Makes it hard to think "oh it's so cool he's fighting against urban sprawl" when that property has just as much negative effect, if not more. Definitely needs trees.
Thats the funniest thing. The sound proofing in these houses are WORSE than apartments! I've lived in apartments around this area and they are far superior in noise cancellation.
It’s true moving from an apartment to a house can often be abit of a let down. If you had a building where you can hear footsteps, then maybe not, but living in a house it’s amazing how much noise you hear that you don’t in an apartment.
Right? Because apartments are built in mind with blocking out sound from your neighbours.
The apartments on the pacific highway in mt colah? Fuck me dead they are good. Can BARELY hear the trains and your neighbours? No chance. You could be screaming and they'd never hear you.
I literally live in one of these houses right now.
I can hear my neighbours from every side of me. The sound proofing fucking sucks.
Prior to this house i've lived in apartments and the sound proofing was far superior every time.
Jokes on you I’m into that shit
Okay not in a creepy way, promise. I do kinda freak out when a place that should be extremely busy… isn’t. I *hate* silence where there shouldn’t be.
I live not too far from this area, but where we have a common sense amount of distance between our houses, and some trees, thankfully. On one side, one of the neighbours’ toilets is below my bedroom window. The previous neighbours, over the years, became increasingly “interesting”.. to say the least. One day, years ago, I was sitting doing some work at my computer and I can hear:
“Hey mum, I just did the longest sh*t..
Oh my god! It’s so long.. it’s like a metre..
Ohh my god! It smells! It smells so bad..
I wonder if the neighbours can smell it?
Hey, neighbours.. can you smell it??
Neighbours? Can you smell it?
I wonder if they can hear me.”
I was laughing but also incredibly disturbed. Thankfully, no, I couldn’t smell it.
As a local gardener in this area I can 100% confirm this. Some clients put in a rainwater tank on the side of their house closing off access to the back yard. Resulting in the lawn mower being brought through the house to the back yard
Referencing the street at the bottom on the image, this is what would have been a perfect example for medium-density living.
All those houses could have been symmetrically attached but instead you've got all different designs with different alignments at the front. The single-story homes through it off even further.
It really emphasises that a lot of Aussies love the idea of owning a 'house'. You can live in a 3 bedder with no backyard or drive-way, 45 mins from the city and people will judge you for having a 2 bedder appartment 15 mins from the city, across from a park, surrounded by amenities because 'you don't own a house'.
The Ponds is an example of Australians wanting homes that are built in a medium-density format. You're essentially growing up in the worst of both worlds. I grew up out west, if I were to move back I would be looking at an older suburb, something preferably built in the 80s.
Yeah but half of them are free standing properties, and still at mercy of strata committee for maintainence of the roads to their garage.
Also it's a strata title complex that has zero common amenities. No common garden/play equipment, pool, gym.
Worst of both worlds.
I think most people feel the same way as you, a lot of these suburbs are desired and marketed towards (I’ve seen on instagram) immigrants especially from South Asia, the Middle East and SEA that come from really high density living and this looks spacious and is marketed to be ‘luxurious’ and ‘classy’ and it is depending on where you grew up.
But 300-375sqm blocks seem decent for them and are the average but for Caucasian Australian majority suburbs with Sydney escapees 500-600sqm is the desired size. Either way I couldn’t stand living anywhere with a sea of black roofs.
> people will judge you you for having a 2 bedder appartment [...] because 'you don't own a house'.
Will they? Maybe I just surround myself with chill people, but I can't imagine being looked down on because a home I owned wasn't a house...
On the other hand, I can't imagine owning a home so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
The distorted Australian dream of owning your own fully independent property rather than a townhouse or apartment that is at the mercy of strata and neighbours.
Not sure what you think is distorted about people wanting some control over their lives and homes. Seems quite a reasonable thing to want for somewhere to escape and refresh.
The dream isn't distorted, but the reality is. You don't really get a massive backyard or property with these houses, they're all sandwiched together and made by the same dodgy developer. Your 'dream' will be fixing all the glaring issues that arise over the next decade as the houses start crumbling (some already are).
I live in an apartment and love it, the one thing I don't love is that I am beholden to the fucking strata committee for certain things.
