The good news is that the house is under contract for a very nice price. It goes unconditional later this week and the agent assures us that all seems to be going fine. If it goes through we will make enough to cover the equivalent of the 5 weeks of wages plus an extra 10,000 to put into another. It also meets the 12% profit criterion.

The buyer saw the property on the internet and had already virtually decided to put in an offer from there.

Thanks Yorkie,

We are selling the house as we are trying to provide an income stream now. Even with full CGT we will earn more than equivalent of my hb normal job, with less physical stress. Have read the buy and hold lit and agree it is a great stategy but different strategies for different situations. We hope to move in that direction later, probably when the youngest starts school in 18mo and I return to work.

Thanks all for your support.

Melanie

Sorry for lack of input. The final cleaning/decorating/mowing etc has taken longe than expected (as expected!!) and the need for my hb to get back to his full time job has really effected the time frame. We have gone 4 weeks over our time frame, but realise in hind sight that it was unrealistic with our other committments (4 young children, our own business with no holiday pay..).
We have had the agents through to appraise the property with mixed results. All felt the standard of the reno was very high and that it would be an easy property to move. As to price – one agent felt we might be able to achieve our goal price but I felt he was doubtful. The properties he was using as a comparison were definitely not as good. The agent we signed with came across as being very confident of achieving a good sale and had recent sales that we felt were comparable with sale prices equal to or above what we are looking for. We had the prof photos done yesterday am so will be online very soon hopefully.
My only concern at present is that the agent has put the house online with just a nonprofessional front view. It looks OK but the strength in this house is the interior finishes and I hope people will come back and have a second look once photos go up.

Cheers, Melanie

Getting so close. Excited/terrified about getting market appraisals shortly. I have been monitoring market carefully and still feel confident of goal price.

Floors were all polished today but not allowed to see until Thurs (apparently make sure no dust blown in).

Spent Sunday grouting the front sunroom with my 8 yo dau. We both enjoyed it and, although first attempt, the room is looking really inviting.

Put in a garden bed along front of piclet fence today. Digging out all that grass in black soil took a lot of energy but no cost as neighbour over the road offered the plants from her garden. I only have some the some minor paintwork and the eaves and gutters of shed left to paint, plus a small portion of bathroom to tile. I had never done this before, but talked to a number of helpful tradesmen (tilers mostly), bunnings guys and read up the how to section in my diy book before starting. We waterproofed everything carefully first, then tiles and grouted. Floor is newly polished, so it is off-white walls, white tiles and appliances and the rich brown of the wooden floor. Just need to get my chief tile cutter onsite as no matter how I try I cannot get the neat, clean edges he can and I don’t want anything to be second rate. Then we can do the cuts for last wall (shower and bath taps).

We are also busy borrowing and stealing friends and families bits and pieces to dress it.

A nice find today was an old shed on the property my hb currently working at that owner has offered to pay him to demolish and remove, including contents. Is apparently all nice tongue and groove floorboards, plus there are a small dining table, outdoor setting and 50m new kwila (spelling?) decking. I only hope we can get the profit we are aimimg at from this one and do another.

Cheers, Melanie

Hopefully towards home straight. Looking like maybe go 2 weeks over, but considering hb working own business full time too, will be OK. Budget is looking being ~$1000 under so will even out.
Paving under verandah should be finished tomorrow. Is coming up great.
I repainted the garage doors yesterday, mending gutters and repainting. Is also looking great.
Front fence finished painting, plus extra ‘bits’ ie front steps. The ‘little bits’ of paving have actually taken a long time!!! but have also discovered that a little can of paint can make a HUGE difference.

Sorry keep forgetting to take camera.

Melanie

Finished painting the underside of the verandah roof today. Painter has done most of gloss paint around window frames and skirtings. Started painting up laundry walls.

New bathroom layout looks great (sorry didn’t take camera).

My hb (Wayne btw) is out in the shed spray painting the window latches and handles.

Thanks Andrew. It’ll certainly be a spectacular flop if we don’t make a profit at the end of it all!!

Melanie

More interesting photos. This is the newly created living/kitchen area. It feels great. You can see the roof beams we inserted to replace the 2 walls we removed. Now that they are painted they blend in really well.
Still debating what colour tiles to use in the kitchen. Was going to use white tiles on the wall but maybe white tiles with the white cupboards, black countertops and polished floor will be too much . Opinions appreciated.
Before:


Mid:

Photos!!!Ask and you shall receive. Is taking a while to download them.

