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Thread: Advice on renovation or move

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    Default Advice on renovation or move

    Hi All

    I have been looking at my options regarding my house.
    It is a "3 bedroom house" one room really is only big enough to be a study, the master bedroom is reasonable and the second bedroom is a bit pokey. it has a large outdoor area at the back that i have since had a pool put in. i have upgraded the kitchen so it is larger however at the expense of the dining area.

    I am looking at the possibility of adding an extension basically building out to where the carport is now and basically have the guest bedroom built there and a garage built next to it that would let me knock out the walls where the guest room is now and extend the living space so that the dining room and lounge room can fit in that space.

    however someone once told me that i should not do so much to it because it would still be a 3 bedroom house and i would never make that money back if i sold it.
    however i look at the houses around and for a house that has 3 bedrooms a pool, fireplace and garage is looking at around $500k+ and need a lot of work.

    i bought this house for $230k back in 2009. below are some old images of the house before i owned it





    in the second image the section with the lattice work is now glass fence that fronts onto the pool area with a 7m in ground pool.

    would i be better just selling and buying a bigger place or would i be better to invest in extending this place?



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    i think it would depend on how long you intend to live in it

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    You can do a lot of reno for $30,000 + which it is what it will cost you to move addresses
    A good architectural draughtsman and being a self builder should add value to your premises, note i did not say Architect who would fleece you
    There is a fine line between "Hobby" and "Madness"

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    depends on a few factors Bazzy
    do you like the area / street / neighbours / shops etc
    does it suit your lifestyle
    do you prefer a sea change / tree change
    will you be overcapitalising ? thats not always a bad thing but needs to be factored in with the other items
    are you looking at retirement
    will family need to move in with you
    can you use a large shed on some more land
    what happens when / if the market changes ?


    thats only some of the questions im sure there will be others. In general though , if you extend your house or spend a lot of money on it and nobody else in the street does the same its overcapitalising. Thats a situation where you could find another house , maybe a bit further out of town , with more land , large shed and that could use some handywork to make it what you want.
    If you're retiring though you dont want a bigger house , you want something smaller with low maintenance. and that doesnt mean one of those ripoff "lifestyle villages "

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    First, you need to decide what you want/need from your home going forward, then consider all the points given by VV above (plus more).

    Do you share the house with others?
    If yes, you need to come to an agreement if their views/needs differ from yours
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    for the most part i do like the area, it has changed a lot over the 11 years i have been here. used to be mostly renters however has since shifted to owner occupy area. there is unfortunately one set of housing commission house down the road with a family that is rather disruptive mainly the kid (talking break ins, starting bush fires, bullying neighbourhood dogs, screaming at people for being in their yards etc.) however they are known to police. however the whole neighbourhood cant stand them so i am not alone there.

    i was considering moving by that but my family said that if we move we could very well have a similar situation in the new place and would be back to square one. additionally i was thinking about it last night and this kid is about 12 so in about 5 years he will be of an age where the police will be able to deal with him.

    a number of houses around that have been bought have had major renovations done, for example next door someone bought it. gutted it and renewed it then sold it again, now a lady in her 60s lives there, nicest lady i have met.
    across the back of my property there is a house that was bought by a young German guy who has built a 3 car shed out the back for working on his cars. his house has been renovated too. in my street there is only a hand full of houses that have pools.

    its a bit hard to tell what the market in the area is going to do, and there are some things that i find really attractive about my place, one being the internet technology is fibre so i don't have as many issues and i do use that for work as i work from home.

    most of the houses in my budget that are available at the moment seem to either need a lot of work to get them up to standard or are on very small blocks.
    one thing i am considering as well is if i buy another house that had bigger space inside i also have to factor in another $60k to get a pool installed, fireplace and the solar installed (i have about 15kw of solar and the house has been upgraded to 3 phase)

    at the moment i am in my 30s so i have not yet considered much with retirement.

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    Talk to a real estate agent that you know who could, at least give you are realistic evaluation of your current situation. Bottom line is, you KNOW your place and, if you have no real desire to move, the capital investment MIGHT be worth it compared to a new property in an unfamiliar area. I was seriously considering selling up and moving interstate when my wife, passed away. I even did the trip to investigate potential new homes. Strictly, I'd be back in Darwin in a flash, however.....packing up and moving house is more work than I could be bothered with at this stage. If I want to visit Darwin to see Friends and Family, it's only a short drive away (3000km), If I want to see friends and family in QLD, same distance. If I moved back to Darwin, I'd still have 3000k t travel to see friends and family in QLD and Friends and family in SA. Maybe I should move to Alice Springs.................Nah! Not my town.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

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    Contrary to some above comments, I wouldn't even give it second thought to extend/renovate as long as the budget fits.

    I have done this almost countless times and always paid out.
    HOWEVER (capital big) I am a self builder, practically never employed tradies except when I built the self designed 6 bed/study house with pool I still live in now and have no intention of moving, despite now triple the value it costed me back then(2005) and some of my kids have moved out.

    Realestate never really goes down in value, it just corrects, well it hasn't yet so some might be eventually in for a big surprise but realestate should always be seen long term.
    I deplore speculators who drive up prices by trading realestate like shares using margin(because they can), pricing out normal people the ability to have their own roof over their head.

    So think about what you can do yourself and what you can save with a bit of DIY, just leaving the structural stuff to the pro's.

    However if you really have to get somebody for every process required, I would have second thoughts.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 29-01-22 at 06:27 PM.
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