Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Jan 24, 2015 6:57 pm Hi everyone, I live in WA so I have a brick, 4 bed, 2 bath house with a theatre, double garage, alfresco. It's a house I built in late 2012 and am now considering either selling or renting so that I can move closer to the city. The front and rear landscaping is complete, except for down each side of the house which is still sand (after more than a year perhaps it shouldn't be but time goes quick ). I have been wondering whether I need to complete those sides before I sell. If I rent I feel I definitely have to because a renter won't want to improve the house or live with the sides not done. If I do the sides, it will be rocks/pebbles with steppers down the middle. So I suppose these are my questions, and only apply to selling: 1) Is the house more/less likely to sell with the sides complete? I've had opinions that some people may like the idea of finishing of those fairly small areas how they want, others have said people will want to buy a completed house. Importantly, if spending a few hundred dollars means selling the house for more then I would do it. 2) This doesn't really relate to the rest of my post, but: Living where I do where it's hot (Perth, haha) and only being legally allowed to water twice a week, I've struggled to keep the grass looking nice. It's alive but there's plenty of 'not so alive' parts and overall it's patchy. I had tried desperately to make it nice, and used a variety of tools to do so but it won't grow properly. How much impact is this going to have over a) my ability to sell and b) how much I get for the house? Thanks in advance. Re: Advice on selling with incomplete garden 2Jan 25, 2015 8:55 am Hi! We recently sold the house we built and moved in to in April 2013. All our gardens were complete, except for one side of the house. We actually used this as side access, as my husband's Hilux wouldn't fit in the garage. If we were to stay, we were going to turn it into a second driveway, with gates, gravel, sunshade etc - perfect for a boat, caravan, etc. When we decided to sell, the agent actually told us if anything, we should turf it. I was hesitant to do this, in case someone did want the side access. So we just left it, and told the agent to tell potential buyers that if they wished, when they signed a contract and it went unconditional, we'd do the turf. The house took 10 months to sell, and I honestly think that had a lot to do with it. As a buyer, I used to look at the house, thinking "that looks disgusting". Dead grass I would overlook as a buyer, but not that. If you can, I would encourage you to finish it. Not only for extra street appeal, but personally if I were looking to buy a house (especially a newish one), I generally do not want to have to do anything with it. Interestingly, the person who bought our house didn't require the turf to be laid... so really, it just takes one person to love it, no matter what needs to be done!! Just depends how long you want to wait 1st build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59376 *New*-2nd build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=70324&p=1154282#p1154282 Re: Advice on selling with incomplete garden 3Jan 25, 2015 1:24 pm Thanks stellabella! My gut was telling me that the right thing to do would be to finish it, and seems you agree. Glad to hear you did eventually sell yours but like you said, it took 10 months. Perhaps if everything was finished it could have been 10 weeks so I will take your advice and finish it off I think. Cheers, have a nice day. Re: Advice on selling with incomplete garden 4Jan 26, 2015 1:23 pm Assuming you're selling a low to mid level home for a fair asking price, it is not going to matter. You said yourself it is a small area, so as long as the whole house is tidy, people will look beyond that. Also its only two years old, newish buyers expect that there might be small unfinished outside areas still. You've landscaped the front and back, thats whats important, so as long as the general appearance of the house is tidy, its all good. If you think there is a possibility of renting it, just sew a lawn there now, as you are right about what you said. Bare patches might put off renters too. Install a water tank so they can water it for free and make it a condition of the lease? Hi, did you get any money from insurance? if you did, does it match what you've already paid the builders? 3 9565 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 17476 |