I am looking at buying a renovated house in the Newtown, Eastern Heights area of Ipswich. It is on 810m² so has the potential to be dual occupancy in the future but my family and I will be using it as our PPOR for at least 12 months. The house has had gas connected with gas points in the family room. Location wise it is excellent with two rail way stations less than 5 mins drive, 3 schools within 3 mins drive, shopping centre 4 mins away and green space with playground, bbq etc two blocks away. All these times have been calculated by google maps.
But, and there is always a but, the house has major structural defects which the building inspector noted as
“High: The frequency and/or magnitude of major defects are beyond the inspectors expectations when compared to
similar buildings of approximately the same age, construction that have been reasonably well maintained.” and the
Overall Condition:
A comparison of this and other dwellings of similar age, construction and level of maintenance would rate this building
as below average. The building and/or its parts show some significant defects and/or very poor workmanship and/or
long term neglect and/or defects requiring some major repairs or reconstruction of major building elements.
Important Note: The building rating noted above is only a generalisation taking into account numerous factors.The house needs restumping, leveling and the joists under the house need to be fixed. There is asbestos in the walls and ceiling but is in good condition as far as the inspector can ascertain. Wood rot is evident in a couple of supports. Judging by the power points and light switches the wiring hasn’t been updated. Will have to check if there is a safety switch. Plumbing is original but in good condition. There are other minor issues as well.
Would you buy a house that has major structural defects but is in a great area?
I wouldn't be focussing quite so much on the fact that this money pit is in a great area – perhaps it is clouding your judgement. Do the numbers first. What is the pricetag of the property, and what is the estimated cost of repairing it to bring it up to a great standard. And assume there will be a cost blowout.
Let's say the pricetag is $150k to buy it, and $80k to fix it, with $20k "oops didn't realise that needed doing" money. That brings you to $250k. If you could have bought a similar property without problems for a similar price, I either wouldn't go near it, or would offer a price WELL BELOW $150k for it, and use your building inspector report as your justification.
Don't forget to factor in holding costs in your equation (in this case – the cost of you living elsewhere while the fixing work is undertaken)
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
Hi Tgavin71,
Im a Buyers Agent and do alot of work in the Ipswich area, particularly Newtown, Eastern Heights, Booval and know the area well.
Newtown is a great suburb to be buying in but would definately have to agree with JacM – regarding purchasing costs, estimated repair costs etc and would definately make sure all your figures add up.
Dual occy blocks are fairly common in those suburbs at the moment so if the figures dont add up, dont do it. The things you've discussed aren't 'unfixable' but it just depends on how much money you want to throw at it.
I would also encourage you not just to take the agents word for it but to do further investigations with the council into that particular site if you havent already. Theres lots of factors to take into account when doing the split eg minimum clearances, fall of the land, nearby water and sewage services. In that area I would also suggest checking heritage listings, council zonings such as 'character zonings' etc as this will stipulate how limited you are going to be with any future works you want to do.
With the site, are you going to strata title it or fully subdivide? – as the costs differ greatly. Full subdivision will cost upwards of $60,000 in cold hard cash so you really need to make sure thats the direction you want to take.
<delete advertising – moderator>
Nicole Marsh
Eureka Buyers Agents
Buyers Agents in SE QLD and Nthn NSWHi Nicole – a great response from you in my opinion. Very relevant and full of info specific to the area. I'd imagine tgavin71 will be grateful
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
The only concern I can think of when restumping and levelling, is that you mention it has been renovated…
I.e. If they have gone to all the trouble of straightening all the doors and windows in a crooked house so that they open and shut properly, then when you straighten the house all the doors and windows will become crooked… Get an opinion from a builder or two as to how much re-work there might be involved. I shouldn't expect too much, but if they have installed a spankin' new bathroom suite then the last thing you want is any waterproofing sealant to crack under the tiles in your lovely tiled shower…. as mentioned above, prepare for the worst case so that there are no bad surprises!!
As for actual costs to re-stump: My neighbours in Booval just lifted their house to legal height for $26,000. They said they had the option to lift it or just re-stump it, and figured "why not lift" because the quote they had just to restump was only 10k cheaper… So now they have an extra 100 odd m2 of partially enclosed space under their house to play with…
Thanks JacM. Agree with grimnar – Last quotes I had for full restumping in the area were $14,000 to $17,000k. Alot of $$ spent for no real 'tangible' value add to the property. Depending on how far out of level the property is can cause other issues such as cracks in the cornice or ceiling, paint, steps, plumbing etc. Again, really need to make sure this is for you. Have some details of really good re-stumpers in the area if you need them tgavin71.
Nicole Marsh
Eureka Buyers Agents
Buyers Agents SE QLD and Nthn NSWHi Nicole,
If you could, I would like those details please : )
My place in Booval needs raising and restumping too, before we renovate…. Though I still need plans and approval before any of that happens.
Which reminds me, if anyone knows a good and reasonably priced building designer and structural engineer (I presume I need one of them for putting in a deck) local to Ipswich, QLD I would appreciate that too!
Back to the original post though, check also how many of the stumps actually require replacing… if you can get away with just replacing one or two rather than the whole lot, then you will save thousands!!
Agree with you Grimnar. TGavin7, you would probably expect to pay about $500 per stump that needs to be replaced. Generally now they just put in the steel adjustable stumps so minimises the future expenses of levelling and packing the stumps the old way.
Grimnar, can recommend Dean from Deanos Restumping – phone 0413 030 966. Very good. Cant help you with the others though, sorry. Maybe the Ipswich council can recommend someone for you? If I come accross any will let you knowCheers,
Nicole Marsh
Eureka Buyers Agents
Buyers Agents in SE QLD and Nthn NSW
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