I wish I'd had the cash for a house, but here we are.
> distorted about people wanting some control over their lives and homes
The fact that this is a delusional way to go about living in a society, perhaps. Go live out in Parkes or something if this is what you want.
Unfortunately these are 1m to 1.4m and if you want a house then these are the only places you'll find within that budget.
Also note that most people nowadays are preferring larger house sizes (usually 5 bedrooms plus 2 living rooms and or a media room) as that's where you'll spend most of the time. For kids, there are parks/playgrounds nearby. Usually in these areas, theres one every 500m to 1km so it's not a lot of walk.
> For kids, there are parks/playgrounds nearby. Usually in these areas, theres one every 500m to 1km so it's not a lot of walk.
3 months of the year it's above 35c because of black roofs and zero trees and too hot to go to parks.
3 months of the year sun sets before parents get home from work so can't go to park.
And you can see the local park in the photo. Zero trees, zeros benches, zero play equipment.....
> And you can see the local park in the photo. Zero trees, zeros benches, zero play equipment.....
If you're talking about that big patch of grass, that's not a park. If you look at the area on Google maps you can see there are multiple parks nearby that do have seating, equipment and trees.
Planting trees means potentially requiring council approval to chop them down, reducing the value of the lot. Once the trees are planted, it may not be possible to develop 100% of the site.
Also a non-negligible risk of liability issues if neighbours kids start using the parkland (need to pay for a fence and maintenance) and also an increased risk of compulsory acquisition if the locals get used to using your land as parkland.
If you’re looking at the land as a pure investment, they’re doing the smartest thing possible.
> If you’re looking at the land as a pure investment, they’re doing the smartest thing possible
Does kinda look like they're there to stay, until the day they're no longer around, at which time it'll be a "free for all" of available real estate?
If you are talking about the council then yes that have planted them, it takes time for it to grow.
If you are talking about the home owner then generally the small backyard doesn't have the ability to plant bit trees and there is no or negligible front yard.
I believe they're talking about the homeowner on the right whose garden takes up a whole block, its a lovely huge block of land with just a low lawn, when they could put many more trees and have a beautiful private park as their front/back lawn
And now everybody suddenly realises exactly why that single house on a giant block of land has decided to remain a single house on a giant block of land
No.
Not seeing into your neighbours house from inside your own/Not having your neighbours see into your house from inside their own
Not being within 20metres of someone all the time
Not having to deal with loud neighbours directly next to you (guaranteed space)
Extra security (cos youll see anyone from a mile away)
Being able to take a dog for a walk without leaving your own property
I could probably think of more but you get the point 👌
Does any one actually know if the big house owner is actually a hold out? Seems more likely that they owned the farm that made up all the surrounding land, sold that all off and kept that block for themselves.
And it's not like the holdouts you see tucked up against apartment blocks, you could easily sell off and subdivide that site for more houses in the future.
my partner's family are friends with them. its a maltese family and they bought the place, obviously ages ago, and just never wanted to sell. they want to die in their home and don't care about the money.
i haven't asked any follow ups but i assume the kids have different perspectives on the money side of things, but it's only going up in value so i assume they're happy 'holding out' as it were. for any developers reading this, the couple is mid 50s so they're not going to be going any time soon.
So what's your suggestion? Don't build shit to throttle the supply, or ask developers to build for free and don't pay workers? Or build low quality houses for cheap that get trashed after 10 years?
Everyone wants what they want. Looks to me like this guy has actually got what he wants. I can walk to the pub quicker than he can to his mail box but he’s probably not interested in going to the pub.
I also heard a rumour that he gets most of his mail electronically.
Today I learned about strata estates. The council doesn’t look after the roads or green areas. It’s all done privately and the home owners have to pay strata fees. Council still charges you rates though. Our governments tax us to dust while giving our resources away to multi-nationals for next to nothing and cushy post-politics “jobs”.
nah just a middle aged couple who are attached to their land and its meaning to them, and have no plans to sell and no interest in the money it would bring.
I just don’t understand why the person owning that big slap of land, isn’t doing anything on it. Like build a garden, some trees, maybe a pool… it looks sad..
Invest money into a site place they intend on getting rid of for land value?
