Hi all,
I’ve just had a look at a property which I am interested in buying, but need some advice on a few issues. The property is located around 7-8 km from the Melbourne CBD and in a quiet area. There is a bus stop around 100 metres away and train station about a 5-10 minute walk away. The property isn’t listed with any agents and the way I found the property was by doing a letter box drop in the area The property was owned by a man who passed away 6 months ago and is now in the hands of his sister, who is pretty motivated to sell as soon as possible.
Here are the details:
- The house is in a quiet location, situated on a corner block (600 sqm). I think I could comfortably sub-divide the backyard (~ 300 sqm) and build a small unit with its own street frontage.
- House is brick.
- 2 bedrooms in total with a separate single bedroom bungalow in the backyard, so I guess it’s a 3 bedroom home.
- Large lounge room and separate formal dining room.
- Air conditioning in lounge, plus gas heater and separate wood heater.
- Decent size kitchen which was updated about 10 years ago. Lino flooring could do with an update and maybe the cupboards too.
- Very small bathroom which was updated 5 years ago. Consists of a full shower, toilet and wash basin. Would be good if it was larger, but I guess it is functional and good enough for a rental.
- Single garage with remote roller door.
The house is in very good condition, but the inside is quite dated. The things I don’t like are:
- Old (but in very good condition) red floral design carpet throughout the bedrooms, hallways, lounge and dining room.
- Old (but also in very good condition) floral design wallpaper (3/4 length of walls) in bedrooms, hallways, lounge and dining room.
- Recently painted “blue” ceilings and “green” walls!!
- Outside is ugly orange 50’s era brick.
- Roof tiles seem to be in ok condition but could do with a clean and preferably a nice paint.
- Gardens are very bushy and need some cleaning up.
I have a rough vision of what I would like to do to this property and this is where I need some advise (mainly on costing and feasibility).
1) Remove the carpet throughout the house. There are floorboards underneath, but it is difficult to see the condition of the boards without removing the carpet. What is a rough price on sanding/polishing floorboards? The house isn’t very large. I would probably give this to a professional to ensure it is done properly.
2) Remove the wallpaper and repaint interior. I can do this myself, but not too sure on the wallpaper removal. The paper is the thin, smooth finish type. Can I paint over it or isn’t this recommended? I’ve read that the paper can be removed using a steamer and/or chemical solution. Any ideas? I think there are wooden panels under the paper, but not certain.
3) Clean and paint the roof. I have access to a compressor and paint gun so will probably give this a go myself too. Any tips? Is it expensive to get a professional to do this?
4) I have 2 options to create a 4th bedroom:
Option 1: put a wall up between the lounge room and dining room and make the dining room a bedroom. This would be the cheapest option. The only downside is the kitchen will then need to double up as a dining room and it might not be large enough.
Option 2: Knock down the wall between the lounge and kitchen and have a large open plan living area, which joins to the kitchen. I could then put a wall up between the lounge room and dining room and convert the dining room to a bedroom.
Sorry I know this must be hard to visualise! Has anyone had any experience knocking down walls and erecting new ones? What is involved? I’m guessing there may be structural issues in knocking down a wall. Any advice on this would be appreciated.
5) Give the kitchen a mild makeover, i.e. new flooring and maybe new cupboard panels.
6) I won’t go into the sub-division/building side of things too much, from my initial discussions with the council planning officers, they believe it is viable to sub-divide and build a house in the backyard. New units in the area are selling for around the $300k mark and rent for around $250-$270 p.w. The existing house would rent for around $200-$220 p.w. as is and probably $240-$250 p.w. after renovations.
I am currently in negotiations with the vendor. She has spoken to 2 agents who say it would sell for around $320k-$350k. This sounds about right for the area, but given that I would need to spend a bit doing up the property, I don’t want to end up paying too much. The vendor hasn’t given me an exact figure, so I am wondering just how motivated she is. She just told me to make an offer! I was thinking of going in with a low ball of around $270k - $280k, just to see what she says. I think I would be prepared to pay around $310k - $320k for the property given there are no structural defects. Any ideas/tips?
I should also add that I don't plan to sell the 2 houses on completion and would be keeping them both as rentals.
Sorry for the long post. Any help/comments would be appreciated.
