On Saturday, I saw a property that has been eaten out by white ants. Goes to auction next Saturday so I don’t have much time to do my due diligence. The REA is not allowing anyone inside for safety reasons and has said is being sold basically as land only.
My problems are as follows:
The house has been treated. It looks basicaly sound from the outside (no sags in tiled roof and only 1 crack in external walls which is amazing considering its age). Is it worth considering a major reno rather than a bulldoze? What are the pitfalls?
There was a second colony found in a tree stump about 15m from the house. It has been treated also. So the whole property will need monitoring for some time. How effective are modern chemical treatments? And how much monitoring will I need if I keep the property rather than selling when finished?
Is there anything else I should consider?
Bear in mind that this is Adelaide and white ant infestations are less common than east coast.
Thanks folks
MumI can’t give advice whether to bulldoze or major reno. Thants a financial decision and up to you whether you want an older home with its features or doze the current building for a new place or put multiple dwellings on it. The treatment for white ants is much more fungicidal than chemical these days -chemical can still work but the fungicidal form of treatment is better and takes it right back tio the queen and wipes out the whole colony. Ask a reliable pest control company for an assessment of the area surrounding the house. White ants have to come from a nest and generally migrate to the house rather than having their nest inside the house. White ants love timber and lots of trees in the vicinity to make their nest and then migrate to property. If you cut off their path to the house by introducing.the fungicide, and that in turn is taken back to the queen, killing the colony, I would think that you would have little reason for concern in the future. Hope this helps (and talking from first hand experience). In NSW one of the companies that uses the fungicide treatment starts with “Sent”. I don’t know whether we are able to use company names on this site. All the best with your decision.
Peej
Mum
You didn’t mention what the existing house was made from. Double brick, brick veneer, timber etc. if its double brick, the the white ant damage is less important structurally that if it was brick veneer and again of course if the whole house is timber. Its got to do with the supporting of the roof section. I missed out on buying a house because of an engineers report that cited subsidence over a sewage pipe, and all it was that the neighbour had taken out a large tree and there was slumping in that area only. The worst thing is that the house is just up the end of the street and every time I drive past, I have to kick myself ! Best of luck with your decision. Would be interested to know which way you go.Peej
Thanks folks for the help.
PeeJ, the property is double brick and dated.
There has been quite a lot of interest in the property as a development site as it just fits the local council rules and development sites in this suburb are rare. Demolish and rebuild is my fall back position but I wanted to know what problems there may be for reno as well as down the track if I subdivide and build.
Again, thanks for the info.
Mum
Update:
Went to auction this morning. Bidding started only $20K below what my numbers say is profitable and went up from there. Slugging match between 2 bidders only. The rest of us just left them to it.
Mum
Mum, If it was a good development site in a good location, and you wanted it only for reno/rental, then really, you were never even in the race.
Hi Units4Me
I didn’t say I was only looking at it as a reno. My first preference would be development but the block was just under the size council would readily approve a subdivision and reno was to be my backup if council (as it often does) changed its mind and didn’t approve despite the verbal OK.
I am friendly with a few other investors who also attended the auction and we were all amazed at the price it achieved. Final price was less than $20K below price for similar properties with livable and much larger house on it, house suitable for renting immediately.
Mum
Hi there,
I’d say the only thing holding up the house, is the paint.
Especially if the agent has had advise that the house is unsafe to enter for inspections.
Depending on the areas value.
Bowl it over and start again.
The termite colony should have been eliminated. However, I’d look at using steel or termite safe timber frames for the new home. Todays chemicals are a far cry from those used in the past, maybe if the house is to be built on slab, treat the site area and install a non chemical external barrier like termi mesh. The plumbing points can have collars placed on them to prevent access.
Good luck,
DavidIf you can’t even inspect the property it must be bad!
The safest will be to rebuild everything.
But use this issue to cut the price down, or negotiate allowances for additional treatment/demolition expenses.If you will ever build a new house on this please –consider this product: http://www.termi-mesh.com/
I used it for years during my architectural career – this this is very simply, but it works!
Good luck at the auction!
Cheers
Lesia
[evo]
http://www.vmstreamline.comI would buy it only for its land value and development potential and the only costs I would consider on this would be demolishion costs! I wouldn’t even attempt to speculate the costs of fixing it up.
We just bought one like this and had it demolished (to use as development site). The termite nest under the house was about 5 x 5 meters!!! Absolutely amazing!
My 4 year old son is still worried about what happened to those poor little termites now that their home was destroyed [confused2]
(we hope they went next door [biggrin])Investment Property Management
http://www.adprop.com.au
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