test
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
How's the Inner West looking now?
NOT GREAT, my friends.
This blog hasn't been updated for a while, mostly because B1 - main blogger - has buggered off overseas leaving me at the front lines, which is fine, but blogging about the horrors of house hunting isn't as cathartic as one would hope.
I have been to two auctions since the last post, and there have been very slim pickings indeed. First up was 78 Victoria St Lewisham. Vic St is lovely, it's tree-lined and wide, all the houses are nice, and blocks of land are decent enough for the inner west, it's full of young families and what not, and it's spitting distance to the train station. The house itself, however, was a tad old and run down. Certainly livable, but screaming for a new kitchen and some new floors, and the deck out the back was rotten through. To get the house meeting it's full attention the place called for some serious layout changes, but otherwise you know, it was ok. The price guide was over $650k, and how much did it go for? A WHOPPING $796000!
Are you for real?!
The turnout for the auction was huge. Some idiot middle aged man started the bidding at $700k before the auctioneer had even called for bids, a clear attempt to psych out any other prospective bidders. Little did he know there were bigger chumps than him out to play that day, and in the end it came down to two other middle aged dudes, and if I might make a judgement call on their appearances, they seemed like guys who might do their own renovations and own utes and stuff.
Anyhoo, let's just de-brief on the final cost of the house, with my primary-school level maths. I estimate that with a new kitchen and layout changes and architect and new deck and skylights and what have you, to achieve that "open plan", french-door schtick we're all mad about in this town (including me), you're staring down the barrel of $100k. Is 78 Victoria Street Lewisham a $900k house? I say, HELL NO. Not to mention the stress of doing the renovations to begin with - how do you put a cost on that? Then again, the idea of renovating something myself makes me want to cry.
CONCLUSION: chumps - the lot of you! Or maybe the chump is me, because I STILL don't have a house to live in. Not that $800k is anywhere near my budget.
The second house was 12 Jarvie Ave, Petersham. A lovely double fronted freestanding house on a giant block of land, with a lovely layout and potential to extend into the attic. Renovated up the wazoo, apart from the odd bit of peeling ceiling paint. How much did that go for? $726k. Chumps, again. I don't think I like auctions very much. At the end of the day, nice as it was, Jarvie was a small house, although I guess you are paying for 280sqm and a carspace. The jury's out on the level of chump factor involved in this transaction, although I WILL say that just down the road in March, 20 Allans Ave Petersham sold for $680k at auction and at the time I thought the nice looking lesbian couple who bought it were chumps too, and that the place wasn't worth a dollar more than $625K, but it turns out these ladies totally knew what they were doing. In comparison to Jarvie, Allans had 3 bedrooms (the main being an attic conversion with a study nook, wads of storage space and a sweet balcony looking over the backyard) and sat on a healthy 246sqm and had that open plan living space we all dream of. I guess it didn't have a car space. Still, an extra $45k for a carspace? Whatever dude.
Man, I have been househunting for a LONG. TIME.
This blog hasn't been updated for a while, mostly because B1 - main blogger - has buggered off overseas leaving me at the front lines, which is fine, but blogging about the horrors of house hunting isn't as cathartic as one would hope.
I have been to two auctions since the last post, and there have been very slim pickings indeed. First up was 78 Victoria St Lewisham. Vic St is lovely, it's tree-lined and wide, all the houses are nice, and blocks of land are decent enough for the inner west, it's full of young families and what not, and it's spitting distance to the train station. The house itself, however, was a tad old and run down. Certainly livable, but screaming for a new kitchen and some new floors, and the deck out the back was rotten through. To get the house meeting it's full attention the place called for some serious layout changes, but otherwise you know, it was ok. The price guide was over $650k, and how much did it go for? A WHOPPING $796000!
Are you for real?!
The turnout for the auction was huge. Some idiot middle aged man started the bidding at $700k before the auctioneer had even called for bids, a clear attempt to psych out any other prospective bidders. Little did he know there were bigger chumps than him out to play that day, and in the end it came down to two other middle aged dudes, and if I might make a judgement call on their appearances, they seemed like guys who might do their own renovations and own utes and stuff.
Anyhoo, let's just de-brief on the final cost of the house, with my primary-school level maths. I estimate that with a new kitchen and layout changes and architect and new deck and skylights and what have you, to achieve that "open plan", french-door schtick we're all mad about in this town (including me), you're staring down the barrel of $100k. Is 78 Victoria Street Lewisham a $900k house? I say, HELL NO. Not to mention the stress of doing the renovations to begin with - how do you put a cost on that? Then again, the idea of renovating something myself makes me want to cry.
CONCLUSION: chumps - the lot of you! Or maybe the chump is me, because I STILL don't have a house to live in. Not that $800k is anywhere near my budget.
The second house was 12 Jarvie Ave, Petersham. A lovely double fronted freestanding house on a giant block of land, with a lovely layout and potential to extend into the attic. Renovated up the wazoo, apart from the odd bit of peeling ceiling paint. How much did that go for? $726k. Chumps, again. I don't think I like auctions very much. At the end of the day, nice as it was, Jarvie was a small house, although I guess you are paying for 280sqm and a carspace. The jury's out on the level of chump factor involved in this transaction, although I WILL say that just down the road in March, 20 Allans Ave Petersham sold for $680k at auction and at the time I thought the nice looking lesbian couple who bought it were chumps too, and that the place wasn't worth a dollar more than $625K, but it turns out these ladies totally knew what they were doing. In comparison to Jarvie, Allans had 3 bedrooms (the main being an attic conversion with a study nook, wads of storage space and a sweet balcony looking over the backyard) and sat on a healthy 246sqm and had that open plan living space we all dream of. I guess it didn't have a car space. Still, an extra $45k for a carspace? Whatever dude.
Man, I have been househunting for a LONG. TIME.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
