Browse Forums Increasing Home Value 1 Jan 17, 2010 6:41 pm Hi everyone Just found this site today and have enjoyed reading some of the threads/topics on here. My husband and I bought our first property in Oct 2008 - a 3 bedroom duplex. I knew as soon as I walked in that the place had potential - either as a reno project or to make money, just a gut feeling I am sure many of you have had. The garden is enormous - a concrete mass on 3 levels and you could easily build another house and probably a pool on it, well we cant because we dont have the money Anyway, our plans to do a bit of DIY on our house went to pot when my husband was in a near fatal car crash and now cannot do heavy/manual stuff for the near future. We are also now looking to move somewhere a bit younger that doesnt need quite so much doing to it, having been to hell and back this past year with the accident we just want somewhere that is nice to live in. We paid $340,000 for our duplex and have been told its now gained between 20-30 grand in equity and to cap it all, someone might be interested in buying it. Here is the problem, our duplex needs replastering in many places as the old plaster has cracked and in places appears to have come away from the brick - its old stuff so you can imagine if it needs replastering in some places, it probably will for most of it and then there is the repainting. The bathroom also needs redoing - the shower is horrible and it needs re-tiling. The garden has loads of potential but its all concrete. Does anyone have any suggestions of how we can make it better, should we save and completely re-do it or should we patch it up. We had a building company round yesterday trying to persuade us to selling and using any equity as a deposit on a new build. But I dont want to rush into anything, we just want somewhere comfortable to live that doesnt need reno's doing to it. Thank you so much for reading. Re: Patching up a 1970s Duplex 2Feb 24, 2010 5:48 am Hello, juniper, If I were you, I would just sell it You cannot do the reno work due to health considerations. Just sell put the money in the bank and look for a nicer place elsewhere Either that or if your husband is going to get better to the point where he can do heavy physical labour, keep it, live in it, wait for him to get better and then work on the house. It depends on what the prognosis is, I guess. If you think in the future, hubby can work on the house then stay there If you think he cannot, then sell Re: Patching up a 1970s Duplex 3Feb 24, 2010 5:51 am note: replastering / reno bathroom / reno garden is just cosmetic. you don't need a complete rebuild for that. building companies will try to rip you off, selling you their services at the same time. but it depends why he said it needs a rebuild. Is it structurally sound? Oh no! I would use a can of expandable foam ( there are some that will take render) then cut it back and render over the top 1 4148 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11039 Give Jonathan a call. Tell him you know me. He is in my opinion the best surveyor I have ever worked with. His number is 0425 285 622 All the best Simeon 3 12423 |