MrsDagboy

Agree totally - I dont really care what it looks like inside (or outside) as long as it's structurally sound & suits what we need, Im happy to renovate & change things that I dont like. And you can usually pick them up alot cheaper than comparable properties that have been spruced for market. Definitely worst house/best street is the way to go as Amazulu mentioned.

Never could work out the obsession people from the UK have with not being able to see past other people's decors .

NickyC

There are some fruitloops like that around here. Current trendy thing is, when you sell is to get a 'stylist' in who paints the whole place beige, hires in the cool, new furniture (doesn't matter if it's not comfortable - you won't be sitting on it) and replaces all your stuff with 'tasteful' designer crap.

What I can't understand is why are people tricked by all this nonsense. I know it's all about 'ambience', buyers 'imagining' themselves living there and buying the 'lifestyle' etc but really - if they're as easily fooled as that, well, they deserve to pay over the odds!

I guess the more fools like that - the more bargains for us

Amazulu

The house we've bought is quite tatty & run down but it is liveable. We got it for about $100k less than comparable houses in our street. I reckon it needs $50k spending on it to bring it up another $100k. So hopefully it's a good investment.

annqldau

Well tonights house wasn't a wreck but family split 2 to 1, hubby loved it and the grounds and son and I not so sure. Will keep it in mind if we don't find anything better.

Not sure why as wasn't terrible but just didn't do it for me. Possibly as it is one of those long Aus bungalows just long and straight. Did have nice pool and little pool house come Granny flat... shame I haven't got a granny with me to put in it... .

Luma

Sounds like a lot of houses would benefit from Kim and Aggie from the TV programme "How Clean is your House?"

NickyC

Sounds like my sort of bargain .

All our houses have been like that. I always seem to want to live somewhere I can't really afford. But I figure that it only takes a couple of years of clearing/painting/fixing stuff as and when you can afford it - then you end up with a place (to YOUR specifications) that's worth far more than the equivalent house (that needed no work) that you could have bought with the same amount of cash.

Well, it's always worked for us so far..

Good luck!

JackTheLad

We too bought a house which needed lots of work. One of the bedrooms had green curtains and the walls were painted green. Lots of wall tiles were missing in the shower of the ensuite as the owners were originally planning on doing up the place to sell. The kitchen was barely useable. I'm glad the house wasn't done up or we would've had to pay much more for it than we did!

The cost of renovating the house to the way we liked was similar to the difference in prices between our house and neighbouring houses. Not much saving but everything was done to our taste and will last for many years to come.

Mrs JTL

Hutch

Actually - I'd say the worst houses I've seen were actually brand new show homes. We went to one of these big show home parks where all the different builders put up a home or two and you get to do whole streets at a time. I can honestly say that I haven't laughed so hard since I saw Billy Connoly in concert. Many of them seemed to have this obsession with faux french style furniture and furnishings - all these utterly grim light green and cream stripes. And what, in the name of all that's holy, are you supposed to do with all those 'lounge' areas - you walk in, there's one by the door, you go past the two main bedrooms, there's another one, you go into the kitchen area there's another - all these 'dead' spaces with settees in 'em. Our four year old Josh was obviously of the same opinion as us because he took himself off in one of the houses and christened the bog!

annqldau

Noticed lots of show homes have far more settees than you would ever use and tables. Because they are bigger than any family would ever need.

I said similar to hubby about if we buy cheaper house at least we can rip kitchen and bathroom out and put in what we want.

NickyC

Those show-home streets are surreal. It's quite strange watching normal-looking people oohing and aahing at all the tacky decor. I guess it's an improvement on what they've got at home. I probably sound snobbish but everything is so FAKE in these places - you might think you're in a Federation masterpiece, Tuscan villa or whatever - but it's just tricked-up brick veneer underneath.

Carl B

Reminds me of when we were looking round rental properties. We looked at one in Croydon and it appeared to have last been modernised in the 50's. When we asked the agent if there was any heating in the rooms, we were told that it doesn't get cold in Melbourne (yeah, right). He then pointed to a ceiling fan and said that we could switch that on for heating. Never have understood how that would work, but whatever. Needless to say we didn't rent it.

annqldau

:scared: You can always tell a rental house, whole thing is magnolia including the carpets and the screens..........aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh magnolia nightmare.... :scared:

So who dared to buy at auction or did you all just by or estate agent?

thebears

Any body have any luck using a buyers agent?

NickyC

We sold our last house at auction, but bought the current one prior to it's auction date. We've also bought an investment property at an auction.

Selling via auction was a piece of cake and a completely different experience to buying. Buying is seriously nerve-wracking. We didn't do it out of choice - when 95% of properties are sold via auction (which they were around here at that time) you have to join in if you want to get into the market. Avoid if at all possible - it caused loads of sleepless nights.

Larissa

That's silly, ceiling fans just redirect the warm air do the ground, they aren't a form of heating. If you just had the fan it would be barely noticable but you can use it with another form of heating. Some agents will say anything won't they!

The worse houses we saw were in Waneroo, a slightly older area of Perth. Often they were just very dark and dingy, just cosmetic stuff really. We've got a bit of a reno house as it is, but sometimes you have to weigh up the amount of work with how much time you have on your hands. Hubby works longer hours here in the UK so he's got less time to muck about with the house.
One house really stank of dog or something, bad odours are what puts me off the most. I'm always dubious of musty smells which could be damp etc. One agent warned us of a house (during a house open) which had pipe problems, damp from the bathroom going through to another wall. Perhaps there is hope out there with estate agents.

You need to watch out as inspections here are so much less detailed than you'd get in the UK and don't necessarily cover termites (you must check for this). Even with our termite inspection we were told that they couldn't investigate as much as we'd hoped due to the owner having stuff causing obstructions, plus they wouldn't move the insulation material in the loft. In comparison our UK inspection report was much more detailed; our Aussie one failed to spot roof holes (where the pointing had gone) and we need to get up there and fix them before winter. Building standards here tend to be slacker, we've had two burst pipe joints since September - given this is a 20 year old house that isn't good - our 90 year old UK house never had these problems. The plumber each call out was nearly $200. If you're handy with basic repair jobs you will probably be alright with most house maintenance.

One of my bug bears is exposed brick... can't bear the stuff and have just painted over mine... ahhh, much better. It's amazing what a bit of paint can do.