Buying regret

The lesson here might be that most properties that make nice PPORs don't necessarily make good investments. Keep the two things separate imo.

You can't exactly pooh-pooh your BA or the investment outcomes of a property you didn't even select with those investment goals in mind.

 

I’m not criticising the buyers agent.

 

What you need are clear goals and an objective, unemotional strategy that you will stick to for at least ten years. Preferably 100 years.

Selling properties and buying a property for family to live in is not an objective investment decision.

Can you afford to not make money on that property either?

 

I appreciate this! I’m not sure what the agent thinks it will only sell for $800k though…

 

If you have already signed with them they might be conditioning you. Then you will be pleasantly surprised and more willing to take offers.

 

I have not signed with them. I’ve had two agents now tell me the same thing and another who said likely $900k. Go figure.

 

Ask for comparables and DYOR.

 

Some of the thinking sounds wonky and lacking experience. I suggest holding a bit longer to avoid an expected loss.

Get a decent handle on repairs and costs. Gravel and Ag piping in trenches solved a lower ground flooding issue for me at a low cost (working so far).

Initial years are most difficult. Your efforts so far should see an improved rent.

 

My recommendation is don’t sell at the bottom of the market which is where we are in melbourne right now. If you can afford to hold, hold, while renting the place out. Make sure you depreciate the renovations and claim the appropriate tax deductions. Get some financial advice from a professional.

 

the house looks nice from the photos, not investment type (far, no train nearby etc) but its a solid brick house. but in saying all that i could be great ppor and with current shortage its easy to rent.

all water issues can be rectified if you bring a professional. trees can be cut, soil removed. we had close friends living in a house like that with a constant dump due to moisture but overall all problems solvable.

i am not sure whatss your daily job is, but at least expenses can be negatively geared (for now LOL) so may help with tax bill.

 

Hi Amber

I am really sorry to hear that you have had a bad experience with your property. Not sure who helped you with this purchase and if the issues with the leaks were already present at time of purchase or not, but you might find some of the observations and tips below helpful in how you approach looking after this property going forward (or things to be wary of in subsequent purchases).

Like in any profession, not all buyers advocates will have the same amount of experience with evaluation of the integrity of a structure. Whilst what has occurred with this property has already occurred, I've popped a few thoughts down below as to what I see in the photos of this property... things that I would either have firm in my mind for a closer look on an in-person inspection, or indeed decide there are too many red flags to proceed with looking at it further.

Just a few things that can be seen in the photos :

Old brown-coloured vertical wall heater. If not already at end of life, it'd be close. The sort of thing I'd have a plumber remove and have a handyman patch the wall plaster for the resulting hole. Replace with split system.

Raked ceiling rooms won't be able to accommodate central heating in the roof cavity if desired (due to the fact there is no roof cavity).

The vertical pergola post that is visible in the decking picture does not have a downpipe. Possible drainage concern if there isn't one elsewhere. Never a good thing letting large volumes of water gush off the roof and plonk straight on the ground next to your house foundations.

It isn't possible to see enough clarity in the decking pictures to see whether the vertical posts of the decking floor itself make contact directly with the ground or not, but it is always best for them not to do so but to rather be in metallic stirrups as a termite entrance preventative. Ideally have a handyman trim the bottom section of the verticals off and install them in metallic stirrups (concreted into the ground). Generally they look like this ; Pryda 130x90mm M10 Full Stirrup Post Anchor - Bunnings Australia

