Buying land and building on it.... some questions...

[placidfemme]

Looking for serious advice only... please don't post if all you have to say is something stupid like "you can't do it" or "thats a stupid idea".

This is just a "maybe" question... but I'm starting to do some research into buying land up north. I'm hoping this will be a short term goal (like hopefully before the end of this year), but could turn out to be one of those "have to put it off" things... as life is always throwing shit up at you...

I've looked at land prices in a few places in NZ, but both Sam and I prefer the idea of moving north and living up there, the city is just a pain in the ass and a life drainer if your not made of money or if you don't have a rich daddy...

Idealy we would like to buy a big-ish section of land north of Whangarei (hopefully about 20-30 minutes out of Whangarei). I'm not clued up on land values and sizes and getting building consents and so forth... I don't really want to buy a already built land and house type thing, mainly because the sections for sale with houses on them are (a) lifestyle blocks and therefor out of our pricerange (b) In town or very close to town in a suburban setting (c) just crap

I want a BIG land space, and am currently looking at anything with more than 5-10 acres. For just the land with no buildings on it approx 20 mins out of Whangarei with no beach views (don't really care about that), one would be looking at an average price range of $160K - $200K depending on a lot of things (paddocks, bush, pine trees or whatever they are, paddocks already leased to farmers etc).

So what Sam and I were thinking about was buying some land for $160K - $200K, and then building our own place (VERY long term). But to start off with, this is what we were thinking...

Buy the land, and because we don't care about living like hobo's for a while building one (or two depending on if my sister moves over here from the UK) of those Skyline gottages (The biggest one has 1 bedroom, lounge area, kitchen and bathroom... see here: http://www.kryptonitesites.com/skyli...3gottages2.jpg)

Doing this will give us the land we want, decent (although small) living area which in the long run gives us time to start planning and saving for the design and build of our house...

However, what I'm asking is...

1) Does anyone know around about (don't need exact figures) how much you'd need to pay the council for building permits for those gottages (or something similar anyway)? And how easy is it dealing with the council?

2) Getting power connected to them once they are built (and water maybe... or a water tank)

3) Maybe getting the driveway paved/sealed/tarred/whatever

4)Any other tips or advise?

Right now as mentioned this is just an idea we're playing around with, but it would help a lot to know what we are looking at financially in regards to permits, building and so forth...

Thanks in advance

[Mrs Busa Pete]

Idealy we would like to buy a big-ish section of land north of Whangarei (hopefully about 20-30 minutes out of Whangarei). I'm not clued up on land values and sizes and getting building consents and so forth... I don't really want to buy a already built land and house type thing, mainly because the sections for sale with houses on them are (a) lifestyle blocks and therefor out of our pricerange (b) In town or very close to town in a suburban setting (c) just crap

I want a BIG land space, and am currently looking at anything with more than 5-10 acres. For just the land with no buildings on it approx 20 mins out of Whangarei with no beach views (don't really care about that), one would be looking at an average price range of $160K - $200K depending on a lot of things (paddocks, bush, pine trees or whatever they are, paddocks already leased to farmers etc).

So what Sam and I were thinking about was buying some land for $160K - $200K, and then building our own place (VERY long term). But to start off with, this is what we were thinking...

Buy the land, and because we don't care about living like hobo's for a while building one (or two depending on if my sister moves over here from the UK) of those Skyline gottages (The biggest one has 1 bedroom, lounge area, kitchen and bathroom... see here: http://www.kryptonitesites.com/skyli...3gottages2.jpg)

Doing this will give us the land we want, decent (although small) living area which in the long run gives us time to start planning and saving for the design and build of our house...

However, what I'm asking is...

1) Does anyone know around about (don't need exact figures) how much you'd need to pay the council for building permits for those gottages (or something similar anyway)? And how easy is it dealing with the council?

2) Getting power connected to them once they are built (and water maybe... or a water tank)

3) Maybe getting the driveway paved/sealed/tarred/whatever

4)Any other tips or advise?

Right now as mentioned this is just an idea we're playing around with, but it would help a lot to know what we are looking at financially in regards to permits, building and so forth...

Thanks in advance

I could explain some of that to you but would probly be better to ring me or send me a pm with you number and and i will give you a call
Wendy

[tipper]

Hi Mrs Chucky
this road is not as hard as you may think, the hard part is doing it in such a way that you do not invest twice.
Building permits cost pretty much the same for a gottage as a home (within reason), most councils are $3-$4k; impact or development fees are a possibility, but vary with each council.
Power to homes is $50 to $60 per metre under a 100m, and gets expen$ive from there; wire sizes go up as distance gets bigger.
I would then go to someone like A1 Homes ( no, I work for someone else!) and get a kitset price for a 'proper' home; doing it twice is a waste of $$.

Biggest question is do you know what a 'life sentence block' (my term) is like; it is not all fun, and having done it for ten years on a similar budget, I would never do it unless I had plenty of $ and plenty of spare time.
Find a rural block to rent for a while. and see how you like a winter of mud and a spring of weeds - no time left for riding after working?

[placidfemme]

I could explain some of that to you but would probly be better to ring me or send me a pm with you number and and i will give you a call
Wendy

Sweet thanks I'll PM you with my number, but unfortunatley I only have a mobile and can only recieve personal calls at work in the mornings when no-one else is in (like 9am - 10am lol) on the work phone... details in PM

[placidfemme]

Hi Mrs Chucky
this road is not as hard as you may think, the hard part is doing it in such a way that you do not invest twice.
Building permits cost pretty much the same for a gottage as a home (within reason), most councils are $3-$4k; impact or development fees are a possibility, but vary with each council.
Power to homes is $50 to $60 per metre under a 100m, and gets expen$ive from there; wire sizes go up as distance gets bigger.
I would then go to someone like A1 Homes ( no, I work for someone else!) and get a kitset price for a 'proper' home; doing it twice is a waste of $$.

