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