My wife and I are looking at moving to country Victoria but is a bit concern with the cost involved in services connections and also out of pocket costs for things like roads to the property. Hope someone would share their experience, cheers

Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Nov 06, 2014 4:46 pm Hi, just wondering if anyone has experience in purchasing vacant land in country Victoria. My wife and I are looking at moving to country Victoria but is a bit concern with the cost involved in services connections and also out of pocket costs for things like roads to the property. Hope someone would share their experience, cheers ![]() Re: Buying vacant land in country Victoria 2Dec 18, 2014 8:57 am I don't have much experience but I can tell you this. Your local council website will have an annual report, in it they list all the levies and rates they charge as well as development fees etc. That will give you a starting point. I'm in NSW so that was an eye opener for things like section 64 and section 96 developer fees, some of which I will have to pay if I choose to put in a DA. If you are off town water and sewerage budget min $15,000 for a septic and water tanks. Electricity connection is the killer. Even if you have a pole to the block there can still be unexpected expenses. If the pole is a major line and not a housing pole then you may need to pay for a transformer to get power which can add $5k to the cost of your connection. In any case, none of it is cheap. As an example I am looking at an extra $20k in expenses for connections, DA's etc for an in town block with sewerage, water and electricity at the boundary.If you are looking for an off town services block then try and get one with a dam or bore, you'll need it for your garden. Re: Buying vacant land in country Victoria 3Dec 19, 2014 2:22 pm Really need to know more about the land u wish to purchase and what it is zoned, because that will ultimately determine a lot of your costs. Is the block in town or out. This can make an extremely large difference to costs. Most shire rates will be dearer due to the population rate base being less. Also the BAL rating depending on location. Nothing is cheap. Power by far can be your greatest expense. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: Buying vacant land in country Victoria 4Dec 03, 2015 8:35 pm You aren't guaranteed a building permit, especially if your land is zoned rural agricultural, so be very careful if your intention is to build a house. Someone warned us that the costs to turn a vacant block of land into a house site are enormous, we are budgeting at least the cost of constructing the house again, for things such as tanks, septic, electricity connection and a driveway. Your preferred house site on the block could be a long way from the road so you may end up with a long driveway, even a basic gravel driveway of several hundred metres will be very expensive. The same with power connection, if you have power to the boundary it could still cost a lot of money to take it to the house. Different BALs (Bushfire Attack Levels) will require different construction requirements, materials - all of which will cost money, so be prepared for that. Bushfire requirements also come into the standard of driveway construction, and having to install a separate water tank only for CFA use. If you want to reduce the unknown, maybe pay for a BAL survey before you commit. Rates - rates on our property are about 3 times our house in Melbourne. I'd try posting it on airtasker. I am sure you will find someone willing do take them for a couple of hundred $ 1 8591 ![]() The local Council will have rules in regards living in a caravan on a vacant block. That would be your first roadblock 1 10192 ![]() Not sure about that, I've held an empty block(North shore of Sydney) for over an year now (waiting to build). House was demoed prior over 3 years before i bought it. I… 3 5955 |