Browse Forums Buying Land 1 Mar 14, 2011 11:48 am Hi All. Need some advice on what i need to do before making an offer on the land. Land has a slope..Should i pay an expert to check the land out for me so there are no site cost surprises. We are looking to build a double storey house from either Metricon or Clarendon. Thanks in advance! Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 2Mar 21, 2011 10:10 pm Hi RichA, Welcome to the forum! About the land, you must consider and keep extra $$ for sitecost but most importantly is the location. If you love the location then go for it. Astoria park is very convenient and strategic, you'll be happy there. Beside I think it's under Matthew Pearce School catchment, right? That school is excellent, rank 27 in NSW primary school, everybody wants to go there. about the builder, did you mean M#tricon or Clarendon ? They are both will be higher in site cost compared to other builder such as Wisdom, Kurmond, Elderton, etc. You might need to shop around. Good luck! Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 3Mar 24, 2011 12:24 pm thanks willcres. We do like the area but the land is not cheap (relatively speaking). I just want to do as much homework on it before we purchase. The blocks range from $495k to $650k. The cheaper blocks back on to M7 and the expensive blocks are on the matthew pearce school side (Appian cct). Land is slopey so i want to pick a block that has minimal site costs. Reckon i might have to pay an expert to come out and see the land with me and comment on what they reckon would be the better blocks. Would this be a builder or land surveyor or someone else? Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 4Mar 24, 2011 6:32 pm Hi RichA, have you considered land in balmoral Release area? It's behind Bella Vista Water, but under Kellyville suburb. The land there min. 700m2 and starts around $475K I think. I'm not sure, maybe you can ask a quote from the builder who does free site cost. Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 5Mar 24, 2011 9:43 pm Hi Rich A, we looked a that land prior to buying in Balmoral Road area, as Willcres suggested. That land has some decent slope, there were very few blocks that had less than a 1 metre fall, most of the builders only cover 1metre fall across the block. Baulkham Hills council only allow 500mm cut and 500mm fill, the rest have to be drop edge beams. Our quote from Alkira was $650per sqm drop edge beams, they have allowed 5m2 for our fall of less than a metre,(and only for 5 metres of rumpus room at the back) you could be up for the whole rear or front so up to 18 metres and maybe down the side depending on the fall. Also you may need to drop the garage a few course, normally around $4-5000. Honestly we looked at that land and thought $30-$50000 for site costs depending on fall. Also be aware of the water tank regulations, Baulkham hills are generally requiring 9000l water tanks (another $5-8k) Most land looks flat but is far from it, do your research. Bella Vista could be a better option if you are looking at $650000 Good luck Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 6Mar 26, 2011 2:13 pm gogo, I thought only Balmoral release area that require 9000 ltrs tank? Bella vista water is only 3000ltr I think (And they don't have recycle water!) Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 7Mar 27, 2011 8:50 am Not sure Willcres, I think as new developements open up, Baukham Hills put in new development rules. Bella Vista Waters development is a few years ago(at least 5), and I would assume it is all part of the one development Where we live now, they made everyone put in those hugh retention pits in one new development Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 8Mar 28, 2011 5:06 pm Hi RichA, Have you made decision on the land ? Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 9Mar 29, 2011 10:58 am Hi Guys...thanks so much for the responses..great info. We havent bought yet. One of the main reasons we are looking at astoria park is the matthew pearce zone. I have looked at 'old' bella vista but the blocks for sale are much slopier (is that a word?). We also spoke to Bella Vista Waters sales person and they kind of put us off...the requiremnts on a new building a bella vista are quite specific and apparently project homes are a no no so we would be looking at minimum $1m. I will look into it again though. I have managed to get a 2 builders out to look at the land to comment on a few blocks we narrowed down. As GoGo said there are a some blocks with less than 1mtr fall. Interectingly C's and Huxleys are offerring a few house and lands pkgs on a couple of blocks ('personally source land' in C's brochure). Even though their package allows for site costs..i reckon there might be a few surprises. Also Archicentre have a service where they can meet me out there to have a look and give their opinion and a written report for around $500. Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 10Apr 06, 2011 11:41 am Hi Guys. I spoke to some really helpful builders last week and managed to get contour surveys on some of the blocks we like as well as an Asset Protection plan (shows firezone rating for all lots on the plan...so which lots would incur highers costs to comply with council). Weve been qouted b/w $350k - $400k for a completed home (around 36sqm) no landscaping. So with the price of land total cost is around $1mil....is this too much for a house in Bauklham hills? If circumstances changed and we were forced to sell (i.e. lose my job) would we even get close to that? I dont see many house for sale in the area for those kind of prices. Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 11Apr 06, 2011 12:49 pm Rich, I think you would probably be ok, although you would be on the very upper end. Problem is you can buy in bella vista for that so some people would chose to go there. We built a long time ago in what was baulkham hills and then changed to Bella vista, once the change happened prices did go up, some people like to buy for the name! Maybe you could talk to a few real estate agents and see what they say. ( not the one selling the land though!) We chose the new balmoral part of kellyville to build purely because it will eventually be a different suburb and numerous agents told us that it would have a better resale than the rest of kellyville, due to its proximity to norwest and Bella vista waters, If you want it for the school go for it but bella vista also provides that opportunity Just my thoughts Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 12Apr 06, 2011 1:52 pm hi gogo. Thats is what we are thinking now. If we can find the right house in bella vista it would be great. It just seems like prices have shot up since last year. Last year $900k would have got us what we want but this year those kind of house are over $1mil. Also their is a signicant lack of backyards in bella vista. Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 13Apr 06, 2011 8:02 pm Hi Rich, You can buy my house 1365sqm in Castle Hill, huge backyard. We left Bella Vista for the same reason, we wanted a large backyard. But our kids are now 16 and 18 so the backyard is just not necessary, hence us going back to a 700sqm block Big decisions Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 14Apr 07, 2011 1:23 pm RichA hi gogo. Thats is what we are thinking now. If we can find the right house in bella vista it would be great. It just seems like prices have shot up since last year. Last year $900k would have got us what we want but this year those kind of house are over $1mil. Also their is a signicant lack of backyards in bella vista. Hi RichA, Matthew Pearce is a very good school. I would say if it's for the sake of the school, you can just rent a house within the catchment for 1 year, then move out after that to Bella Vista/others. 2nd option is to buy a house with a big backyard within the catchment then renovate it. 3rd option to buy a house in Bella Vista (NOT Bella Vista Water since they're not Matthew Pearce Catchment). Good luck!! Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 15Apr 07, 2011 2:49 pm thanks for the info..i did not realise that BV Waters was not in the catchment. Another question...what high school is Bella Vista zoned for? At the moment we will keep looking to buy a place as the land isnt selling like hotcakes (its been on the market for 2 months and theyve sold 3 out of 40 blocks). Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 16Apr 07, 2011 3:47 pm I think it is crestwood high for half and kellyville high for the other half. There is a new public school to be built in our development that will be the zone for Bella vista waters. Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 17Apr 07, 2011 7:52 pm Yes, high school is only Crestwood HS and the other one is near Winston Hills, Model Farm HS. Mostly kids who finished from Matthew Pearce OC class will go to Baulkham Hills HS (Selective). Re: Buying Land in Astoria Park Baulkham Hills and building 18Apr 07, 2011 10:11 pm They only have two OC classes, the other 6 or so or normal claasses, I do know that when we lived in Bella Vista kids went to Crestwood but once Kellyville high opened lots moved over, they have 2 advanced classes there. Crestwood High does not have a very good name, Kellyville I think is better. Mind you my kids went to private schools since kindy so I really am only talking from what I have heard from friends etc Yeah I don't know why I came to a forum. Place is full of wierdos/pedos thought internet may help but I suppose I'll try my luck with someone in person. Cheers. I tried… 0 6414 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11014 Thanks again Simeon for being so elaborate. Appreciate it. Its gives us a very idea. Kind Regards 4 3646 |