Due Diligence in a Day
Are you buying a property and need answers fast?
How do you know what town planning rules apply?
We report back to you in one day.
See how it works and available options below
Its vital to undertake proper due diligence when buying a property
If you plan to develop your property, undertaking proper due diligence is even more important.
Today, development and property investing are more popular than ever before. When things become popular, the basics are often overlooked, and people can rush when excited by a potential deal.
Those new to property development are not always aware of the dangers and pitfalls and often only see the success of others, or are only told by others about how easy developing is. The stories of failure or hardship are quietly left untold.
Our Due Diligence in a Day service helps you be informed before you buy, without waiting weeks for reports. We deliver meaningful results within one day.
How it works
1. We inspect the property. This means we can see what is happening on the ground. Most in-fill developments and small-scale urban projects can be heavily affected by things happening on the ground, such as infrastructure.
2. We check the town planning zone, overlays and neighbourhood plan applicable to the property and a wide range of planning matters where applicable.
3. We book a time with you and call to discuss the results. This is an extended call. Allow 30-60 minutes.
During this call we will explain:
- The relevant town planning information
- What we found and what it means to you
- For issues we identify, we will advise if and how they can be resolved?
- A budget for the town planning process
- Timeframes
- Our professional opinion about the project, the likelihood of success and how to proceed.
The importance of due diligence
Due diligence is an investment. Its research that helps you make informed decisions and increases your knowledge about a property and the project you are about to start. It’s about confirming what is known as well as identifying issues that are unknown to you and how to resolve these issues. In some cases, it’s also about avoiding buying a property that you cannot develop.
I need to pay for advice?
Yes, we charge for this service.
Good due diligence takes time and expertise. You are paying for both; our time to inspect the site and our expertise to research what is needed and summarise this information for you.
We are good at what we do. Our expertise is current and reflects what is happening in the market right now. We also have the inside knowledge of what happens in practice as we are lodging development application everyday. You get the benefit of this experience and knowledge.
Please be cautious about assuming that free advice is the right advice for you. When we advise you, we are not manoeuvring to sign you up for high fee paying work by telling you it will be easy or we can get that approved. We are analysing the facts of the property and the town planning requirements. We also carefully consider your project goals, your property experience and available budget.
Remember, the real estate agent is there to sell the property for the owner; not to provide independent advice for you to consider"
Advice From Other Sources
Council
The local Council can be a useful resource for you. There are varying approaches to what information Councils will provide over the phone.
Our experience suggests that most Councils will provide broad and fact-based advice, but very little clarity or opinion on whether your development or land use will be approved. You will almost always be speaking with junior Officers with little experience and no authority to provide qualified opinions.
We have advised many people who contacted us after speaking with the local Council. In many cases our advice has been different to what the Council Officer advised or we provided substantial context about why a development would struggle to be approved and the risks and costs involved.
Do you want to rely on Council advice when buying an asset as large and important as property?
Real estate agents
There are many real estate agents and many different approaches to marketing and selling property.
Some agents provide broad information on possible development opportunities associated with a property, and most will acknowledge when development is subject to Council approval.
Some agents, unfortunately, will make claims about a property’s development potential or the ease of gaining approval that is either incorrect or generally misleading.
How will you know when this is happening to you?
Remember, the real estate agent is there to sell the property for the owner; not to provide independent advice for you to consider.
Due diligence is an investment. Its research that helps you make informed decisions and increases your knowledge about a property and the project you are about to start.
Our Guarantee to You
With this service you receive our ‘Due Diligence Double Down Guarantee’. This means that if you are not satisfied with the advice or information we provide, we will happily give you all your money back and double down by providing another site review at no charge. Simply let us know within 30 days by calling or emailing us. No questions asked. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.
Fees
Subdivision
- Brisbane & Logan -
Subdivision
- Other areas -
A Tale of 3 Properties
A story that is worth sharing is about a client who liked to skip due diligence. It’s a tale of not three time’s a charm, rather three times and near disaster.
John was an experienced builder and decided he wanted to develop and build townhouses. For his first site he decided to buy the property because someone else had developed the same size block in the street. That was the only research he did. By chance it was possible to do townhouses, but there was still one or two significant issues we had to resolve as part of the DA. It took much longer than expected, and John didn’t like that there were delays. For this first site, it was lucky to achieve approval.
We recommended to John that he speak with us before buying any further sites as he said he was going to do multiple projects.
A few months later John called to say he had another site. We said we would check the basics for him. No need John said, it’s unconditional and he had done all the checks because it’s the same size and zone as the previous one. Oh no, John had assumed town planning was cookie cutter and what happened on one site simply applied to another.
Once we investigated the site, we discovered it had a major flaw. There was a strong possibility John may not achieve an approval for townhouses on this site. It meant more time and more costs to prepare documents and plans. John didn’t like that he had to wait again and spend more money. Our team worked hard to resolve the issues during the DA process and we were able to achieve an approval. Phew!
You can probably guess where this is going. John went and bought a third site without checking with us! And yes, it came with another major hurdle. But John assured us he had checked on the basics and looked at that ‘other thing’ we had problems with last time. Unfortunately, the site was affected by a different town planning issue John didn’t know about.
To finish the story, whilst it was a hard slog, we got John his third DA approval for townhouses. Once again, John didn’t like waiting, he didn’t like having to spend money changing designs and he didn’t understand why his site was different to others doing the same type of development.
No doubt you can see the themes that emerge from this story.
We have many of these stories and some end in misfortune, where an approval couldn’t be achieved, or a property simply couldn’t be developed. Imagine owning a $700K+ property that you thought you could subdivide, and you can’t. In almost all cases, these types of issues can be identified with proper due diligence before buying.
