My Perfect Retirement

Last weekend I packed up my four year old son and we embarked on a road trip to Bulahdelah, a small country town about three hours from Sydney. I wanted to see my dad on Father’s Day. Mum had to suddenly find a nursing home who could take dad when she recently discovered she needed some medical treatment herself and would not be able to look after dad during her treatment. Dad has Alzheimer’s disease and whilst still in pretty good physical condition at 89, his memory is disserting him, he now needed full time care. It’s a cruel disease and very hard on carers.

We were very lucky that there was a vacancy in this lovely country nursing home and he is being well looked after. Driving home, I found myself reflecting on my future. Where will I end up?  My parents had no superannuation, no investments (apart from the family home) and this meant they had no choice.  They needed to go onto the pension and they needed to take whatever care they could find that would be covered by the pension. 

For my retirement I want choice. Money gives choice.

In fact, I’ve joked around with a few friends that I will develop a fantastic facility where we can all hang out in our retirement.  I’ll find a few acres of land near the coast and build the perfect retirement village.  It won’t be a quiet place with boring quizzes and games of bingo; we’ll have a state of the art gym with nice looking instructors to keep our old muscles strong and our minds sharp.  We’ll sit on top of one of the green, rolling hills looking out to the ocean and do yoga in the mornings. We’ll have our chef prepare gourmet seafood lunches. We’ll be served cocktails and canapés at afternoon tea, not instant coffee and bickies. There’ll be in-house black jack tables and a roulette wheel and we’ll hold Vegas parties (like Prince Harry).  

We’ll each have a personal carer or butler (as we’ll call them) who will remind us to take our vitamins and medication and ensure that we don’t fall out of our wheel chairs at happy hour.

Our ‘outings’ will be to exotic destinations; shopping in Melbourne, day spas in Queensland, wine tasting in the Hunter Valley, theatre and concerts in Sydney.  The men can have their own driver so they can check the surf each day and maybe get out there on a mal or do some laps in the ocean pools and sit around in their Speedos spinning yarns in the sun.

There will be guest houses for our families to come and visit and animals everywhere for us to play with; horses, dogs, cats, goats, pelicans, alpacas...whatever we want in our nursing home.

This is my dream retirement, to stay active; mind, body and soul, relax and have fun in my twilight years and be with my friends. Not to be in a strange nursing home or a burden on my family or the government.

What’s your retirement look like?  

We need to plan for it and we needed to start yesterday.  In most cases, our super is not going to be enough, especially for us women.  Women tend to live longer and have less super due to being out of the work force raising children or caring for parents for some period of time. Then there’s the pay inequality issue...so there’s lots of reasons we need to be even more diligent than men in planning our futures.

My message today is to keep building your property portfolio and hold onto it.  I’ve found that property really does double in value over ten years, some of mine have tripled in less, and if you really want to build that portfolio, look at developing property.

Property Bloom’s latest completed three villa development has just created around $167,000 in equity within about 18 months.  By developing property, you are adding value and manufacturing equity.  There are strong depreciation benefits and if you develop at the right time, you’ll also enjoy good capital growth to come.  These villas have a strong yield and were leased out within a week of completion.

Dream up your retirement, work hard now, make some sacrifices, build your investments and you’ll be able to choose your future.

http://www.propertybloom.com.au/

The three top things to know when developing property – Part 3

Who will I need in my Property Development Team?

Your Property Team should consist of:

-       Property Accountant – it’s very important to have the correct structures in place before you buy. My accountant is a key member of my team and well worth her weight in gold (that’s how much she charges me! Of course, accounting fees are tax deductible).

-       Property Lawyer – every property transaction is different and even the simplest contract should be looked over by someone with experience. My Lawyer is like a father to me and I thoroughly trust his judgment and advice.

-       Finance Broker – it is vital to use a broker with a strong understanding of construction finance. Establish a close relationship with your broker so she understands your individual situation and be able to fast track the sometimes tedious process of obtaining development finance.

-        Architect/draftsman – a local architect will have an understanding of the council requirements but always have you.