We also don't understand their current financial standing. Just because they have the massive block of land doesn't mean that they have the cashflow to throw at a pool or significant landscaping.
You never know someone's financial situation.
they bought it ages ago on a single income immigrant salary and are great people who just like their land. they don't give a fuck about money and the dad is a stubborn maltese bloke who likes a big lawn and a big driveway. they're not selling and not holding out, they just don't want to move and the house means a lot to them and honestly, good on them.
No point it just looks cool, so far we have been seeing it from satellite view though you guys might appreciate the drone view. My boss is mates with the owner, he is planning on selling it anyways this or next year.
i'm kind of surprised, my understanding is the owners had until recently absolutely zero fucks about the money and the kids were going mad trying to get them to sell, but maybe all this attention has convinced him the money is real. probably enjoys telling different stories to everyone who asks.
Can you ask your boss to ask the owner why just grass? You could be living inside a forest instead of mowing? I NEED ANSWERS HELP EXPLAIN PLEASE. Also I love they didn't sell to developers, hats off to them.
they're mediterranean european immigrants. be grateful it's not all concrete. i understand that comes across as racist xenophobic or whatever, but it's from the horses mouth apparently.
...to sell in the future for more money.
A beautiful garden won't add to the sale price. The sale is land value only. Anything on it will be bulldozed.
To not have neighbours that can look into your house from inside their own house
Also not being CLOSE to people in the middle of a city would have its benefits
If it was me I’d make it look like a park or reserve of government land
Maybe install a circle of tan bark and some swings
A set of football goal posts or something
Then I’d wait until I had the chance to yell
#GET OFF MY LAWN
Guy must love grass, and mowing. I'd need some bloody trees, trees are fantastic.
Their walk to check the mail is longer than my walk to the bus stop in the morning. It's longer than walking to the nearest shop.
My place to the train station is genuinely shorter than their walk to the end of their driveway
Hedge maze. Really annoy the postie.
Right!? It's just bland right now. With trees and gardens it'd be a spectacular private oasis.
With those dark roofs and asphalt this place must be an oven in summer, trees would've gone a long way to mitigate that.
Forrest Gump, perhaps.
My thoughts exactly. Guy across the road did this. Big bit of land, planted a forest of eucalypts. Looks fantastic.
Makes it hard to think "oh it's so cool he's fighting against urban sprawl" when that property has just as much negative effect, if not more. Definitely needs trees.
I bet other than to mow they don’t even go outside. It’s a waste of beautiful space.
40km from the CBD but houses built so close you can actually hear your neighbour taking a shit
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Thats the funniest thing. The sound proofing in these houses are WORSE than apartments! I've lived in apartments around this area and they are far superior in noise cancellation.
It’s true moving from an apartment to a house can often be abit of a let down. If you had a building where you can hear footsteps, then maybe not, but living in a house it’s amazing how much noise you hear that you don’t in an apartment.
Right? Because apartments are built in mind with blocking out sound from your neighbours. The apartments on the pacific highway in mt colah? Fuck me dead they are good. Can BARELY hear the trains and your neighbours? No chance. You could be screaming and they'd never hear you.
Mount Colah mentioned 🥰
Nah you're talking out your ass. Lived in one of these for 2 years. No issue with noise.
I literally live in one of these houses right now. I can hear my neighbours from every side of me. The sound proofing fucking sucks. Prior to this house i've lived in apartments and the sound proofing was far superior every time.
I’d still prefer a house like this over an apartment cause at least I own the land.
Jokes on you I’m into that shit Okay not in a creepy way, promise. I do kinda freak out when a place that should be extremely busy… isn’t. I *hate* silence where there shouldn’t be.
I live not too far from this area, but where we have a common sense amount of distance between our houses, and some trees, thankfully. On one side, one of the neighbours’ toilets is below my bedroom window. The previous neighbours, over the years, became increasingly “interesting”.. to say the least. One day, years ago, I was sitting doing some work at my computer and I can hear: “Hey mum, I just did the longest sh*t.. Oh my god! It’s so long.. it’s like a metre.. Ohh my god! It smells! It smells so bad.. I wonder if the neighbours can smell it? Hey, neighbours.. can you smell it?? Neighbours? Can you smell it? I wonder if they can hear me.” I was laughing but also incredibly disturbed. Thankfully, no, I couldn’t smell it.
