Crownofgold,

I have done this before for an apartment that was next door which I was very interested in an wanted to snap it before the auction. I was in the same quandry: the REA did not have sec32 and said that they could not take up the offer. What I realised what that the REA are essentially sales-people so I wrote an email nonetheless letting them my expectation with the statement that the intent of this offer is subject to sec 32. My strategy was to get the REA interested in me as a serious buyer. Yes, we waited for the sec 32 and then made a formal offer but what it did for us was put us in the REA's face.

Lastly, before I wrote the email, me and my wife sat down and decided beforehand what would be our walk-away price and what would be our starting price.

Good luck and may you find home of your dreams.

I think what you need to do is differentiate between what you can do and what requires professional help e.g. plumbing, electricals  because they provide peace of mind and OH&S/insurance/legislation etc.
I did some reno on an unit I had. I painted the walls myself and did a bit of things. However, I also realised that getting the property out to the market was also very important. So I got a small-time (but fully insured) renderer to do some work, got a plumber to fix a few things on the bathroom and got someone to lay the floorboard. Yes, I could have done all those things myself and I would have learned but at the same time it would have taken me at least 4-5 weeks more to get the property ready and put it on the market. The last thing I wanted to tell prospects was that I am working on something and will be finished soon. Just make sure that you are prepared to manage whomever you hire and negotiate good rates based on performance. Hope it helps.