After years of work in residential property development, Property Analyst Chris Anderson says he and Virginia might just know a thing or two about what people want in their homes.
And it has shaped a new approach to not only design but to selling as well.
“More listening… nothing on spec and no agents or slick real estate marketers.” Chris Anderson says is the first thing.
What people don’t want and won’t tolerate is being told they want or need half of everything – Sadly that’s what the industry seems hell bent on delivering in her name of cost cutting and small lot lifestyle.
What many of my counterparts have overlooked in their spin to shift those narrow homes with a splash of turf out the back is that people want a home.
We’re seeing the perfect storm erupt really in many areas. Where the corporate developer has arrived in places, paid way too much money for land and then set about carving it up into tiny blocks which they then have to sell at well over the odds.
The agents are calling this lifestyle choice… it’s lifestyle torture and investment failure.
The other developer flavor trend towards the tiny apartment or the two-bob townhouse is the result of the same sort of logic.
And as latest figures are showing clearly that these types of last decade projects are now not selling.
AFT Projects have taken a different approach.
Virginia and I have gone beyond ‘watching academic analysis and have instead talked with people.
“Most people, be it those who are ready to move onto the next stage of their lives and out of the huge family home or be it the young professional couple with kids want the same thing in different ways… but the same thing – Not just a base and bedroom but a home to live in and to be proud of – to call home. Home is comfort and feel.”
He says that’s been the driving force behind the design approach AFT Projects has taken with its iconic Toondah Outlook project now under construction in Redland city.
So dedicated are we to making sure this project reflects all that the new buyer wants in a home, we’re selling it ourselves, so our buyers deal directly with us and we can style and cater their home to suit them.
We made the starting point for this project to listen and to learn.
We looked at global movements, at population shifts and 21 st century lifestyle demands across age groups and we quickly concluded that what developers saw as downsize differed wildly to what people wanted… they want to down size the work and effort, upkeep, not the quality or way of life.
Young families want the schools, transport and convenience, not the outskirts and the box with no room to move.
They all want, we all want a home and the space and grace that brings.
Key as always is location – The site… and we found it at a high point in Cleveland nestled on the edges of the Toondah precinct but offering incredible views and access to water and bay islands.
Next came the design and with that, a commitment to quality.
Five years on and work has now begun.
We’re creating room with two to five-bedroom apartments in a complex that offers more useable outside area that most homes. There’s room for the R/V’s, caravans, jet skis, boats, we’ve incorporated a business centre for residents, a men’s’ shed, craft room, pool and outdoor entrainment areas, gym and we so end up with an environmental flavor that is in keeping with all that Redlands has to offer.
The project is expected to take just 18 months to complete and will offer 2 to five-bedroom residences across an impressive 3-street frontage location.
This is not about saving space through establishing a communal pocket, rather it is about ease of living and choice.
