Townies Feel Like Houses

Charlie walked in off the street pushing a pram and wearing trackies. I sat down with him and quickly understood he and his family are serious people who wanted to diversify their portfolio into Melbourne.

We missed out on a few properties due to timing, as they methodically pushed to understand our approach to examining sites: from analysing local area market conditions, demographics and planning policies; to determining site yields and dwelling sizes; to estimating construction costs and project durations; to gauging end values and profitability metrics.

The process proved useful. This off-market came to me on Monday, and by Tuesday afternoon I shot Charlie a Preliminary Feasibility. By Wednesday afternoon, we had worked through the details, and confirmed various assumptions re market values, Council’s viewpoint, and easement impacts. That evening, we viewed the property and signed a best and final offer on the spot.

Charlie then appointed us to project manage the planning and design process. He and his brothers were intimately involved throughout the process. We ultimately attained permits and build documents for 3 large, very attractive semi-detached, street-facing townhouses. The boys are exploring selling the permitted site now, but if they don’t achieve the price they’re after, then they will likely build it themselves (Charlie is an experienced Carpenter).

They had nice things to say about our service: “Walking ‘in off the street’ one day, I was instantly taken by Andrew’s knowledge, enthusiasm and no-nonsense approach to property and development in the Melbourne market. He helped us navigate through some tough market conditions and his advice was always spot-on and insightful. Nothing was ever too much trouble and we were able to secure a cracking development site with his help. Throughout the planning and design process, he was always a great advocate for us – as if it was his own project and, he has helped us land on a really amazing design with the help of his network of professionals. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Andrew and hope to be able to continue a great working relationship into the future.”