16 x 2 storey, 3 bed, 2 bath, DLUG Townhouses fronting a seasonal creek parkland and next door to a new Village Centre

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Having learnt early on (see Tantulla Project) that selling most, but holding onto a part of your project, can be a great, tax-effective, long-term growth strategy, I decided that I would always try and keep a piece of each project I completed.

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It simply made mathematical sense that saving the transaction fees on the home held, such as sales commission, marketing costs, legal (sometimes) stamp duty could be combined with the retained profits as more than enough equity for a bank loan. Now, I would be lying if I didn’t admit to the property equivalent of hoarding, as I loved creating these properties and keeping a part of something I conceived and believed in, however, I had also watched successful developers build large complex’s and hold a portion for wealth accumulation and ultimately cash flow.

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Other benefits were that I got pick of the litter, paid ‘the project’ the initial list price less the cost above, secured an early pre-sale which over time helped as others heard that the ‘developer’ was buying them himself but I also had a vested interest in the final product outcome. I did this on most projects through the ‘90s and ‘00s but there were downsides too that I came to see consistently over time.

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In larger multi-unit (home) complexes, a Body Corporate is required to run the day-to-day of the common areas of the complex; effectively, this means everything outside of the home or unit you own. They are what I like to call the fourth level of government in this country. This consists of two parts. One: a professional external administrative arm, a Body Corporate manager who collects the Body Corporates fees from the home owners, but also administers the required legal documentation, pays the insurance and maintenance bills etc.; and two: The Committee, which is an elected body of unit owners in the complex that in my experience attract two kinds of people. The first is an owner who just wants to help, but the second and most common is an authoritarian, typically not so emotionally intelligent person with ample spare time on their hands.

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In my experience these people create turmoil, and are destructive to peace and quiet and cost efficiency. It’s both these types of people, but to be balanced the whole Body Corporate system itself that sees annual Body Corporate fees increase and erode the cash flow of property owners. As such, after years of seeing a repeated pattern, I do my absolute best to stay away from Body Corporate ownership with any more than two owners, as small lot schemes of >3 units have different rules.

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