~Buying a house without internal stairs~

Hello, I plan to start my investment property portfolio soon.
I am looking at a high-set house in the Moreton Bay Region area north of Brisbane, Queensland. This house has two external stairs (front and back) but no internal stairs. The lower level is not of legal height. It contains a bathroom (ensuite size), laundry, double garage and a few utility rooms. The top level contains three bedrooms (two with built-in wardrobes), a bathroom, kitchen, living room and sunroom by the top floor front door entry.

The property is selling for $10,000 less than the market price to make up for the lack of the internal stairs. The sellers are not willing to drop the price further. Their original selling price was $20,000 over the market price which I got from a property report thru my bank. The rental appraisal for this property by the real estate agent estimated $380 weekly but this is highly unlikely to happen! Would you still go ahead with making an offer or advice to wait for a new listing to come on the market (even if it might costs more than my budget allows?)

I did some basic research in installing internal stairs - it could range from $4,000 to $10,000. Will this be an good addition to the investment property further down the track? How hard is it to get the Moreton Bay Council approval?

I would appreciate if you can share from experience rather than a hypothesis.

 

I just bought a house without internal stairs. They were there originally but removed to make the lower flat self contained and separate. The house was discounted quite heavily but the stairs were never mentioned. The steep block, driveway and backyard and wood paneling were always mentioned as reasons. I will be renting this property soon so will see how it reflects the price.

For some reason internal access is not high on a lot of people's wish lists here in Canberra despite the cold. I will definitely be putting internal stairs in when we live in it.

 

Thank you for your posts.

Wylie, if I get the property, I plan to install internal stairs down the track and rent the property out now to the right family. What if I don't rip off the existing stairs but just enclosed it? I don't mind losing a bit of space to the sun-room (if needed be) which is located off the front door entry.

 

Have you looked at comparable rentals? It seems like you have your heart set on it. I'd try and lowball them using the lack of internal stairs as a bargaining chip. Stay firm, set a timeframe for the offer to expire and wait to see what happens. Be ready to walk away, plenty of other good properties out there. As @wylie said It seems like they want an unreasonable price.

 

I know many people who have built in under houses that are not legal head height. Sure, you can't legally call them bedrooms, but they can still serve useful purposes even if called store rooms on the plans.
Marg

 

I think you have things upside down a bit.

Most of the highsets will not be legal height, will not have internal stairs, that is normal.

Your banks estimation is likely way off, I would not go off of that.

Internal stairs is likely to appeal more to home owner, it does take some space away from what are usually not overly large dwellings, rental likely the same.

 

Thank you all for your posts!! I will move onto the future new listings instead.