As the name suggests, my partner and I are looking for our first home. We were looking to buy an already renovated home but prices seem to have been bumped up just out of our reach in the 6 months we have been looking
So we have found a 'fixer upper' being sold at auction. It needs an entire new kitchen and bathroom, but has potential. Its a standard 3bed 100m2 house.
If we got this house for the right price we would have $20k to renovate. The catch is that the OH's only stipulation about buying a house is he must have a large shed (2-4 car metal garage). This will eat up about 12k of the budget. I have broken the rest of the money down into a rough budget:
-$4000 for kitset/Ikea type kitchen cupboards and benchtops. Install ourselves.
-$1500 for new stainless steel oven, cooktop, rangehood
-$500 for tradies. Kitchen is being moved into a different room but backs onto the bathroom... I have no idea how much plumbing for something like this should cost. I also have no idea how much it will cost to get gas connected to the oven. $500 seems to be convenient so thats what I ran with
-$500 for shower, use existing bath, $400 for new vanity, $200 floor tiles and $400 for wall tiles (bathroom is smallish, about 5'5" x 10'). Everything done diy except plumbing. $500 allowed for plumbing (new shower plumbing, connecting vanity in same spot as old, connecting drain in floor).
There are also other costs like those involved in moving around (mostly removing) walls (the house has truss roofing so this should cost materials only), built ins etc which we will cover out of our wages. So from the eyes of renovation veteran's is my budget impossible? I know it's pretty tight, and doesn't allow for quality materials, but given this house is right at the bottom of the market I think using expensive materials could quickly lead to overcapitalisation. In terms of an investment I know the 4 car garage won't exactly pay for itself but it's something we (apparently) can't live without
After doing the reno's I plan on our 20k, I would estimate the house will be worth at least 10-20k more than we spent on it. It is in a great location, not exactly a 'hot' suburb but a respectable one, and one that won't loose value. We do plan on living in the property for around 5 years though so I wouldn't expect to loose out come sale time.
We will also be living in the house through the entire renovation. From someone who has never done this before, it *seems* like we will be able to keep our sanity. We are relocating the kitchen so can keep the old fully functional whilst we install the new, and remove it once it's done. The shower/bath is not being moved so except the initial waterproofing (we plan to extend the bathroom into a small, under utilised space which will involve removing one wall) and tile setting time etc. we should still be able to shower! I'd be interested to hear the experiences/opinions from people who have lived in while renovating.
The auction is at the end of the month and I would appreciate any help in gauging if this reno is achievable and what I should set my walk away price at. At this stage it is 20k (our budget) below the absolute minimum price I would expect to get if we sold a day after finishing the reno.
So we have found a 'fixer upper' being sold at auction. It needs an entire new kitchen and bathroom, but has potential. Its a standard 3bed 100m2 house.
If we got this house for the right price we would have $20k to renovate. The catch is that the OH's only stipulation about buying a house is he must have a large shed (2-4 car metal garage). This will eat up about 12k of the budget. I have broken the rest of the money down into a rough budget:
-$4000 for kitset/Ikea type kitchen cupboards and benchtops. Install ourselves.
-$1500 for new stainless steel oven, cooktop, rangehood
-$500 for tradies. Kitchen is being moved into a different room but backs onto the bathroom... I have no idea how much plumbing for something like this should cost. I also have no idea how much it will cost to get gas connected to the oven. $500 seems to be convenient so thats what I ran with
-$500 for shower, use existing bath, $400 for new vanity, $200 floor tiles and $400 for wall tiles (bathroom is smallish, about 5'5" x 10'). Everything done diy except plumbing. $500 allowed for plumbing (new shower plumbing, connecting vanity in same spot as old, connecting drain in floor).
There are also other costs like those involved in moving around (mostly removing) walls (the house has truss roofing so this should cost materials only), built ins etc which we will cover out of our wages. So from the eyes of renovation veteran's is my budget impossible? I know it's pretty tight, and doesn't allow for quality materials, but given this house is right at the bottom of the market I think using expensive materials could quickly lead to overcapitalisation. In terms of an investment I know the 4 car garage won't exactly pay for itself but it's something we (apparently) can't live without
After doing the reno's I plan on our 20k, I would estimate the house will be worth at least 10-20k more than we spent on it. It is in a great location, not exactly a 'hot' suburb but a respectable one, and one that won't loose value. We do plan on living in the property for around 5 years though so I wouldn't expect to loose out come sale time.
We will also be living in the house through the entire renovation. From someone who has never done this before, it *seems* like we will be able to keep our sanity. We are relocating the kitchen so can keep the old fully functional whilst we install the new, and remove it once it's done. The shower/bath is not being moved so except the initial waterproofing (we plan to extend the bathroom into a small, under utilised space which will involve removing one wall) and tile setting time etc. we should still be able to shower! I'd be interested to hear the experiences/opinions from people who have lived in while renovating.
The auction is at the end of the month and I would appreciate any help in gauging if this reno is achievable and what I should set my walk away price at. At this stage it is 20k (our budget) below the absolute minimum price I would expect to get if we sold a day after finishing the reno.