Knocking down a house and rebuilding is a great opportunity for you to have the dream home you’ve always wanted, without the expense or associated costs of moving. In this article, we’ll begin to discuss the importance of finding the right location, finding the best block of land and choosing the right builder to consider for your rebuild.

Location, Location, Location!

One of the most important considerations for purchasing land is the location. It’s a common mantra in real estate that ‘location is everything’, so it helps to do some research around the locations which will suit your lifestyle. Perhaps you are planning to have a family in the future and that could mean considering a location close to amenities such as, shops, schools and hospitals, that you may need as your family grows. 

To get the most out of your rebuild, you will want to identify the best suburbs that will not only make you love where you live, but increase the value of your new, dream home. There are normally some extremely good reasons that make a patch of dirt in one area worth more than a patch of dirt in another – but of course everyone’s needs and preferences are slightly different.

Building’s never cheap – and for that reason it’s easy to tie yourself in knots thinking about what your house is likely to be worth in a few years. If you’re going to be building a home for your family to live in for the foreseeable future though, pinning down a precise resale value really shouldn’t be your first concern.  If you’re building a home to live in, you should set your sights firmly on finding a location that’s:

• comfortable
• convenient
• safe, and
• within your budget 

These are the things that most people instinctively want when they choose a location for their home anyway. Providing that you’re choosing a location within your budget that objectively fulfils the first three of these things, you shouldn’t have much trouble finding a good price for it if and when you’re ready to sell.  

Choosing a location for an investment property

Building solely for investment purposes over the short term is a completely different kettle of fish – and a notoriously dark art. Historical price fluctuations and rental demand in surrounding suburbs, planned developments in the vicinity, suburb ‘prestige’, rate of gentrification and the overall state of the local market are just a few of the things that need to be factored in.  If you’re looking to choose a strategic location for an investment property, you’ll need to consider things far more carefully, and understand how that works so that you can make an informed decision.

Finding the right block of land

Being the foundation of any new home, choosing the right block of land is the first step on your knockdown rebuild journey. To the untrained eye, there’s usually little to suggest that one plot is significantly different from the next. Menace often lurks beneath the soil, though – or in the nearby offices of local council bureaucrats, or other places you haven’t considered.  The particular plot of land you choose could easily make tens of thousands of dollars’ difference in construction and maintenance costs, and could also determine whether or not you can build the type of home you’re after. 

What do I need to consider? 

There are a lot of things to take into account when you’re choosing a plot. Some of them are only relevant in obscure circumstances, others may determine whether you can build at all. Many of these issues will be dealt with by builders, developers, solicitors or conveyancers, but it’s still worth understanding what’s involved.

Size, shape, orientation and slope

If you have a particular house style or design in mind, the width and depth of the plot will determine what sort of house you can build.  Likewise, if the plot is on a significant slope, either the land will need to be cut and filled, or you’ll need to build a house that takes that slope into account (it’s worth remembering that while some things might make your house more spectacular, they’re also likely to cost a fair bit more).

Check the width, depth and slope of the block against the dimensions of the kinds of houses you would like to build – and check with the local council to see if there are any boundary setback requirements or other conditions that will determine where on the block of land you can build, and whether the plot is in a bushfire prone area.

Finding the right builder

Hiring the right builder is easily one of the most important decisions you’ll make when building your home. The builder’s responsible for creating your house, and is where the bulk of your money’s going to be spent. You’re throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at them – so make sure you choose wisely!