Looking at housing costs

Often it is good to be able to realise what makes the price of housing so expensive.  How those components are costed depending on the location, distance from facilities,e.g schools, shops, power, town water, sewerage, hospitals and Doctors, etc..  Obviously, if one has all of these things within easy access to a house the price will be at a premium.  Older houses will often be expensive, and maybe not so modern looking but very solidly built.  By knocking an older place down, means the extra cost of  new materials at today's prices together with paying tradesmen;  and by the way, the building will most likely not be as solid. Hard wood timber is hard to destroy.

The questions to be answered are:

1. Buy a large acreage of land, have some animals to keep the grass down, without being connected to the grid, and go solar.  That will keep the frequency of bills down, and the initial set-up costs, and maintenance will have to be considered.
2. Opposed to buying an established house out of town with town water, power and sewerage, close to a train line/bus route, and commute to the city as required; and use the local schools, where commuting by bicycle is possible, and shop locally.
3. Some will say that if the older house needs a new roof, floor levelling/restumping, a kitchen and bathroom make-over it would be better to knock the place down.  I believe by doing these improvements gradually, one at a time, and paying cash there will be less risk and lower repayments.
4. A good question to ask yourself is, "will this expense add more value to my house"?  If the answer is yes, the improvements made will increase your capital return on the house when it comes time to eventually sell.

Land as well as land sizes, together with infrastructure, are probably the first stumbling block, and most likely to absorb two-thirds/half of the final build.

There are so many houses being crushed to the ground, even though their construction was very solid, and will subsequently end up in land-fill; some of those timber floors are worth keeping; weather boards are bullet proof.  Funnily, depending how one views this, these materials would far outlast the new composite building materials.  New is not always better.  Mind you, nothing beats a new kitchen and bathroom at today's standards, plus some built in cupboards.

The important thing is have a plan and keep working towards the goal.