Jump to content
Find Professionals    Deals    Get Quotations   Portfolios
Sign in to follow this  
Topline

Advice needed on buying old house

Recommended Posts

Hi

I'm eyeing an old house which has A&A done in the late 90s. Problem is I find the built in space too small, especially the second floor and attic.

Because of costs, I don't really want to rebuild (I hear it will cost $1.5m at least). For some reason, the back of the house is not 2 m from the boundary... I think maybe 3 metres. If I were to extend that backwards nearer to the boundary (to min 2 metres), and also take the chance to extend the second floor towards the back too., how much would that roughly cost?

Also, if i knock out and re-do the entire attic to hopefully increase more space, how much would that cost? Thanks for your help!

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Looking for good contractors? Click here for your request

many old houses are not built up to the max allowed foot print so it's not uncommon to see a big unsheltered backyard area for old landed houses. some owners over the years had covered up the backyard areas with some even covering up to the boundary (not legal).

for you to extend the back and at the same time do so for the upper storey would mean new structural components like underground footings/beams/columns etc. if the soil condition is poor, piling is needed. honestly speaking, to spend so much money to extend 1m of space is not worth it. after factoring in the walls thickness, you may get less than 1m of added space.

cost wise, better go and talk to a builder to get some estimates with the actual floor plan

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think this type of extension project should cost around 300 to 400k as i got a quote from my builder for 3 options before. but i would say future wise, best to rebuild as you will be using the old existing structure of the house which probably wouldnt make economical sense unless you have a budget to work with.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks! Mamamiasimmy, the 300-400k you mentioned is for extending first and second floor towards the back only, or include redo-ing the attic?

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
30 minutes ago, Topline said:

Hi, may i ask who maintains the retaining wall? The house on the higher ground or the neighbour on lower ground?

the owner of the land where the retaining wall sits on is responsible for it

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
29 minutes ago, Topline said:

I ask cos i wonder what is the impact on construction costs, if you buy the higher plot vs buying the lower plot.

not much difference unless you need to do special things to the land like digging a basement

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi, after buying an old house (about 20 years old), i'm not going to have much budget left ... intending to do A&A. What works should i do at the minimum so that i dont have issues with the house for the next 20 years? My list so far:

1. Change bathroom fittings

2. Change floor tiles

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Topline said:

Hi, after buying an old house (about 20 years old), i'm not going to have much budget left ... intending to do A&A. What works should i do at the minimum so that i dont have issues with the house for the next 20 years? My list so far:

1. Change bathroom fittings

2. Change floor tiles

change electrical wiring.

add network cables for all rooms

redo toilet water proofing since you're changing the floor tiles

check the roof for leakages

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 10/27/2020 at 12:18 PM, snoozee said:

change electrical wiring.

add network cables for all rooms

redo toilet water proofing since you're changing the floor tiles

check the roof for leakages

Thanks. Would you change the air con? Seems to be still working.... there are those that are attached on the wall and also one or two ceiling types flushed to the false ceiling...

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Separately, if the old house doesn’t have a granny room, would it improve the value of the property if I cater for one in A&A? There is no lift. Not sure what the valuers take into account but if it helps value, I may consider catering for it.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 minutes ago, Topline said:

Thanks. Would you change the air con? Seems to be still working.... there are those that are attached on the wall and also one or two ceiling types flushed to the false ceiling...

to change the entire house aircon could set you back by 20k to 30k. if they are ok, I don't see any reason to change unless the aircon units are so old and sucks electricity like crazy. I would suggest to check the models of the aircon units and see what kind of gas they run on. some very old aircons run on R22 gas and the pipes can't be reused for the newer aircons which are running on R410 gas. But Mitsubishi has a so called technology which seems to allow for the reuse of old pipes. i'm not sure which other brands has this technology so if the existing ones are using R22, you would be "stuck" with one brand if next time you decide to change to newer models using R410 gas

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 minutes ago, Topline said:

Separately, if the old house doesn’t have a granny room, would it improve the value of the property if I cater for one in A&A? There is no lift. Not sure what the valuers take into account but if it helps value, I may consider catering for it.

you need to ask yourself if you're buying the house for short term or long term.

valuation is just another number which allows you to take loan (if needed and for tax purposes) or when you decide to sell the property. if you are planning to stay for long term (eg: more than 10 years), your focus should be on renovating the house to suit your family's needs rather than focusing on the valuation number.

i'm not exactly sure how the valuers do their work, but my understanding is that they would value the house based on similar sized properties nearby as well as the condition of the house. your house would not fall under a "new" category since you are just doing A&A and not an entire new built. even if you put in a lift now, by the time you sell the house in 10 years time, the residual value of the lift itself might be very low. I can tell you that when the valuer did a valuation of my old house (more than 50 years old) before it was torn down, the value of the house itself is zero.

if you are planning to sell the house in 5 years time, I would suggest you spend just the minimum required to do up the house for your own stay rather than spend 100k to put in a lift unless you absolutely need the lift.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×