Andrew Winter

MOVE OR EXTEND / RENOVATE?

With so much confusion in the market, a real uncertainty and in many cases an unknown exact value of your home. If you need to move because you want a bigger home or because you are avoiding renovations and want to move to something new - this is the time to consider extensions/renovations.

The main questions you need to answer are -

What will I be saving by not moving?
Take a typical $500,000 home with agents fees, legal costs, stamp duty, removal charges you could be looking at a bill of anything between $20,000 and $ 30,000 plus depending on the state you live in, agents fees locally etc.

Establish a budget
Next you need to establish a sensible budget for the changes you want to make, that means after all quotes are in adding another 20%! Once this has been established check that your street/suburb has recorded sales in that price range and you are not too high for the market you live in.

An example would be a $500,000 home and you have spent $60,000 on renovations; that does not mean it will be worth $560,000 the following week. It may take a year or so depending on the market but you will get the benefit of living in your new stylish home. Market history tells us you will catch up and make your $$$'s in time.

So arguably there isn't a lot in it - in a flat market the $30,000 spent on move costs could equate to the immediate $30,000 loss of works undertaken in our example home above.

HOWEVER; and in the wonderful world of residential property where nothing is really simple! You can reduce the risk of not covering your renovation costs by the careful selection of what improvements you do. So here are some dos and don’ts that should reduce the risk.

Remember to check what buyers want in your area and the real challenge is to make the improvements / extension look like it has always been there.

DO

Add living square meters - not just adding space to existing rooms, but adding a bedroom, adding a family room when you only have one living space, adding a second or third bathroom.

Renovate kitchens and bathrooms - the more un personable the style, the less personal statements made, the better chance of a value gain.

If you have no undercover outdoor area and a car port, create one and build a lock up garage, for max value gain build in matching materials to the existing home.

DON'T

Add a pool, unless it is expected in your suburb

Loose room numbers by making one or two rooms really huge at the expense of other rooms

Forget the floor plan has to be functional!