Builder Mark King and his wife Veronica bought their dream farm in 2021 for $970,000 with hopes of transforming the sprawling property into a luxury rural retreat.
The couple had plans to renovate the existing cottage before building an acreage home that would be able to host their family and eventually be used as a source of income.
After successfully renovating the cottage, they hit a bump in the road.
In an experience all too familiar for homeowners hoping to get their building plans underway, the couple found themselves caught up in council requirements, with hefty costs and no approval in sight.
“I’m married to a builder. And even this dream build didn’t go ahead, we got buried,” Veronica revealed in a post to her more than 100,000 Instagram followers.
Nestled less than two hours from Sydney, the farm came with a cottage, three dams, sheds and more than enough room for the home they had envisioned.
The cottage was given a makeover, with the couple installing new flooring, giving it a fresh coat of paint and making some changes to the floor plan.
They used the estate as a weekender while they worked on the plans for the acreage home, which they had hoped to use as a private rental for “gatherings, families and special occasions,” as well as a place for their family to enjoy.
Unfortunately, getting the project up and running proved difficult.
“The cottage got done. The plans got drawn. Then we hit council,” Veronica wrote.
“Every report we handed in seemed to bring a request for another one.”
Council records show the pair submitted an application for a single-storey dwelling and in-ground swimming pool that was returned in May 2023.
The second application, which was lodged the next month, requested approval to build a secondary dwelling and pool.
Goulburn Mulwaree Council records show the application was then referred for environmental health and native vegetation assessments, before even more information was requested in September 2023.
The couple decided to withdraw the application, with Veronica explaining the project didn’t reach the point of being formally refused.
“We were bombarded with a shopping list of reports which cost thousands or tens of thousands with no guarantee it will be approved after all that [money was] spent,” she wrote.
The cost of keeping the farm was becoming hard to justify.
“The farm was costing us every month in insurances, upkeep and the rest, with no house build approval in sight.”
Veronica explained they had hoped that income from the rental would help to cover the property’s costs, including mortgage, insurance and maintenance.
There were also cattle and sheep on the land, and without rental income, the farm’s increasing costs meant they had to make a decision.
“So we made the call nobody posts about. We walked away from the dream and sold it.”
The property sold for $1.3 million in August 2024.
“The land did its job and our simple reno paid off. Even if the dream home never did,” Veronica wrote.
A new development application for the same property, likely submitted by its new owners, was approved by Goulburn Mulwaree Council in September this year.
Lodged in June, the application proposed the construction of a new principal dwelling and the conversion of the existing cottage into a secondary dwelling.
Despite having to abandon their original plans, Veronica said she was happy the property had found new owners.
“A lovely family bought it to live in and raise their kids [there] so that is pretty good too,” she shared.
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