Kind regards,
Ozi
I’ve just had a look at a property which I am interested in buying, but need some advice on a few issues. The property is located around 7-8 km from the Melbourne CBD and in a quiet area. There is a bus stop around 100 metres away and train station about a 5-10 minute walk away. The property isn’t listed with any agents and the way I found the property was by doing a letter box drop in the area The property was owned by a man who passed away 6 months ago and is now in the hands of his sister, who is pretty motivated to sell as soon as possible.
Here are the details:
- The house is in a quiet location, situated on a corner block (600 sqm). I think I could comfortably sub-divide the backyard (~ 300 sqm) and build a small unit with its own street frontage.
- House is brick.
- 2 bedrooms in total with a separate single bedroom bungalow in the backyard, so I guess it’s a 3 bedroom home.
- Large lounge room and separate formal dining room.
- Air conditioning in lounge, plus gas heater and separate wood heater.
- Decent size kitchen which was updated about 10 years ago. Lino flooring could do with an update and maybe the cupboards too.
- Very small bathroom which was updated 5 years ago. Consists of a full shower, toilet and wash basin. Would be good if it was larger, but I guess it is functional and good enough for a rental.
- Single garage with remote roller door.
The house is in very good condition, but the inside is quite dated. The things I don’t like are:
- Old (but in very good condition) red floral design carpet throughout the bedrooms, hallways, lounge and dining room.
- Old (but also in very good condition) floral design wallpaper (3/4 length of walls) in bedrooms, hallways, lounge and dining room.
- Recently painted “blue” ceilings and “green” walls!!
- Outside is ugly orange 50’s era brick.
- Roof tiles seem to be in ok condition but could do with a clean and preferably a nice paint.
- Gardens are very bushy and need some cleaning up.
I have a rough vision of what I would like to do to this property and this is where I need some advise (mainly on costing and feasibility).
1) Remove the carpet throughout the house. There are floorboards underneath, but it is difficult to see the condition of the boards without removing the carpet. What is a rough price on sanding/polishing floorboards? The house isn’t very large. I would probably give this to a professional to ensure it is done properly.
2) Remove the wallpaper and repaint interior. I can do this myself, but not too sure on the wallpaper removal. The paper is the thin, smooth finish type. Can I paint over it or isn’t this recommended? I’ve read that the paper can be removed using a steamer and/or chemical solution. Any ideas? I think there are wooden panels under the paper, but not certain.
3) Clean and paint the roof. I have access to a compressor and paint gun so will probably give this a go myself too. Any tips? Is it expensive to get a professional to do this?
4) I have 2 options to create a 4th bedroom:
Option 1: put a wall up between the lounge room and dining room and make the dining room a bedroom. This would be the cheapest option. The only downside is the kitchen will then need to double up as a dining room and it might not be large enough.
Option 2: Knock down the wall between the lounge and kitchen and have a large open plan living area, which joins to the kitchen. I could then put a wall up between the lounge room and dining room and convert the dining room to a bedroom.
Sorry I know this must be hard to visualise! Has anyone had any experience knocking down walls and erecting new ones? What is involved? I’m guessing there may be structural issues in knocking down a wall. Any advice on this would be appreciated.
5) Give the kitchen a mild makeover, i.e. new flooring and maybe new cupboard panels.
6) I won’t go into the sub-division/building side of things too much, from my initial discussions with the council planning officers, they believe it is viable to sub-divide and build a house in the backyard. New units in the area are selling for around the $300k mark and rent for around $250-$270 p.w. The existing house would rent for around $200-$220 p.w. as is and probably $240-$250 p.w. after renovations.
I am currently in negotiations with the vendor. She has spoken to 2 agents who say it would sell for around $320k-$350k. This sounds about right for the area, but given that I would need to spend a bit doing up the property, I don’t want to end up paying too much. The vendor hasn’t given me an exact figure, so I am wondering just how motivated she is. She just told me to make an offer! I was thinking of going in with a low ball of around $270k - $280k, just to see what she says. I think I would be prepared to pay around $310k - $320k for the property given there are no structural defects. Any ideas/tips?
I should also add that I don't plan to sell the 2 houses on completion and would be keeping them both as rentals.
Sorry for the long post. Any help/comments would be appreciated.
Kind regards,
Ozi
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