Biggest question is do you know what a 'life sentence block' (my term) is like; it is not all fun, and having done it for ten years on a similar budget, I would never do it unless I had plenty of $ and plenty of spare time.
Find a rural block to rent for a while. and see how you like a winter of mud and a spring of weeds - no time left for riding after working?

thanks... I understand where you are coming from in regards to investing twice in one property... however this is how I see it (and correct me if i'm wrong)

If we build those gottage's things, at a future date when we eventually do build the house, those gottages will just add value to the land, and can always be used in the future as guest houses or boarding houses or backpackers... the oppertunities are out there for them to be worth the while in the long run as well as short term.

Also, Sam and I are currently using a mortgage broker to find us the best deal and if we want to do this, this year then we will be looking at a 100% home loan with no deposit down, which means slightly higher interest on the mortgage...

Taking into consideration the land price ($160-$200K), plus rates, insurance, power and debt consolodation. We don't really want to borrow more than about $250K. I'll look into those A1 Homes (or similar) to find average prices and so forth... But I can't see them costing less than $80K, which is what we'd need it to be to still be able to consolodate our debts and then at the end of it all, still be able to service the mortgage and associated costs/bills.

The plan would be (depending on the mortgage and repayments) that if its low enough Sam and I both move to Whangarei and find jobs there. If its not as low as we'd like I would remain in Auckland in a flatting situation and earn more money here and commute there on odd weekends until the debt is down enough to justify me finding a lower paying job up north.

Also in regards to keeping the land in good nick and all the time it takes etc. I'm more keen on buying a bush section or mostly bush section. And leaving it as bush with a sectioned off area for a garden etc. Which would be about the same size as your normal suburban garden etc, so not a lot of time and effort to maintain that...

thoughts?

[placidfemme]

I would then go to someone like A1 Homes ( no, I work for someone else!) and get a kitset price for a 'proper' home; doing it twice is a waste of $$.

oh oh... your too smart... (not being sarcastic)

The prices arn't as bad as I thought:

http://www.a1homes.co.nz/prices.html

[Crisis management]

If I can help, PM me your contact number.....I design anything residential and have done enough subdivision and development projects to talk you thru the process.

Just to be clear, what I am offering is free advice, this isn't me trying to get work out of you....

Iain

[LilSel]

The prices arn't as bad as I thought:

http://www.a1homes.co.nz/prices.html

wow... they aint aye...

[placidfemme]

If I can help, PM me your contact number.....I design anything residential and have done enough subdivision and development projects to talk you thru the process.

Just to be clear, what I am offering is free advice, this isn't me trying to get work out of you....

Iain

Thanks, design as in architecture (dunno if I spelt that right?)

[placidfemme]

wow... they aint aye...

Not too bad $50K-ish for a 3 bedroom house...

Does anyone know of other companies that do similar kitsets?

And also with these Kitsets... does the price include actually building it?

*would be pretty screwed if they dropped off all the material and then fucked off and left me to find someone to build it*

[LilSel]

Not too bad $50K-ish for a 3 bedroom house...

Does anyone know of other companies that do similar kitsets?

And also with these Kitsets... does the price include actually building it?

*would be pretty screwed if they dropped off all the material and then fucked off and left me to find someone to build it*

You need someone to build it I think.... lol

[placidfemme]

You need someone to build it I think.... lol

Well then that sucks... builders, plumbers, electricians = LOTS of hours labour = LOTs of money

[LilSel]

Well then that sucks... builders, plumbers, electricians = LOTS of hours labour = LOTs of money

To wire up a basic 3 bedroom house... (dependant on what sort of things you want... downlights etc)... you'd be looking at around $4500+GST....
(just the house...)... then obviously mains cable trenching out to boundary is seperate to that... plus the lines company... (up there it is NorthPower)... would give you a quote on the installation of a pillar or a pole at the rd.
If a new pillar is to be installed... you'd be looking from $3000-$5000....
but if you buy in an area that has supply to it already... then an upgrade of the existing pole/pillar would be less than a new installation... (prob only a couple of grand).... everything is quotable...

To build you'd need to have a TBS (temp builders supply installed... not too expensive)... so basically once that is installed... your power is good to go as the change over from TBS-Permanant isnt a major...

Plumbing??... I wouldnt have a clue lol.... nor bout builders either... lol...

im sure someone else might have a basic idea of costing... (obviously it is specific to what is on site... but generally speaking... rough costings should give some kinda an indication)

[placidfemme]

To wire up a basic 3 bedroom house... (dependant on what sort of things you want... downlights etc)... you'd be looking at around $4500+GST....
(just the house...)... then obviously mains cable trenching out to boundary is seperate to that... plus the lines company... (up there it is NorthPower)... would give you a quote on the installation of a pillar or a pole at the rd.
If a new pillar is to be installed... you'd be looking from $3000-$5000....
but if you buy in an area that has supply to it already... then an upgrade of the existing pole/pillar would be less than a new installation... (prob only a couple of grand).... everything is quotable...

To build you'd need to have a TBS (temp builders supply installed... not too expensive)... so basically once that is installed... your power is good to go as the change over from TBS-Permanant isnt a major...

Plumbing??... I wouldnt have a clue lol.... nor bout builders either... lol...

im sure someone else might have a basic idea of costing... (obviously it is specific to what is on site... but generally speaking... rough costings should give some kinda an indication)

lol you can tell what field you work in

Thanks for that, comes in handy to know

[LilSel]

lol you can tell what field you work in

Thanks for that, comes in handy to know

LOL.... *sings*... 'I got the power'!!!