Deadlines create action. There are deadlines scheduled around specific calendar events that may help you cut a good deal when buying property. 

After we find a development site for our client, one of the most important processes is to negotiate not only the purchase price, but the terms of the purchase.

Property Bloom is preparing for a big house renovation and thought I’d share some of the steps we are taking in the weeks before we start the renovation.  The house is a beautiful original Californian Bungalow with some wonderful ornate features to the ceilings and cornices. There are also some fabulous stain glass windows. 

Choosing a builder is one of the most important steps of property development. 

We receive lots of calls from property investors wanting to talk to us about developing. During our initial chat we discuss their goals and achievements to date with property. Usually we find that most people have at least one investment property, some have several. Some have built a house before but most haven’t. Then we discuss what property developing is like as an experience to see if they think it may suit them. 

“So mum, what town is your next property development going to be in?” asked my 12 year old son. He’d just returned from a school excursion to Canberra, so maybe he was checking out land as he glazed out the bus window?  

Today I met with an old friend. I’d coached his son in soccer (yep I am a junior soccer coach – but only up to under 10’s!).  He is a very successful local real estate agent. His business on Sydney’s Northern Beaches has been growing from strength to strength over the past few years.  But he was here to see me to discuss his personal investment options.

A few weeks ago we completed a dual occupancy project for our client. It was a typical corner block development where we built two freestanding, three bedroom, single story villas and a two lot Torrens title subdivision. Our very studious client chose to sell one and keep one as after completing a law degree, she decided she’d like to start a degree in medicine (bless her).  So she asked Property Bloom to help her appoint a selling agent and assist in the process of sale. 

Today is a very important day, it’s a day where all around the world some thought and action is given to girls.

As a woman who has strived for independence since I was a girl, I think it’s important we shine a spot light onto the millions of girls who still have no choice or voice.

Property developing can throw many different challenges at you and one thing I have learnt after managing over sixty developments is that there is always a solution to a problem. The trick is to understand what possible issues could arise and preparing yourself for them.  

This week I’ve been renovating...not for a client but my office.  It really needed a clean out and freshen up. Lots of files – the old kind filled with paper – have been archived and I had our painter come in and in one day the office was transformed. As part of the process, I purchased some new furniture - a sofa and storage cabinet from IKEA.  

A dual occ is a dual occ right?  Well yes... but there are quite a few different ways to create a dual occupancy development.  Firstly, let’s define a dual occ;

This week Property Bloom finished a fabulous little renovation. It was an ugly house where we removed a few internal walls, opened the living spaces and created another bedroom. We added a nice timber deck entrance and we’ve worked hard to keep costs down using a kitchen from Bunnings (that looks gorgeous), recycling the original bath and laundry tub, tiling around the terrible 70’s fireplace, paving an unappealing outdoor space to make it more usable and polishing the beautiful floorboards we discovered under the old carpet.

Last week it was confirmed, beyond my belief, why the Hunter Valley in NSW is such a wonderful place. And it has nothing to do with developing property...rather enjoying it. 

You’ve got to the stage of receiving your Development Application & Construction Certificate consents and you construction finance is in place.  You are ready to start building.  So Just how long does the construction phase of your development take? 

During the week I sent out a little survey question to some of the real estate agents Property Bloom uses in the Hunter Region of NSW. I wanted to pick their brains on a decision we had to make.

This week I’ve been thinking about legacies and what we can do to leave a meaningful one.

The phone rang and there was a rather excited voice on the other end. It was Kaye from my builder’s office. She had some good news for me.

Subdivision is one of the many ways you can develop property.  It involves converting one piece of land or existing dwellings into several.  

In 2009 the NSW Government released a new policy that has been well accepted by most property owners; including investors and owner occupiers alike. The Affordable Rental Housing - State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) is encouraging people to build more granny flats and Property Bloom has introduced this as an affordable development strategy that may help you to grow your property portfolio.

Ok, you can call me a nerd if you like, but I love checking out the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website, there is some really cool stuff on there. 

This week I’m grateful for a fabulous team that I can trust and who I know are doing their absolute best for our business and clients.  

Today I found a property on the internet that I thought had sold a few months ago.  It was still marked “Under Contract” but they’d just forgotten to remove this after the sale fell over.  I phoned the agent to check and yes the sale had not gone through. 

Ah, I love it when everyone else thinks a property is sold, it gives me a bit more time to assess.

From our experience project managing house renovations and designing new villas for investors over the years, we’ve gathered lots of information on what tenants want.  It’s easy to sometimes get caught up in what we would like if we were living there.

