Following our initial 18 month saga, it was time to start again. Again we looked at the Sydney property market and ran the numbers. Whilst prices had risen significantly by early 2015, the bottom line hadn’t changed much. To sell and buy (in whatever order) a five bedroom house would mean moving out of the area and $100k+ in transaction costs could still buy a lot of renovation – although that was changing too.
We had no choice but to follow the ‘design’ advice of council’s chief engineer i.e. to look at a second story addition. The design solution resulted in a larger addition than our initial plans and a higher build cost.
We were now looking at a $400k budget with all the cost uncertainties that go with a renovation. The design was also ugly – especially in comparison with our initial plans – and it made no sense to proceed any further with a renovation to our existing home. It became clear we should consider a knock down rebuild. We knew the final cost would be higher but that it would also provide better value.