These are of what was the lounge and opening to the dining room. The opening was quite nice but house layout didn’t work. Is now bedroom 1 and opening is so neatly closed you can’t even tell was there. Painter has done walls and ceiling but not yet window frames. Floor have had a rough sand but not yet polished. It was the first room to get painted so I thought I’d go in order.

Well now that the Xmas rush is over, we are progressing nicely again. My husband has committed 2 solid weeks to the project and is flying along. Following some sort of nail gun for Xmas, he is flying along replacing the broken asbestos panels we had removed, finishing off the doorways we filled in, edging, etc.

We did get out of order as he needed to complete some pre Xmas job committments but we have good communication with the tradesman and no one thinks it will be an issue. The kitchen went in on boxing day and looks great. I also got the kitchen appliance combo on boxing day sales (complete with 3 lovely little advisors in tow!), the sink and tap mixer.

Just b4 Xmas got tiles for the front sunroom area (and grout and glue etc) and the seconds pavers we had been waiting for – it’s luck of the draw which colours come in.

Today the kids and I got the paint for the front fence (even managed a tradesmans discount) and started that job. However after loading all the wood offcuts from the building work onto the truck, mowing the lawn (20+ catchers full!!!), poisoning the to-be-gravelled areas and under house etc, the kids had had enough, Dad had had enough of his ‘helpers’ and after about 3m of fence palings (painting the fronts and backs is fun but the sides…$#@$%^#) in the 30+ degree heat, I gave up and took kids home for a swim.

Have also gotten the driveway excavated (the cement duel paths up to the garage even challenged the 4wd) and is ready to lay gravel.

Best of all, am keeping a close eye on the budget and is still looking OK. Only have the minor things left to budget in – taps, lights, kitchen splashback, power points etc.

Sorry again forgot to take camera.

Thanks for that guys. Will make more effort to post more regularly.

Have to go measure up paving area and take some windows to glazier tomorrow so will even try take some progress photos.

Am definitely a bona fide “worker” now – have a massive blister on my palm from pulling out the staples in kitchen floor ready for sanding, numerous scratches an bruises and even some of that inground dirt that no amount of scrubbing my hands seem to get rid of – yes, I have invested in some gloves now.

Painter has gone on a cruise (lucky him) and not due back for 2 weeks but gives me more time to do the prep. No more gapping is a great stress reliever.

Currently hunting for (or buying) : plain white tiles for bathroom, kitchen appliances, paint for fence, pavers for patio area (Boral seconds).

Also finally got the outside of the house washed and scrubbed – windows are definitely not waterproof to that sort of direct spray. Am hoping to borrow some scaffolding to repaint the beautiful mission brown gutters and the pastel green eaves later this week.

Weed n feed’ed the front grass area as grass is full of clover and other weeds.

Hb is planning on having 2 weeks of “holidays” shortly to get his stuff done – gate and front fence, paving/retaining for patio area, repair and put bannister on front fences and tiling.

My biggest issue is that I have 2 “work days’ per week alloted for my portion of hands-on plus shorter stints as allowed by my almost 3 yo. But I find that as I have to get 3 kids to school and 1 to childcare b4 I can start ie about 9:30 and need to be back at school pick up by 2:30. Would love a longer day but being unused to the type of work and current heat, I am often worn out by then anyway. Hats off to the tradesmen out there.

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since we settled. Not much spare time now to go online. Have been working every chance I can and am having difficulty getting my hb to go do some paid work. So far so good.
Front fence posts and rails up.
Rear verandah removed.
Builder has removed walls between kitchen and lounge and put in support beams. Removed linen cupboard from bathroom. Replaced cracked ceiling panels.
Kitchen removed. New kitchen ordered.
Taken down all wall dressings, a million picture hooks, door stops etc.
Electrician first bit of wiring prep.
Put in framework to fill in 3 doorways (linen cupboard/3rd br robe, old lounge door and opening between what was lounge/dining, now bed1/dining). Got pile of 2nds sheets for walls – most just have a corner off.
Gradually preparing walls and ceiling for painting. Sugar soap and hole filler. How can a wall be so filthy and yet look OK to casual glance?
Floor polishing guy came in today to check out and will do nail punching/filling and removing rest of staples tomorrow. Will sand polish once building and painting finished.
Getting quotes to replace 2 of 4 glass panels in each window frame, opaque to clear. Quoted $450 for whole house. Need to get more light in and will update too.
Will take a couple of progress shots tomorrow.

Melanie