When assessing a property for value adding, land size and multiple land titles are high on my list of wants. This project offered both. Here, this corner site had the existing home built almost to the front boundary and across the two titles which was a common occurrence in the past, and these ran parallel to the side street (see Buckle Up). As such, on 1100m2 it had a big back yard which always offers opportunities, plus being a corner site it would allow easy access to the newly created lot and save a large sum, as most subdivisions require the costs of long access driveways and the running of services down side access easements. 

The due diligence, as was our normal practice, engaged a town planner and engineer to consider our proposal to realign the title perpendicular to the current alignment, as well as the services and any planning issues both giving us the all clear. After settlement, we lodged our application with the council. But during the review process, we were met with substantial resistance and a proposed refusal based on some stormwater and local flooding issues, and while overly officious, the council was correct to do so, because frankly our consultants completely stuffed up and missed crucial issues. Twelve months later and we were still fighting council on technicalities, while the imposing GFC consumed both the market confidence and our frustrations. The site was subsequently sold in disgust at cost, but with a major lesson learned. The primary issue was an engineering one, in that I used an untried consultant at the suggestion of my partners in the project. As a footnote, the buyer of the site some six years later gained the exact same approval from a different regime at council, though they have yet to undertake the alignment.