And I was able to lodge that DA towards the end of last year.
So pretty much the week leading up to Christmas was a crazy week.
I got the approval for the 11 lotter. And I was able to lodge the development application for the 25 lotter. And as well as on-sell both of those sites before Christmas! (Subject to various approvals).
So it was a very, very crazy, crazy, December 20, 22nd 23rd, and even the 24th was sweating on a few things to come through.
As for the renovator…
A Little Bit Of Research = A Whole Lot Of Extra Profits!
Purchased in November there. Initially, we were looking at $320k a block… $330k a block for 600 square metres in that suburb. BUT…
Based on the research that we’ve done, we put some ads on the internet for expressions of interest for land, sold in that suburb and we were getting interest at $399k to $425k for 600 square metres!
So my point is that when this renovator came up, and it was a $350k bid, I could see the real potential value of it. (I talked a lot about how important this is last week – read here).
I told the guys who found the deal that I did very little (if no…) research whatsoever on that particular project…
Because I knew that:
- The land itself was worth around about the $400k mark
- Houses were very, very much in demand and In that particular suburb.
Bottom line, that third property in that suburb has been sold. Cash unconditional. Settles in a couple of weeks!
Getting Out Of Brisbane CBD
I’ve secured another site on the Northside as well. Probably another 20-30 minutes north of those other sites. So I’m starting to get a bit far out of Brisbane CBD.
But this site is two streets from the water. It’s got a retirement village up the road. Where three-bedroom retirement village villas are selling around about the $1.1 million mark. Golf course front, two minutes to the beach.
So my point is, it’s a really, really unique location.
We actually started negotiations with the sellers towards the end of 2021, September, October. They just weren’t ready to sign the contracts. They had another investment property they just bought themselves. They were trying to get their heads around being a landlord.
Long story short, this particular new site is 23,000 square metres, needing about 30,000 cubes of fill.
We’re able to secure that for 2.5 million plus GST.
The engineer reckons we can get maybe 24 blocks on it. I’ve come up with a design to see if we can squeeze a few more lots on it. Maybe 27 lots? Might even get 28… 29… maybe even 30 lots.
Anyway, that’s my first acquisition for this year. So that was 17th of February couple of weeks ago. They’re now super excited about that. And it’s been okay with the Queensland rain, floods, etc.
So it’s been a good quarter so far! What else?
Oh, I launched another application just before Christmas… for the site I live in!
Northside of Brisbane. Six kilometres out of Brisbane CBD. And we bought this in 2006, settled in 2007 with one of my specials, long settlements there for $350,000. Originally we figured, it’s a suburb in Brisbane inner city, 600 square meters, LMR zone (low to medium residential), we could build townhouses on it.
Long story short, we applied to put townhouses on the back and that got approved. Then we had a bump fight with the neighbors there. And in the end, we pulled that DA, which was no good. OK, so it became the house we currently live in 🙂
We kept the three-bedroom 1911 house at the front (which got flooded over the weekend, by the way.) But we extended the back (which is legal height, out of the flood area and completely fine.)
About a year or two later, we applied for the house to be demolished. And that got refused.
The neighbor who’s no longer alive (thanks, mate!) petitioned everybody to refuse this application, which it did get refused.
Now, roughly 10 years later, we gave it another shot!
Because the neighbor is no longer alive (heart attack a couple of years ago,) we had no submissions on the property whatsoever. So in terms of a twist of fate, we’re able to demolish the house and get this approval through. That came through yesterday, which I’m just so stoked about!
I’d say out of all my applications, this is probably the most rewarding one.
Not financially. It’s definitely not the most rewarding from a financial point of view. It’s because we got two options now.
- Demolish the whole thing
We’re reluctant to do that, because we spent $250k on 100 square metre extension, roughly nine years ago. Or, - Cut off the front of the house and extend to the front of the house there.
But yeah, I am super, super thrilled that it has come through…
The Ugly Duckling Has Finally Come Through!
I knew it would, you know? Houses in this particular area at the end of our street, which is a flood-prone site, three-bedroom house, two-bedroom house that sold for $1.1 million.
So anyway, we are relieved that this application has finally come through. It’s definitely a next step in our journey.
You know, our projections are in 10 years time we’ll be moving down the coast. That’s part of why I’m going to this fishing meeting in about three or four hours at the Gold Coast and learning about what’s happening. I’ve got to become an area expert down there… from a fishing point of view! 😉
Listen, I hope you’re having a great week and let’s catch up soon!
Take care. Stay safe. And talk to you soon.
Nhan Nguyen
