Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jan 26, 2010 12:16 pm Hello Everyone... My husband and I bought a house in 2001 in Perth. We have since finished renovating the interior minus the laundry. The house is completely paid off. We do not have a mortgage. I am in my late 20's and my husband is in his 30's. The dilemma is that we were wanting to extend the home. We have gone through the firt couple of stages with a renovation company and the total cost was going to be 250 000 for just the extensions. On top of that would be another 50 - 60 000 dollars for coverings and landscaping. The house how it is now is a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom 1 toilet laundry large living room kitchen Formal seperate dining and a 3x 4m walk in robe ROOM.... With pool and granny flat and NO GARAGE... If we were to ever sell we coud put in a stud wall and convert the formal dining room into a bedroom so it would be a 3x1 Now if we were to extend we would have at the end a 4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms 2 toilets 2 living areas dning room laundry kitchen and still the granny flat and a GARAGE Ok now the dilemma is... We are debt free at the moment. IF we were to commit to contract we would end up having a mortgage of about 200 000 dollars after we use our deposit which is 100k. Our net income when it is at its best is 80 000 at the moment. We have no children and do not plan on having them in the near future. Would you consider spending maybe 50 000 and fixing up the exterior? and putting up a carport and a new front wall... ? then rendering. There is only the two of us and we want to travel and do things. I judt dont think it is going to fit in the budget. Are we being to eager and ambitious to extend now. Should we just fix it up and live in it? and in 10 years if we need to renovate it. Mind you the cost of renovating in 10 years will be considerably higher. Or should we make do with the 2 bedrooms and covert the granny flat ino a study and do some stuff to it and remain debtfree withmoney in the bank. I feel a lot of pressure by family mmbers to extend and be done with it. But i cant take their advice as they do not even own homes and dont have a mortgage. My husbands parents are keen for us to extend but I am sure if we backed out they would still support us eventually. They have no choice. OUR LIVES OUR CHOICE.... Another point to make is that my career will require us to move eventually and also will require me to travel and husband has said I have to choose Extension or Travel and career. If i think about it we are lucky to have a home and no mortgage. So it makes me think I am trying to strive for perfection or what others have but in essence i dont actually need it to make me happy. THOUGHT AND OPINONS AND DIRECTION WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. As I am quite young I have no experience in matters that are so big. I would never have even thought I would own a property and let alone not owe anything on it. Also SORY FOR BLABBING MY WHOLE LIFE STORY TO YOU.. Hope it is acceptable. Thanks a million J Re: Need advice... What would you do... 2Jan 26, 2010 12:24 pm If you are happy with what you have then keep it... ..but save your money like you would be paying off a mortgage then one day you could sell and build or buy established. Save save save. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Need advice... What would you do... 3Jan 26, 2010 12:40 pm You have not given one reason to spend $250k on an extension. Yes, prices will go up over time, but it's all relative, salaries will also go up. You don't need the space, so fix up the house until you're happy... relax and enjoy it. I agree with Onc Ed "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Need advice... What would you do... 4Jan 26, 2010 3:56 pm If it's just the two of you, and you have no near future plans for children, then I dont see the need to extend. Unless the house isn't big enough for the two of you? A floor plan always helps, then you'll get a load more feedback Re: Need advice... What would you do... 5Jan 26, 2010 4:12 pm ed @ EcoClassic You have not given one reason to spend $250k on an extension. Yes, prices will go up over time, but it's all relative, salaries will also go up. You don't need the space, so fix up the house until you're happy... relax and enjoy it. I agree with Onc Ed Same here guys. Save your money, fix up the house. Then when you're ready you can build, buy, OB or whatever you want after you've travelled. ENJOY Dirk Re: Need advice... What would you do... 6Jan 29, 2010 1:21 pm I would spend money I had and NOT go into debt to do up the house to make yourselves happy. If you have no need for more rooms then why rush. You never know whats around the corner and in the future selling and rebuying or building may work better. Re: Need advice... What would you do... 7Jan 30, 2010 11:06 pm Sounds like a totally crazy plan to me. Can't see any positives. Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie Re: Need advice... What would you do... 8Jan 31, 2010 9:16 pm Hi, that quote for the extension does seem high. Is it possible for you guys to rent out the granny flat for some extra cash esp as its just the two of you at the moment. I would also save for the moment and take your time to make your decision. Re: Need advice... What would you do... 9Jan 31, 2010 9:50 pm I guess that kind of quote is exactly why so many people decide to knock down their whole house and build a new one - a new house for that price would have all of that and probably then some.. I don't know much about Perth but where I live it is rarely a good investment to spend 250k on a property as the total cost including the original property value is usually more than the property will be worth once you are done. Unless it is a particularly good location or in close proximity to something it is usually cheaper to sell up and buy what you want somewhere else: Usually in a location surrounded by similarly valued properties rather than trying to make (for example) a 600k property in a street full of 400k properties. I'd say like everyone else has pointed out that resulting debt and strain it will cause to your lives will not be worth having a couple of extra rooms or something that 'looks better'. It sounds like a big motivator is the absense of a garage so maybe just a double car garage with a seperate room which can be used as a gym or office. I would think this could be done for a fraction of the cost and would achieve maybe 80% of what you are lacking... Re: Need advice... What would you do... 10Feb 05, 2010 11:59 am I would have a chat to a real estate agent to get a value of your property as it is now, and then ask if you were to do what you have suggested ask them what they would expect the value to be then ... this way you will not get caught out with maybe over-capitalising... If it's a great, strong, area, then maybe from an investment perspective it may be worth your while, dpending on the real estate agents' feedback. (Also research yourself online with what is for sale in your area). Alternatively, stay in the house, make it comfortable for you both and buy an investment property .. you are so fortunate to be in a position of not having to pay a mortgage and have no dependants ... if you haven't already, have a look at negative gearing. The place you buy, could be the one you plan to live in later .. just an idea. Well done for working so hard to be where you are now. You are very fortunate. Good luck You can wash over existing pavers with 10% solution of water and hydrochloric acid, then wash off. The acid will provide for required bond key with new concrete. 1 36960 Bought in Nov 21 at the height of the market (classic). Good area, atrocious floor plan. BUT has land out to the left-hand side that we can extend out on (see second… 0 8775 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39722 |