I thought as my final story before we close for the year and take a little break, I'd share with you a case study on one of our best property development results for 2014. 

I'd like to think that a couple of weeks before Christmas that I'd be winding down. Taking stock of the amazing amount of development projects that Property Bloom has completed in 2014 (no wonder I'm tired) and finalising the projects currently under management ready for the Christmas break.  

But no. 

I'm going to have to admit something that is a bit embarrassing. I've been feeling quite guilty about it so I'm going to confess.

I found a dual occupancy site in a suburb that I didn't know much about but it was close to where one of my project managers lived. I asked him what the area was like.  Whilst I won't repeat his entire response, it did include a reference to two heads! The name of this suburb also did nothing for its image.

Whilst sitting around the camp fire at night with a group of other women and staff we'd just met, I was discussing property investing with one of the ladies - can't help myself! She was a pretty amazing single lady with her sights set on the future. She'd been clever enough to buy a few investment properties in-between serving our country in the army.  We were discussing her recent purchase of an off the plan apartment.

Our clients Lorraine and Steven live in Sydney and are active property investors, both very busy professionals with a young family.  Steven is a medical specialist and on call all hours of the night and Lorraine a solicitor with a young toddler.  Property Bloom located a dual occupancy site for them in the City of Maitland in the Lower Hunter Region of NSW.  The official population of Maitland City as of the 30th June 2013, is 73,447. It has grown by 2.16% over prior year.  

For almost eighteen years we've lived in a house that I thought had no yard. Our family including two sons and a dog named Boss live close to the beach which is awesome but it means the land size is small. Think postage stamp and you'd be close.

Property Bloom has just finished a great little duplex project for a client. The site was in an older suburb and had a derelict house on it and it came with some challenges.

I found a great property development site a few weeks ago.  It was a three bed house on over 1000sqm of land. Whilst this type of property is considered fairly common in this Hunter Region town, there were a few major pluses to the site.

This story is dedicated to my very best friend Tracey. She is a real fighter and I think what she has proven recently can be applicable to us all.  Today's message is: When you want something badly enough, you fight for it.

When it comes to developing, we have all heard about the Development Application (DA) and the Construction Certificate (CC), but how and what exactly is involved with each council approval?  It is important to understand this process before you start developing.    

Australia has one of the most residentially mobile populations of any country. This means we don't mind moving house. Researchers refer to this as Net Internal Migration or NIM.  With so much attention focused on Sydney's hot property market and the rapid growth in the city's house prices recently, it is easy to see how regional migration starts - when people move from cities to regional areas. 

When you are developing property, finding actual comparable sales references in the same market that you will build is extremely important.  You need to estimate what your dwellings will be worth on completion of your project. 

This week we've been designing new duplexes to build in a more upmarket location. We've been studying floor plans with our builder and their drafts woman. The villas are three bedroom, master with ensuite and main bathroom, separate living room open plan kitchen, dining and living space with alfresco dining under the roof. 

After my first four inspections I stopped to eat my packed lunch and found myself reflecting on just how lucky I was.  I didn't feel like I was working, not like the way I worked all through my twenties and thirties.  

If you are thinking of developing property then you will need to have a good understanding of construction finance. As property developers, most of our clients like to highly gear their lending. That means, using as much funding from others to pay the builder rather than use their own cash reserves.

Today I drove around a new land estate in the Hunter Region of NSW where we now have a couple of dual occupancy projects planned. It was early morning - I'd left Sydney by 6am to get an early start on my day. As I pulled up to the site we are looking to secure for a client - it had just turned 8am, my eye was caught by a ruckus across the road. 

One of our female clients has six children, is an accountant and owns eleven investment properties after completing two property developments with Property Bloom. To state the obvious, she's time poor, I've written about Rachel in the past...

The development process is complex - there is no two ways about it. Even what may seem the most simplest development can turn into a very time consuming project.  Although Property Bloom has completed over 80 developments, all of which I have personally overseen, I still find tiny nuances that make each development unique and challenging.

