Townsville Bulletin Article
September 17, 2019
Tuesday 17 September 2019
Saturday 6 July 2019
Twice the character- Townsville Bulletin 6 July 2019
Developer Pam Ellis has been rebuilding Parramatta street one house at a time - earlier this year she completed another one-off home only a few doors down.
"Young families are moving into the suburb to take advantage of character homes so close to the CBD and all amenities on The Strand," Ms Ellis said.
Combining a practical location with international influence, the four bedroom home boasts luxury cathedral ceilings and a master suite with its own Parisian-style balcony.
"I chose a modern Hamptons theme because I wanted Parramatta House to be complementary to the high-end surrounding Queenslanders in the street, while being a knockout in her own design," Ms Ellis said.
"The design pulls from a lot of international influence with the American-style barn door and Parisian balconies upstairs.
"But the structure of the home is built to suit the North Queensland climate."
The house is ideal for families being located within the Belgian Gardens school catchment.
"I designed Parramatta House to be filled with kids, love, and laughter, while also ensuring plentiful breakout spaces to suit the whole family," she said. "The large multi-zoned entertaining space downstairs has a seamless flow between indoors and out."
The home is set to be complete in less than six months and is on the market for $779,000. Ellis Developments sales co-ordinator Tammy Baczynski said she expected the property soon would be snatched up.
"We had two families competing for the last Hamptons-style home on this street, even before starting construction on it," Ms Baczynski said.
"This property won't stay on the market long."
Friday 7 June 2019
RBA’s record interest rate cuts have buyers buzzing in Townsville
RBA’s record interest rate cuts have buyers buzzing in Townsville
THE Reserve Bank of Australia’s highly anticipated announcement of a historic rate cut has the Townsville property market buzzing, with first home buyers gearing up to pounce, and investors expected to get back into the local market.
The cash rate which was cut by 25 basis points to 1.25 per cent has not been this low since it was first regulated in 1990.
Sales co-ordinator at Ellis Developments Meredith Sweeney, said the recent election and policy changes has stirred up the market.
“75 per cent of our clients are first time buyers and our pipeline is approximately double of what it normally is,” Ms Sweeney said.
“The confidence from the election combined with these positive government programs have our phones and emails going off.”
Phillip Lincoln who is planning to buy his first home with his wife at Haven in Townsville, said the cut will help with the process of securing finance.
“This cut is definitely going to make financing it easier for us,” Mr Lincoln said.
“Buying has been something we’ve been wanting to do for along time but it just felt unachievable, and I think it is for a lot of people.”
REIQ Townsville Zone Chairman Wayne Nicholson said the cut is also a great incentive for investors to get back into the market.
“It will allow anyone thinking about getting into the market a great opportunity to do that,” Mr Nicholson said.
“It’s great for first time buyers, and hopefully it will bring investors into play with prices down, interest rates low, and rents at a reasonable price.”
Principal at keyes & Co Real Estate and Regional Director at REIQ Damien Keyes, said the cut is also likely to boost the higher end of the property market.
“It’s just another piece in the buyer confidence puzzle,” Mr Keyes said.
“The cut on interest rates is going to stimulate buyers, and this coming off the back of an election will be a huge catalyst in driving values up in the property market.”
“I think it might stir up some activity at the high end of the market as well, in cases were people have been thinking of upgrading - It will give them that push to do it.”
The cut does not only benefit new buyers, but it could help existing mortgage holders with a variable home loan if their lender decides to pass on savings from the rate cut.
Insights manager at finder Graham Cooke said the cut gives buyers a good opportunity to shop around for their ideal loan rate, but said it doesn’t mean the full cut will be applied to every loan.
“While many lenders may pass on a cut to their customers, you may not see the full 25 basis point cut applied to your loan,” Mr Cooke said.
“Keep an eye on your lender’s website and digital channels to see how they are responding to the rate cut and how this will affect your mortgage. If you’re not satisfied, don’t settle — this environment makes it a great time to go home loan shopping.”
He said the easing of monetary policy is expected to continue throughout the year with experts predicting an additional one or two cuts.
“This is uncharted territory for us and if two more rate cuts are enforced this year, we could potentially see a rate of 0.75 per cent which is unheard of in Australia.”
“With interest rates dropping, and loans becoming both cheaper and easier to attain, this could very well be the turning point for the slumping housing market.”
Monday 3 June 2019
Down to the Detail
AWARD-WINNING designer Pam Ellis has studied and refined her original flare for home design around the world, working on the hit TV show The Block, and studying at the California Interior Designers Institute.
