QLD Logan - Waterford West area?

Hi all,

I'm sorry, this post is also listed in another forum, but I'm under a bit of time pressure and was hoping to get as much info as I can at short notice.

I'm considering a purchase in the Waterford West or Crestmead areas in the near future. I've seen a lot of good info on this forum about these areas related to previous years, just wondering if I can get some opinions on those areas now?

Also, I do have my eye on a specific property. Its a brick low set 3/1/1 setup in WWest. I've negotiated a price of 250 (no contracts exchanged yet), BUT the soil underneath the house has shifted and created a lot of internal issues (mostly cosmetic). A builder reckons the cost of fixing everything would be about 20-25k.

Should this be ringing alarms for me? Does anyone have experience with the reactive soil in that area? To my mind, 250+25 = 275k for a property that will likely rent for 330-350 - doesn't seem like a bad deal. So why has this place been sitting on the market for months?

I'd appreciate any advice at all. Thanks.

 

What kind of internal issues? Cracks in walls? If so, you could get things in rentable condition with a weekend, tub of joint compound and some paint.

 

Unfortunately its a bit more severe than that - cracked cornices, all the concrete around the house has detached, cracks in the ceiling. I can get all that repaired, but I'm wondering if its just going to keep getting worse!

 

Hard to say without getting the proper people out to assess the ground - Hopefully someone else who has experienced similar comments on here for you

 

As @Lindsay_W suggested best to get the appropriate expert involved asap for a proper assessment/analysis of the potential risk down the track.

If it sits on the market for a while there must be a reason for it. Have you asked the agent why it didn't sell, or do they know any B&P issues?

Also if you must put in an offer then speak to your solicitor to see if you can insert a conditional clause in the contract to say something along the line of "subject to buyer's satisfactory due diligence checks on the impact of reactive soil". I'm not licensed to craft these clause but your solicitor should be able to help so you have something that allows you to get out if required.

Good luck!

Cheers,
David

 

How can you guarantee that the soil will not continue to shift. So the 25K fix will need another 30 in couple of years and so on?

 

When was the house built?

How big are the cracks? Ie hairline or cms?

Are we talking slab on ground?

The builder that said $20-25k to fix... how did they come up with that? Did you ask them to do site visit? Is this a quote owner had?

Hairline cornice cracks are normal. Ceiling and big cornice cracks are not and I would not call these cosmetic this is structural. Buildings expand and contract as weather conditions vary as does the soil. A sure fire way to get a foundation to fail is pooling of water around foundation - so good drainage around the house is essential.

I’m leaning towards running for the hills on this one. Surely if you’re selling a property you would get it fixed first? Unless of course you’ve already done that and it’s a recurring problem. As a builder I wouldn’t buy a place with that kind of structural issue, lots of other issues I would buy but not that.

 

This should be ringing BIG Alarms bells. Ground subsidence under a slab-on-ground home is one of the scariest issues to consider in the purchase and ownership of a house. It does sound like the price is right though, so worth chasing this in order to make a fully educated decision on the purchase.

You need one or more professionals to take a very good look. There's a number of ways that a moving/broken/sunken foundation can be 'fixed'. They vary in price, permanence and quality dramatically. This could be a one-off $25k spend, or it could be a constant issue....

Worth mentioning, Waterford West has a lot of sandy river soil due to the location by the river, we lived there for five years and had to make major adjustments to the stumps under our house in the time- fortunately being a very solid mid-set construction on stumps, it was as simple as adjusting and packing.

On a side note- buying in the right part of Waterford West or Crestmead will get you a fantastic investment, I'm a big fan of both areas (currently live in Logan Reserve next door to Crestmead and manage plenty in both areas).

 

Thank you everyone, those replies were really helpful.

The slab is a waffle pod design, with a lot of subsidence under the slab. I've had a quote for 23k to pump resin under the slab to lift it, and a friend who's a builder has estimated about 10k to repair the internals (large cracks in the concrete outside and cornices, and generally crappy condition doors and walls etc).

Interestingly, the agent has told me that the vendor is chasing 250k as that's what the outstanding mortgage is worth. The history of the house indicates that it sold for 250 about 10 years ago. I suspect that the owner may have gotten an IO loan and hasn't ever paid any principal off, and now can't afford to pay the funds necessary to repair the place.

If I buy the place, I'll be sure to ask you about management @Tom Rivera!

 

Stay away from slab movement. More trouble than its worth. Even if underpinned it will continue happening in the future as you can't replace the soil beneath it. Could also be poor drainage over the course of many years where water has seeped underneath the slab and softened it.

You can cover up cracks all day long but your next buyer will see it all.

Unless its a waterfront in New Farm etc where it could be worth investing significant dollars to make it work, its just not worth the headache for the average investment grade house in Logan

 

Be careful of injection underpinning, I've seen one house where the injection went into broken pipes and came up through the kitchen sink waste essentially creating a HUGE issue with the plumbing for the whole house! I'd be looking for another property if it was me. Quotes for 23k and 10k to repair internal damage could soon escalate and you may have issues in the future.

 

But wouldn't that be covered by the building insurance ??

 

Yep. Weatherboard on stumps = easy (or at least easier) fixes, at least in my experience