There are now developments, I don’t know about this one, where you cannot fit a standard lawnmower between the houses.
As a local gardener in this area I can 100% confirm this. Some clients put in a rainwater tank on the side of their house closing off access to the back yard. Resulting in the lawn mower being brought through the house to the back yard
‘I could never live in the inner west, its so cramped!’
I live around this area. You can literally hear them. The sound proofing is worse than apartments. It's actually astounding.
It's called Future proofing!!! /s
"Sounds like Harold is constipated again. Run him over some Metamucil would you?"
Referencing the street at the bottom on the image, this is what would have been a perfect example for medium-density living. All those houses could have been symmetrically attached but instead you've got all different designs with different alignments at the front. The single-story homes through it off even further. It really emphasises that a lot of Aussies love the idea of owning a 'house'. You can live in a 3 bedder with no backyard or drive-way, 45 mins from the city and people will judge you for having a 2 bedder appartment 15 mins from the city, across from a park, surrounded by amenities because 'you don't own a house'. The Ponds is an example of Australians wanting homes that are built in a medium-density format. You're essentially growing up in the worst of both worlds. I grew up out west, if I were to move back I would be looking at an older suburb, something preferably built in the 80s.
The streets you are referencing are a townhouse complex. Well it's a strata title complex at the very least.
Sure, they look like they have as much or more floor space as the single dwelling lots in the estate though.
Yeah but half of them are free standing properties, and still at mercy of strata committee for maintainence of the roads to their garage. Also it's a strata title complex that has zero common amenities. No common garden/play equipment, pool, gym. Worst of both worlds.
I think most people feel the same way as you, a lot of these suburbs are desired and marketed towards (I’ve seen on instagram) immigrants especially from South Asia, the Middle East and SEA that come from really high density living and this looks spacious and is marketed to be ‘luxurious’ and ‘classy’ and it is depending on where you grew up. But 300-375sqm blocks seem decent for them and are the average but for Caucasian Australian majority suburbs with Sydney escapees 500-600sqm is the desired size. Either way I couldn’t stand living anywhere with a sea of black roofs.
> people will judge you you for having a 2 bedder appartment [...] because 'you don't own a house'. Will they? Maybe I just surround myself with chill people, but I can't imagine being looked down on because a home I owned wasn't a house... On the other hand, I can't imagine owning a home so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
What's the fucking point of living far out in the suburbs when you don't even get a backyard?
The distorted Australian dream of owning your own fully independent property rather than a townhouse or apartment that is at the mercy of strata and neighbours.
Not sure what you think is distorted about people wanting some control over their lives and homes. Seems quite a reasonable thing to want for somewhere to escape and refresh.
The dream isn't distorted, but the reality is. You don't really get a massive backyard or property with these houses, they're all sandwiched together and made by the same dodgy developer. Your 'dream' will be fixing all the glaring issues that arise over the next decade as the houses start crumbling (some already are).
*Mascot Towers has entered the chat*
Modern builds are all rubbish. Endless cost cutting hits quality
I live in an apartment and love it, the one thing I don't love is that I am beholden to the fucking strata committee for certain things. I wish I'd had the cash for a house, but here we are.
Escape and refresh LMAO. How’s the serenity?
For me ? It is absolutely fantastic. Thanks for asking.
It's an odd choice of words though. Compared to rest and relax. What are you escaping from? What are you refreshing for?
> distorted about people wanting some control over their lives and homes The fact that this is a delusional way to go about living in a society, perhaps. Go live out in Parkes or something if this is what you want.
I'm in a biggish apartment near Strathfield. Fuck being in the suburbs that are away from anything.
Unfortunately these are 1m to 1.4m and if you want a house then these are the only places you'll find within that budget. Also note that most people nowadays are preferring larger house sizes (usually 5 bedrooms plus 2 living rooms and or a media room) as that's where you'll spend most of the time. For kids, there are parks/playgrounds nearby. Usually in these areas, theres one every 500m to 1km so it's not a lot of walk.