I am not at all a fan of the situation in that shower over bath arrangement. I first thought it was acrylic panel, but I see the joins of tiles.... The shower over bath setup appears to have some tiles on the wall... but not the whole way across (and the nature of the way the joins are sitting would make me wonder if the tiles have started detaching from the wall due to a grouting or tile adhesive breach). Even in the absence of the leak issues you mentioned, this is not a good setup as it will allow water to splash on the wall adjacent to the tiled section when the shower is running, and cause damp issues. This is is the sort of thing that needs to be dealt with on day one before the shower is used (ie fix any problematic tiles, and apply tiles to the remainder of the wall around the bath, in order to stop water seeping into the walls). If it were me, I'd tile to height all the way along the wall where the shower rose is... to height at both ends of the bath, and also all the way to the windowframe. With all this said, the strange and inappropriate choice of tiling coverage may suggest that a waterproofing membrane was not applied behind the shower tiles. Whilst that would be unfortunate, it isn't catastrophic provided there is good tile coverage with never any breaches to the tile adhesive, grouting and silicone that allows the water to penetrate into the wall plaster and thus seep behind the wall to the wall studs (timbers). An after the fact way of making do might be to tile the untiled sections and then apply acrylic panel over the top. Acrylic panel is certainly easier to clean, and has far less joins and thus far less opportunity for water ingress. The tricky issue is, whether your insurer would pay out if there was water damage and it could be proven there is no waterproofing membrane.

The photo doesn't show whether there is a ceiling fan in the bathroom to help control moisture. If not, one indeed needs to be added (and if a rental property, you can essentially force the tenants to use it by having the electrician wire it in with the light so that the moment the tenant turns on the light, the fan comes on.) The photo of course also doesn't show whether the paint used on the walls and ceiling is bathroom paint or not. Something to be mindful of. A weapon against mildew and mold buildup.

Damp, moisture, mildew and mold are things to prevent from occuring in the first place. Veeery important.

On the plus side of things, the other sides of the walls where your bathroom water items are located are at least either an outside wall, or a reasonably nothing wall such as bedroom wall or hallway wall. At least the plumber can gain access reasonably easily from the other side of the wall in this regard. It would have been very unfortunate if you had two "expensive" walls backing onto one another (eg two shower walls... or a shower wall backing onto the kitchen cabinetry and oven setup... either way you're somewhat having to choose which expensive wall to cause damage to in order to access and repair the leak when the floorplan is unfortunate in that way).

Whilst painted, the tiles behind the kitchen sink are of a dimension that suggests they are the original (old) tiles. You'll be needing to monitor the tile grouting, and the silicone where the tiles meet the bench/sink and ensure there is indeed silicone there and that it is well maintained (to stop water ingressing into the cabinetry and walls).

There are old wall vents on the walls (eg in the master bedroom) which perhaps are not the best of ideas to retain these days. It offers an entrance for dust and insects... and in leafy areas such as Upwey, consideration should be given as to the extra risk it poses in a bushfire situation. Covering vents like these can help reduce draughts and thus maximise warmth retention in winter when the heater is on.

The house is heavily surrounded by trees which will drop leaf litter regularly. The roofing gutters will need to be cleared out really often in order to ensure they are not blocking the effectiveness of the roofing gutters from a drainage perspective, but also to ensure that drying leaf litter on the roof isn't sitting there as convenient kindling or tinder to help the house become alight in the event of a bushfire ember landing on your roof.

I can't tell from the photos whether there are flyscreens on the windows... certainly having them is a good idea in order to encourage tenants to open the windows sometimes in order to provide ventilation to the home (and thus prevent moisture and mildew building up) but can also be a helpful weapon against bushfire embers from entering the home. Certainly where new homes are being built, those in areas of higher bushfire risk are actually required to have flyscreens.


The log fire arrangement in the yard there... that makes me nervous, offering things that encourage tenants to light fires near your house. It's something I'd opt to remove. It may even invalidate your home insurance if it could be proven that a fire started there that damaged the house.

Ugly brown floor tiles. Might be worth going straight over the top of them with linoleum or vinyl planks for a quick value-add.

Hope there's some helpful things amongst these comments that you find helpful in terms of maintaining this particular house, or things to think about from an educational perspective with any future houses you purchase.

Hope this helps.

 

Its not that far from the train station in Upwey actually

 

WOW thankyou so so much for youre very generous and detailed post. I reallllly appreciate it, you obviously know your stuff! I will send you a DM.