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Delivering Dual Occupancy Homes in Malvern East
Purchase Strategy
In 2017, our client briefed us and wanted a site in a good school zone, close to amenities and shopping. Their budget was under $1.5m including purchase cost and are buying it using cash with no bank loan.
They wanted an old house on a good land size where we can build 2 large townhouses and rent it out. Their goal was to build a portfolio of quality town-homes in high income suburbs of Melbourne where they can receive good rental income and capital appreciation.
As a buyer’s advocate, we searched on and off-market and found an ideal site in Malvern East. The site was purchased at auction for $1.391m and our client was very happy.
They wanted an old house on a good land size where we can build 2 large townhouses and rent it out. Their goal was to build a portfolio of quality town-homes in high income suburbs of Melbourne where they can receive good rental income and capital appreciation.
As a buyer’s advocate, we searched on and off-market and found an ideal site in Malvern East. The site was purchased at auction for $1.391m and our client was very happy.
Image of the existing house before development
Proposed Development
At the start of the planning process, as a sign of good faith, we sat down with the 4 surrounding neighbours and presented to them our concept plans. They seem supportive but during our `advertising period’ they all objected to the development for no strong supporting reasons.
This is always the case, where one unhappy neighbour does not want to see any development in their quiet local area and gather the other neighbours to object.
Planning approval
We wanted a speedy planning approval and given the tight frontage and busy road, we decided to go with 2 townhouses (front and back instead of side-by-side). Given it was Malvern East, we appointed Point Architects to do the design and put together the planning submission.
The new Victorian government planning code was just introduced in reducing density and maximising green space in general residential zone, so we proposed 2 x large double storey 4 bedrooms + study townhouses with 2 carparking each (Each with internal area of at least 25 squares). Because the site is located near university and shops, we designed the study big enough to be converted into a bedroom making it more rentable to students as well as large family.
Our proposed development was approved within 6 months.
Our proposed development was approved within 6 months.
Fixtures and Fittings
For the Malvern East rental market, we used good quality fittings and fixtures:
- Marble benchtops (Calcutta look) in kitchen and bathrooms
- Timber flooring on ground floor and wool carpet first floor
- Ducted refridgeration heating and cooling (zoned control)
- 900mm Bosch appliances (cooktop, oven, dishwasher & rangehood)
- Black matted tapware and mixers
- Double undermount sinks in kitchen and laundry
- Mirror splashback
- 2Pac kitchen and bathroom joinery
Lessons Learnt from Malvern East Dual Occupancy Home Build
- Buy in good location near amenities where there’s strong rental demand (from students and family) if you are holding stock
- Neighbours can object as much as they like, if you design within planning guidelines there is no concern that your project will not be approved
- When you are building for rental, there is no need to go high-end in fixtures and fittings specifications
- We should have built higher fences and fenced off the front yard for unit 1 townhouse to make it more usable
- Good relationship with a builder is key to finishing ahead of schedule and lock-in a lump sum build price to contain cost
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Our Dual Occupancy Track Record
Our credentials are outstanding. Over the past 30 years, the team has personally been involved in the development and management of over 200 successful dual occupancy and multi-unit property development projects for our Sydney and Melbourne clients, amounting to over 3,000 individual titled properties sold with sales value in excess of $2 billion.
Our vast experiences in dual occupancy projects delivery ranges from townhouses through to multi-unit high-rise apartments. This successful track record and experiences allows us to deliver solutions that are always creatively different and cost effective for our clients.
Our strong reputation in delivering results consistently for our clients comes from having a vast network of consultants with strong relationships in all areas of the dual occupancy property development processes such as architects, designers, engineers, town planners, builders, financiers, conveyancers, project marketers and real-estate agencies.
Our vast experiences in dual occupancy projects delivery ranges from townhouses through to multi-unit high-rise apartments. This successful track record and experiences allows us to deliver solutions that are always creatively different and cost effective for our clients.
Our strong reputation in delivering results consistently for our clients comes from having a vast network of consultants with strong relationships in all areas of the dual occupancy property development processes such as architects, designers, engineers, town planners, builders, financiers, conveyancers, project marketers and real-estate agencies.