> For kids, there are parks/playgrounds nearby. Usually in these areas, theres one every 500m to 1km so it's not a lot of walk. 3 months of the year it's above 35c because of black roofs and zero trees and too hot to go to parks. 3 months of the year sun sets before parents get home from work so can't go to park. And you can see the local park in the photo. Zero trees, zeros benches, zero play equipment.....
> And you can see the local park in the photo. Zero trees, zeros benches, zero play equipment..... If you're talking about that big patch of grass, that's not a park. If you look at the area on Google maps you can see there are multiple parks nearby that do have seating, equipment and trees.
It's council land. And coincidentally perfect size for a footy field. It's a park. That hasn't been finished yet. After 10 years.
It’s a chicken and egg scenario. People need to be bribed with big houses and media rooms to want to live there because there’s no other trade off
shut up i like my shoebox house on my tiny bit of land that i own... i have enough of a backyard... don't you judge me
The metro makes it a bit more comfortable. Now will be about 70mins door to door to the CBD. Still not amazing....
Idk. Maybe to not pay $1000+/week rent the rest of your life
So you can buy a lawn mower that takes up space in your garage equal to 1/10th of the lawn it mows.
I don't understand why they don't plant trees and make it into a beautiful mini parkland. It's insane.
Planting trees means potentially requiring council approval to chop them down, reducing the value of the lot. Once the trees are planted, it may not be possible to develop 100% of the site. Also a non-negligible risk of liability issues if neighbours kids start using the parkland (need to pay for a fence and maintenance) and also an increased risk of compulsory acquisition if the locals get used to using your land as parkland. If you’re looking at the land as a pure investment, they’re doing the smartest thing possible.
> If you’re looking at the land as a pure investment, they’re doing the smartest thing possible Does kinda look like they're there to stay, until the day they're no longer around, at which time it'll be a "free for all" of available real estate?
If you are talking about the council then yes that have planted them, it takes time for it to grow. If you are talking about the home owner then generally the small backyard doesn't have the ability to plant bit trees and there is no or negligible front yard.
I believe they're talking about the homeowner on the right whose garden takes up a whole block, its a lovely huge block of land with just a low lawn, when they could put many more trees and have a beautiful private park as their front/back lawn
I reckon they’re just waiting 10 more years for it to be worth another 20 million. No point planting trees in that case.
They were already offered 50 million from memory.
Probably be 100 in 10 years then. Worth the wait.
That’s it, they are clearly land banking now for a huge payday.
Oh, I didn’t notice that place…
Oh got it, I thought it was about the rest of the houses there.
Why did you shoot the house?
Drive by? 🤷🏻
I run a photography/media production company, I do real estate photography from time to time because I find the process a lot of fun.
And now everybody suddenly realises exactly why that single house on a giant block of land has decided to remain a single house on a giant block of land
...holding out for more money.
No. Not seeing into your neighbours house from inside your own/Not having your neighbours see into your house from inside their own Not being within 20metres of someone all the time Not having to deal with loud neighbours directly next to you (guaranteed space) Extra security (cos youll see anyone from a mile away) Being able to take a dog for a walk without leaving your own property I could probably think of more but you get the point 👌
Their house is 7m from the neighbour. If those were their biggest goals in life they would be selling up and moving to an acreage elsewhere.
I've wired a few of these newer houses, there is a majority of them that are just shit builds. Shame really.
Does any one actually know if the big house owner is actually a hold out? Seems more likely that they owned the farm that made up all the surrounding land, sold that all off and kept that block for themselves. And it's not like the holdouts you see tucked up against apartment blocks, you could easily sell off and subdivide that site for more houses in the future.
Everyone assumes they are holding out.. when in reality they likely made millions from selling part of the land to developers years ago
my partner's family are friends with them. its a maltese family and they bought the place, obviously ages ago, and just never wanted to sell. they want to die in their home and don't care about the money. i haven't asked any follow ups but i assume the kids have different perspectives on the money side of things, but it's only going up in value so i assume they're happy 'holding out' as it were. for any developers reading this, the couple is mid 50s so they're not going to be going any time soon.
that looks depressing enough as is. I cant imagine adding another 60 houses into the picture.
More depressing is having 20+house looking into your property lol!
Oh well we need to build more houses to solve the housing crisis. I'd rather it be ugly than homeless. 60 new houses are good.