Each week I receive phone calls from people who have started a property development and then fallen into trouble.  I can't help taking these SOS calls from fellow developers even if we are not likely to do business together, talking to them gives me a little perspective of issues others are facing. 

I think the beginning of a new financial year brings much hope and optimism, a bit different perhaps to the start of a calendar year when we are usually still in holiday mode.  Now is a good time to reflect on our investments and think about how we can continue to grow our property portfolios.

I've recently been researching a new location after finding a good  dual occupancy development site there.  In the past, I have put this suburb aside as the land was expensive and generally lot sizes smaller, however a large enough site came up and as I ran the figures on it, my heart beat increased!

I was reading a media article recently and the story was about finding a suitable property in Sydney and paying just the median price which was around $782,000 (at the time I read the article). 

This week I created a system.  My aim was simple; to achieve more in less time.

This week I was speaking with one of the land developers we source our development sites from and was interested to hear her say that they’d been told that the NSW State Government were currently fast tracking land releases to meet their housing acceleration goals. Music to my ears as we are always on the lookout for good development sites in well planned areas. 

As I was dicing onion for tonight’s dinner, I saw some news on TV that made my ears prick.  A house in Swansea, a suburb of Newcastle was seemingly sinking into a hole. The cause? An old mine shaft laying approximately 25m below. 

The next time you look at buying a piece of land within a land estate, spare a thought for the land developer. 

Whilst there has been so much commentary this week on the Federal Budget, I thought we could talk about a different type of Budget - one that can be just as important, particularly if you are a property developer.

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 leant 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 thirteen years ago.

There have been a few recent changes to the NSW Affordable Housing SEPP or AHSEPP as it’s known.  This policy was introduced in July 2009 to increase the supply of affordable rental and social housing in NSW. 

I was looking over some old files and found a TV interview I did some years ago on a popular property program – Your Money Your Call. The very first question I was asked by the host Chris Gray was “Why would someone develop rather than buying and holding?” http://www.propertybloom.com.au/about/videos.html

A good development strategy for a first time developer and investor wanting to boost their property portfolio is a dual occupancy project; buying land where you can build two dwellings and subdividing.  The dwelling/villas may be attached or freestanding, either way you are basically halving the land cost for each. And that is where the value lies.

After writing my article a few weeks ago on how to accurately calculate the cost of your development project, I was chatting to Bob - one of our Quantity Surveyors (QS).

This week I felt like I’d given birth – not to a real baby (Heaven forbid at my age!).....but to our Bungalow Baby. The gestation period has only been a couple of months but our vision started long before. 

As we prepare for handover of about six dual occupancy projects over the next few weeks, my mind has been focussed on the very important Practical Completion (PC) and Handover process.

Over the many years I’ve been helping people with their property developments, I have uncovered some amazing stories. 

Today I thought I’d share a little about my own personal property investing journey in the hope that it may be of interest or maybe if I’m lucky, encourage you to move forward on your own journey if you haven’t already.

If you are just starting out in property development and haven’t yet found a builder, a good way to get a pretty good idea of what your construction costs may be is to engage a quantity surveyor (QS) to work with you in the early design stages of your project. 

If I told you that a regional NSW city - only a 2 hour drive from Sydney - has predicted population growth of 42% over the next 20 years, would you believe me? 

Watching The Block recently, I chuckled as the site foreman Keith was hounding the contestants for their plans so he could start on the plumbing and other rough ins yet they’d barely started on the ground floor room renovation. They were complaining they barely had time to work out the day’s challenge let alone plan the upper floors.  It hit a chord as I’d been discussing the same thing with our builder today on one of Property Bloom’s house renos.

I often get asked whether you can make some equity in a single house build or a house and land package. It’s a good question and the answer is yes...and no.

I reckon 2014 will be a fabulous year for property investors. It’s the year where we will start to see the impact of interest rates that have dropped steadily to a record low over the past 12 months.