New Project, Same Block
After months of searching and researching, talking with agents, visiting open homes and watching auctions go well above our expectations, our next project has ended up being a house only 7 houses down the road from our Hidden Treasure Project! Being familiar with the area now we think were onto something good. Our approach to finding a new project is to be flexible with our expectations and how we will achieve our objectives - avoiding a list of requirements a property must have and instead focusing on the opportunity. House projects with obvious potential are often the most popular, and our approach is how we got this little 50s state house for under it's auction reserve with little bidding competition. Patience paid off and now we have found a new house to keep our renovation addiction content! Its definitely not as run down as our last project which took almost a year to renovate, relocate and subdivide. For this project we aim to get the same finished product but with a different approach to achieve this - a cosmetic and cost effective renovation that we can do within a tight timeframe. So here she is.
In a nut shell here are the things that we consider have put off other buyers and the reasons why we think it is a great opportunity:
- This property is not an obvious do up, it needs a new kitchen but has a fairly new bathroom. Therefore people in search of a "do up" may overlook it, but wouldn't appeal to buyers wanting a turnkey/move in ready home.
- A large section but not sub-dividable, keeping away developers. Will be a great selling point for families.
- The green joinery. Most will see this as unchangeable without replacing the joinery completely. But we have done our homework and have plans for this to turn this dated joinery into something much more modern!
- The garage has been converted into a sleep out. Many homeowners feel this adds value to a property with the potential for some additional space and income - but it also puts off a lot of buyers, making them nervous buying a house with unconsented works and even not possible at all with banks applying certain conditions.
Our next step and therefore next blog - make a plan of attack!