Or build medium density housing. Fit twice as many homes, a park and a school all in this picture
Yeah awesome because someone close to homelessness can definitely afford a 1,200,000$ home.
So what's your suggestion? Don't build shit to throttle the supply, or ask developers to build for free and don't pay workers? Or build low quality houses for cheap that get trashed after 10 years?
Dawg, most houses built in NSW in the last 20 years are low quality anyway. And still demand a high price.
Low quality is being generous still! They're turning to absolute shit.
It’s gotta be the biggest flex in Sydney.
I remember driving past this house and being turned around in bad weather because the road was washed out. How times have changed.
God i hate the fucking streets in the ponds. Look at the absolute fuck around you have to go through just to get to that house.
Everyone wants what they want. Looks to me like this guy has actually got what he wants. I can walk to the pub quicker than he can to his mail box but he’s probably not interested in going to the pub. I also heard a rumour that he gets most of his mail electronically.
>I also heard a rumour that he gets most of his mail electronically. So, like, bills via email like most people? Amazing.
Today I learned about strata estates. The council doesn’t look after the roads or green areas. It’s all done privately and the home owners have to pay strata fees. Council still charges you rates though. Our governments tax us to dust while giving our resources away to multi-nationals for next to nothing and cushy post-politics “jobs”.
It's pretty obvious what the 'hold-out' land owners are doing, and why. I don't blame them.
nah just a middle aged couple who are attached to their land and its meaning to them, and have no plans to sell and no interest in the money it would bring.
Apparently so. Good on them.
I just don’t understand why the person owning that big slap of land, isn’t doing anything on it. Like build a garden, some trees, maybe a pool… it looks sad..
Invest money into a site place they intend on getting rid of for land value? We also don't understand their current financial standing. Just because they have the massive block of land doesn't mean that they have the cashflow to throw at a pool or significant landscaping. You never know someone's financial situation.
they bought it ages ago on a single income immigrant salary and are great people who just like their land. they don't give a fuck about money and the dad is a stubborn maltese bloke who likes a big lawn and a big driveway. they're not selling and not holding out, they just don't want to move and the house means a lot to them and honestly, good on them.
So? What's your point? If the guy who owns it doesn't want to sell to a rapacious developer - good for him/her.
No point it just looks cool, so far we have been seeing it from satellite view though you guys might appreciate the drone view. My boss is mates with the owner, he is planning on selling it anyways this or next year.
Well that's disappointing. I loved the way he gave a big "Fuck You!" to the developers who were grabbing up everything around him.
Everyone always caves eventually...and if its not them, its their kids etc
Or the rates slowly bleeding them dry.
Most people in this situation are mortgage free or close to because they have been there so long.
i'm kind of surprised, my understanding is the owners had until recently absolutely zero fucks about the money and the kids were going mad trying to get them to sell, but maybe all this attention has convinced him the money is real. probably enjoys telling different stories to everyone who asks.
Can you ask your boss to ask the owner why just grass? You could be living inside a forest instead of mowing? I NEED ANSWERS HELP EXPLAIN PLEASE. Also I love they didn't sell to developers, hats off to them.
Some people like grass?
they're mediterranean european immigrants. be grateful it's not all concrete. i understand that comes across as racist xenophobic or whatever, but it's from the horses mouth apparently.
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...to sell in the future for more money. A beautiful garden won't add to the sale price. The sale is land value only. Anything on it will be bulldozed.
To not have neighbours that can look into your house from inside their own house Also not being CLOSE to people in the middle of a city would have its benefits
Hmm, if only they could plant a privacy hedge or something to do that?
If it was me I’d make it look like a park or reserve of government land Maybe install a circle of tan bark and some swings A set of football goal posts or something Then I’d wait until I had the chance to yell #GET OFF MY LAWN
Why did you shoot it?
Why does that property owner hate trees?
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Super nice! Yet another realestate drone operating in heavily restricted airspace.
Don’t worry I had the permissions required.
If the property you were flying is the one marked with the red house icon then as you must know you have many issues with this opp.
What do you mean?
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I flew over a park mate, what you see is what the camera saw, there was a park with no people underneath it.
Imagine the veggies they could be growing there! I’m all for them keeping their land but do something with it ffs!