Hi Guys,
I am in a dilemma and wanted your valuable suggestions. So, a couple of months back a builder advertised some off the plan house+land packages to be built in the Ponds, Sydney.
The builder just sent an email to people from its database at 9Pm on a Friday, they were selling house+land on 6 lots. I went to the builder's office at 9AM next morning and 2 had already been sold and they sold off while I was waiting for my turn for the sales guy. Seeing the frenzy, I bought a decent spec'd (422 sq m) house+land. The quote price was 785K. In 785K it seemed like a decent deal for a turnkey package with good specs, kitchen, alfresco, landscaping etc. etc. I know ozbargainers have a bit of aversion to off the plan, and its fair too, as its backed by evidence, but I was not ready to move from my current location to the new one, for a year so I really did not mind it. And the builder has a really good reputation, so I have taken into account if the builder might even delay it by 5-6 months but I was ok with it.
That was the good bit. The only catch was builder sold it as a 'semi-detached dwelling' because its a terrace essentially i.e. there was one wall which is common with the neighbour. gave it a hard long thought and was ok with this one too. Now I took the property off the market and paid my 1500$ for it.
While going through the plans with a conveyancer we recently noticed a common roof through 3 lots. That was quite concerning and I called up council who said this dwelling is of type "attached dwelling". The council said that even though I would be the owner of the land, the building type will be considered as an 'attached dwelling'.
My conveyancer asked the builder to explain the anomaly and their counsel said that they are selling a Torrens title 'free-standing terrace'. The conveyancer said that with a common roof you can't classify this as free-standing but the counsel stuck to her word.
I am really concerned now. I am paying a decent sum of money and the builder is reputed and have done good projects, and I was ready to have a common wall as in a terrace. But a common roof has really been concerning me and I am thinking whether to go ahead with the deal or back out.
The other problem is Sydney market is running so hot, if I back out, I am not sure if I will get something in 780-790K range in my chosen area(North-West Sydney ). Help, please advise!
I'll leave it for someone with more experience to comment on your specific scenario, but I do have some general advice on The Ponds area (and surrounds).
You are likely at the peak of the market growth. Check out the price growth out there: http://www.yourinvestmentpropertymag.com.au/top-suburbs/nsw-… These prices are insane for suburbs this far out from a city with such terrible transport infrastructure.
Those areas (Ponds, Stanhope Gardens, Kellyville Ridge) look so similar to the original Kellyville McMansions back in the early 2000's before they crashed. Lots of average families buying big homes with big mortgages on tiny land blocks in new suburbs that are already struggling from terrible transport infrastructure. In that original Kellyville crash there were loan defaults left and right and $1m houses selling in the $600k range.
Don't get caught in the hype and buy a house/property for Fear Of Missing Out - it's an irrational frame of mind to make a purchase, especially one that large. The Sydney market in general may be very overheated, but those new suburbs around Rouse Hill are way way way overheated. The house price growth out there isn't sustainable and the rental yields are terrible for investors. Be very careful in that area and take on a lot of unbiased research.