Dodgy DIY can decrease Value

[Slade]

I have just finished reading this article;

DIY can knock down value | NEWS.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/business/money/story/0,25479,24032165-5013951,00.html)

Very interesting, and something I have been questioning myself.. now that times are a little tougher and buyers are getting more picky, the quality of finishes in developments certainly matter.

I know 5 or so years ago, people were paying top dollar for poorly, cheaply finished properties.. but this needs to come to an end.

So what do you think, would you value a house lower that was in a great location with poorly finished work?

[HWT]

It'll only devalue the house if it is obvious that it is lower quality (which was the gist of the article) but it is quite possible to do really REALLY dubious work to a house and hide it well enough that it is only apparent when you come to do further renovation work, or when the dodgy DIY falls down.

[Brendan]

or when the dodgy DIY falls down.

Interesting.. would it be possible that the person you purchased the property off is liable for any of these damages, or their builders if this was the case?

I am assuming the answer is no, since the buyer should have done a building inspection prior to buying the property, but would be interested to hear your views.

[EBHomes]

When you are doing revovations yourself as an owner builder you are liable and you must have insurance to cover the build for seven years after completion. Before you start renovations ring your home insurance and inform them because if anything goes wrong the insurance you have taken out will not cover renovations, you actually have to take out a different insurance or have your policy modified to cover the build. At least in WA you are required to.

[Eugene]

I have heard some horror stories from a friend who is involved in light globe replacement (http://www.globejockeys.com.au/). He has mentioned some cases when he has had minor shocks changing globes because of dodgy DIY electrical. He says the best ones are when people try to insulate live wires with chewing gum.
I am all for DIY, but not for electrical or plumbing.

[HEMOROS]

horror Eugene
I have heard some horror stories from a friend who is involved in light globe replacement. He has mentioned some cases when he has had minor shocks changing globes because of dodgy DIY electrical. He says the best ones are when people try to insulate live wires with chewing gum.

[HEMOROS]

Eugene
I have heard some horror stories from a friend who is involved in light globe replacement. He has mentioned some cases when he has had minor shocks changing globes because of dodgy DIY electrical. He says the best ones are when people try to insulate live wires with chewing gum.

[Deal Maker]

Hello Slade,

Over the last couple years it would have done about 15 renovations what we have found is that recently he advertise a property to sale and stated in the advertising that is FULLY RENOVATED and we find buyers go through with a fine tooth comb about the renovation and pick it to pieces. I believe that this has been subject to all the renovation shows that have been on TV lately where people have an unrealistic expectation of what a true renovation should actually looked like and that they under estimate the real cost of what it takes to produce a TV renovation as evidence in the poor auction results that "The Block" and "The Renovators" achieved over the last couple months. What was even worse was that they didn't even truly account for the true costs of doing renovation as such as including the cost of staging (putting furniture into the property for sales presentation), the sales commissions that would be paid, the extra funds they got in the mini competitions that they ran and the labour cost that would be involved in doing renovation.

What this basically means is that when a by a central property and they know that is fully renovated they expect the house is 100% fully renovated and that they believe is a $50,000 actually costs an extra $20,000 more.

Therefore in summing up when we sell houses nowadays that we have renovated, we leave out any indication that with actually renovated property to the extent that we actually state that the house is actually sold in an as is condition.
Those are my 10 cents worth.

Kind regards,
Jason Moore and Sherry Ortiz