#buildityourself - a guide to building your own house ch2: finding a property, cont.

Right. Apologies for the inconsistencies in writing these posts. Life with a 1 year old is unpredictable. Let’s just recap; you want to build your own house, you’re looking for a property, you can’t find cool ones for sale, and your dream starts feeling like a pipe dream. Alas, the best properties are not for sale… and in most cases the owners don’t even know they can sell them.

So, welcome to the wonderful world of subdivision. When the city council and land surveyor general set out properties many moons ago, space was not an issue. They set out ‘burger erwe’ which were 4500m2. Over the years most of these have already been subdivided into smaller properties as our cities become more densified. But, there are still many available, waiting to be subdivided. Most property owners know nothing about property, and even less about the possibilities of subdivision or second dwellings.

Right, you have identified a neighbourhood, an area, and now the search starts. Go on Google maps, to your area, and look for any open space. In leafy area’s this might be difficult. The best properties to subdivide are the ones where the original house is built right up to one side, with a large garden… and better still, with a large lawn. If large open lawns aren’t jumping out at you, look for lonely swimming pools, or tennis courts. These are good subdivision material, as they are a maintenance nuisance, and barely ever used. Ask any property owner with a swimming pool what the bane of their existence is, and I’ll bet you it will be the cost of maintaining the pool.

Maintenance cost. This is the bases of your proposal. Big properties cost a fortune to maintain, and a fortune in rates and taxes. People who own big properties bought them a long time ago, and they’re not interested a catching a tan anymore. What they want is for you to make them an offer on that back yard that has become a maintenance mission. You’re giving them a large chunk of cash (which they most probably desperately need as everyone’s retirement annuities have predictably underperformed) and retirement has become a faraway dream…. Until now. Before you make that offer though, you still need to do some research and I’ll talk about those technicalities next time. Peace out.