Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement Re: Thought of buying a house and renovate it for use. 12May 03, 2012 2:25 pm Something we noticed when buying our 20 year old house was that the $510k we spent vs $400-$450k that other smaller, less well-appointed homes in the area were selling for bought us far more than $100k of value. We have the biggest and best appointed home on the largest block within several streets of our location. The land area is 10% greater than surrounding sites, and the floor area of our home is 20% larger than surrounding homes with all the niceties like double garage under main roof, bay windows, formal dining, existing patios, etc. There's no way that we could have renovated any of the other homes we looked at in the $400-$450k price bracket to the standard that this house was in at time of purchase, for anything less than the cost difference between the two (plus our labour on top). And even then we still would have had a smaller land area, smaller house and less attractive frontage. I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes slashing the budget in other areas (if possible - holidays, drinks, dining out and the like disappeared for us for a couple of years) can let you stretch a bit further in the initial purchase, and that doing that can end up being a far better move in the long run than investing heavily in renovating an older/smaller/cheaper home. Just my opinion though =) if the original house is in good condition most of what you listed could be added in stages without the need for KDR and costs and disruption of having to live elsewhere… 1 13633 the step up is 30mm and wanting it to be flat . how much does the concrete have to be lowered .we plan on removing bath and lenghten shower and adding seat. the old bath… 0 11799 That sucks! Hope it all works out. Good to move away from steel anyway for all your reasons, but it's also thermally poor. 16 17724 |