As investors, we need to remember that we are not renovating for our tastes and needs but for that of the tenant market in that particular area.

The twins were the size they were supposed to be born at, but our client Rachel had an emergency delivery over twelve weeks ago.  She almost died on the operating table losing a lot of blood.  If it wasn’t for her amazing obstetrician and team of surgeons on hand and a high tech method of stemming the blood loss (featured on the news), she wouldn’t be here today nursing her two gorgeous babies.

As a bushfire approaches a dwelling, or anything else in its path, the dwelling will be subject to the following threats:
 

Wind-borne burning embers – these may be carried up to 5 km ahead of, or fall up to 1 km behind, the fire front (in extreme cases embers may travel 35 km). These embers may cause spot fires well ahead of the fire front or cause fresh fires to break out after the threat has seemingly passed.

I was watching Deal or No Deal on telly yesterday afternoon whilst getting dinner ready for the family. As I watched the show I thought it was a bit like property developing.  If you chose the wrong site, you can uncover a $50,000 problem and eliminate a lot of your profit.  If you chose the right site, you may create $200,000.

As a mother of two beautiful boys, my focus is to teach my sons the value of setting themselves up for the future early. I only really learnt that I was totally responsible to support myself after reading the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki when I was pregnant with my first son twelve years ago.

One of my favourite and most exciting research criteria when looking at areas to invest is infrastructure projects.

When a government or private sector announces a new infrastructure project, history tells us that it will boost the local community. Infrastructure projects yield indirect benefits through the supply chain, employment, business and retail growth, consumer spending, social benefits of community development related directly to the project and my favourite, property values increase.

In our experience the answer is yes. We found that using an Eco Builder not only added to our client’s bottom line, benefited their tenants but also gave peace of mind that they were doing their bit for the environment.

This week as I climbed a mountainous sand dune for the twentieth time in two hours with my legs burning, I found myself reflecting on property development. I know, that may sound sick but I needed some distraction…its school holidays and the kids and I were in the largest living coastal desert in the Southern Hemisphere. It was hot and I was tired.

How would you answer these 3 simple questions? Should an investor buy old or new property? Where should they be buying? When should they be buying?

The age old Rent versus Buy Dilemma.  It happens every cycle when we see rents increase and interest rates decrease. All of a sudden, tenants start to realise that they can buy for the same cost of renting.

As part of our property development project management process, after locating a suitable development site, we’ll then recommend to clients the type of design of villas that the development requires.  This is very important because there is a fine line between building for the market and over capitalising.

As a property developer, one of the most valuable relationships you will have is with your builder. Property Bloom has several we work with, but a very strong relationship with our main builder and through this we find our work gets priority, I have a negotiated discount structure in place for my clients and we often receive information on new land releases via our builder before land is registered. This lets us reserve the best dual occupancy or medium density sites.

Property Bloom is just completing a three villa development for a client in Muswellbrook. Under this council’s requirements we needed to design one of the villas for people with disabilities. The villa needed to be adapted to ensure that a person with disabilities could live there comfortably.

Happy International Women’s Day. It’s actually not that long ago that at our first Federal Election in 1901, only women from South Australia and Western Australia were entitled to vote. So women in all the other states were not allowed to vote.  The other states did slowly followed yet it took Victoria another 6 years to let women vote.

I love hearing the life stories of others and specially our clients.  Our initial chats give us in insight into our client’s achievements and

goals.  They tell us about what they do, where they’ve come from and where they want to be. We have such an interesting and wonderful group of clients and each has a different reason why they love property and what motivates them.

After the passing of my father two weeks ago, I’ve found myself pondering a lot of things. Things I’ve learnt from him and things that I want to teach my sons.  Dad didn’t ‘teach’ me by sitting me down to explain anything, he simply did his thing and I watched. At the time I didn’t even realise I was taking it in but now looking back, his work ethic and attitude has shaped mine.

During my week, I get sent many potential development sites to assess.  I have a system that enables me to do a quick check before seriously considering any site.

My story today is dedicated to my dear dad who sadly passed away recently. I wanted to share something he taught me as a child and young woman and that I have used throughout my life and in my business.

The thing that I’ve really learnt is that relationships are extremely valuable.  Not shallow, B.S. relationships but good, strong established relationships that can only really be made with time.

I met an interesting chap today.  He has developed property before and is experienced but was looking to fast track his property portfolio this year.  He also owns and runs a large business and doesn’t have the time needed to focus on property developing.

“Aaahhh”….. That’s the sound I made when watching Hugh Jackman receive his Golden Globe Award this week for best actor.  I was impressed with the credit he gave his wife Deborra-lee Furness for helping him keep faith.