Her most recent accomplishment has been in developing two, one-off luxury houses in Belgian Gardens as part of her designer collection.
The newest project is currently in the process of being developed, and is still up for grabs — with it on track to be ready for move-in by Christmas.
Her newly completed home, dubbed the Nora Jones house after its previous late property owner, was snapped up before it even finished coming out of the ground.
It is now home to the Lenahan family who officially moved in at the beginning of this month, after losing everything in the recent floods.
“For about three years we had been looking to buy in Belgian Gardens, but we couldn’t find anything that was the right fit for our family,” Ms Lenahan said.
“When we came in to have a look at this place, we walked through it, half completed — and it was just perfect.”
Ms Ellis said she felt the Townsville property market was missing something, and was inspired by her experiences abroad.
“I wanted to create something different to what’s generally offered in Townsville,” Ms Ellis said.
“I’ve studied and done developments in places like California, Georgia, and Italy, and I had so much inspiration and had seen so many ideas that just weren’t being brought to the Townsville market.”
Ms Ellis added that her approach to the custom project was different to the usual method of building for an existing client.
“Usually when I do a design job, I start with a client in mind, and with this one I just came up the client in my head — I knew it would be a family, with young children who needed two separate living spaces.
“That’s where I came up with the idea of doing a kids’ wing, and then I added designer features like vertical slats, textures on the wall, high ceilings, a pendant light, and just doing different things so the finish would be really special.”
The Hamptons-style design won over the family with its unique features, and Ms Ellis’s personal touches made the house feel like home.
“We loved the high ceilings, and now that it’s complete the kitchen is just perfect — the marble splashback is incredible,” Ms Lenahan said.
“Our daughters are six, four and one in age, and after Pam met them, she put little teddy bears on the draw handles in their bathroom.” (Pictured above).
“I wish I’d known about Ellis Developments two years ago because we probably would have designed a home with Pam back then.”
Wednesday 20 March 2019
Buyers Active Despite Floods
Buyers Active Despite Floods
Townsville Bulliten
16 March 2019
Despite
the devastating events of the 2019 Townsville floods, many Townsville locals
are keeping calm and carrying on even when it comes to real estate.
With
the decrease in quality rental availability, especially near the CBD, many
landlords have increased prices on their rental properties. Townsville renters,
reacting to that price increase, have begun to really see the benefit of
buying.
“I
had a client who was looking at renting an old 3 bedroom for $450 per week. He
realised what he could buy if he put that towards his own mortgage payment and
changed his whole game plan.” -Tammy Baczynski, Haven Townsville
Increased
rental prices, along with the $15,000 First Time Buyers’ Grant and offers from
land estates and builders, have been the tipping point for many renters to make
moves to owning a new home.
This
new generation of buyers are more flood aware. Just three months ago, the
question for most buyers was price, size, or what the neighbours were
like. However, post-February 2019
floods, the first question buyers are asking is “Did it flood?” Haven resident,
Lou Searle, said the floods were a real eye-opener but also put the proof in
the pudding when it came to their investment.
“We have been renting in
Haven Townsville for the last 12 months to get a feel for the area and the
estate itself. During the recent floods we were very nervous wondering, ‘Will
this water get higher? Will we be cut off? Where is that creek going to go?’ We
need not have worried. Mundy Creek swelled and drained quickly, the Haven storm
water drains have been engineered to drain not only from gutters but into the
middle of the road away from houses.”
Lou
and her fiancé Chris have been testing out a rental in Haven for over a year
now and have just started construction on their brand new home.
“We love it. We bought a
block and are commencing our build. While it is prudent ‘never to say never,’
we are confident that our investment in Haven will remain a positive move and
recommend Ellis Developments as an operator who doesn’t take short cuts and
builds quality into everything they do.” - Lou Searle
“Many
of our clients were very nervous during the flooding, but were very happy to
see their blocks remained unflooded throughout.
It gave them a lot of peace of mind to see our estate high and dry.”
-Stephen Ellis
That
confidence has been positive for the new build market. “There has been a new
house starting construction practically every week since the flooding with two
more sold this week.” -Tammy Baczynski, Haven New Home Consultant
Even
closer to the flood affected areas, soon to be residents too were relieved to
see their blocks unsubmerged. While some of the earlier stage homes of The
Village experienced water damage, all of the current land stock has been built
up to Q100 and remained dry during the flooding. Local builder, Ellis
Developments commenced construction on two homes at The Village just 2 weeks
after the flooding subsided.
Ellis Developments Website: www.ellisdevelopments.com.au
Haven Townsville Website: www.haventownsville.com.au
Tuesday 5 March 2019
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