-        Builder – a close working relationship with your builder is important, they need to be flexible and accuracy in their pricing with enough clout be offer economies of scale with their buying power of materials. Some builders may have existing designs for villas or duplexes that will save you money not having to engage an architect. You can usually make minor changes to these plans.

-        Surveyor – He or she will have a strong knowledge of the local area and has often conducted surveys or subdivisions on land in the area.

-        Quantity Surveyor – important to maximise tax rebates on completion of your development.

-        Project Manager/Development Manager - if it’s your first development, using an experienced project manager will hold your hand through the process and you’ll learn what’s involved so you can then manage your next development. A good project manager will also bring discounted rates and other advantages to the project.

This is a nutshell of information on what to consider as you get started. Sometime is will seem a lot easier just to buy existing property but if you really want fast track your portfolio and create some equity along the way, then property development may be for you.

www.propertybloom.com.au

The Three Top Things You Need To Know When Developing...Part 2

Developing property can be risky and not for everyone, there are many things that can go wrong so it is important to really do your due diligence and understand the many facets involved.  

I’ve compiled what I think are the top three things to do first when embarking on a property development.  Here is Tip No. 2.

Tip 2.

Finding a good development site

Once you have found the area you want to develop in, it then comes down to good site selection. 

When looking at a development site consider:

-          Location

-          Aspect

-          Slope

-          Frontage

-          Depth

-          What’s on top of the land

-          What’s underneath the land

 Location of your development site is obviously important, we all know that being close to community amenities is top priority whether you are planning to keep your new dwellings or sell them, being close to schools and universities, shops, transport and medical facilities is very important.  You should check out the neighbours on all sides of the land to make sure there are no dog breeding kennels, chicken coups, car workshops or noisy businesses that may make the location undesirable for tenants. Ask the locals about crime rates and take a drive around the streets to get a ‘feel’ for the area. Trust your gut feel or intuition; we will often get an instant negative feeling if something is not quite right.

Aspect is the direction the land faces; north, south, east or west.  It’s important to have the living areas of your development as close to facing north as possible to maximise natural light.  Aspect is also very important for the energy rating of your development.

The slope of the block is important. Most people think a dead flat block may be good for developing, whilst it may be better than a steeply sloping site but you may need to build up the site with fill and retain it to meet drainage issues. So the ideal block will slope or fall slightly to the street which will assist with natural stormwater runoff and drainage.

A wider frontage or width of the block is usually desirable particularly if you are looking at a medium density development as you will be losing some of the width to a driveway to access the rear dwellings. Some councils have a calculation as to how wide the driveway needs to be based on the number of dwellings. So make sure you have taken this into consideration and have a wide enough block.

Depth is important and will determine how many dwellings you may get onto the land.  Be careful with very deep blocks as the deeper the block, the longer the driveway. A long driveway can add thousands to your costs. You may also need to run services such as sewer, water, gas and electricity from the front of the block to the back, depending on where the connection points for these services are located.

What’s on top of the land?  For a quick assessment, take a look around to see how many large trees may need to be cleared, a mature gum tree can cost up to $5,000 to remove, so if there are a few of these, you will need to allow more for you site clearing costs. Also look out for asbestos sheds on concrete slabs which are expensive to remove. If there is an existing house that you plan to keep, check there is good access to the back of the block for the large site clearing machinery that may be required.

What’s underneath the land?   In some regional areas, you should check for old mines.  If you know it’s a mining area, then you can apply to the local mine board for a subsidence report.  You can still build over an old mine, but it adds considerable foundation costs. Is there a natural water course running under the land?  The soil type is also important. In most cases, you won’t know unless you commission a geotechnical report which is advisable to have done if after all your research you are sure this is the correct site. It may cost around $800 but worth every cent if it means you can more easily assess projects viability.  You will also need to know the location of the sewer line, sewer junctions and sewer manholes as some of these may be built over but one of them most certainly cannot.  You can request the sewer diagram from the agent or the local water authority.  A detailed survey will show other important things so again, if you are serious about the site, get a detail/contour survey done as you will need this to have a builder or architect work on a design for your project.

www.propertybloom.com.au