To Buy or Renovate?

Right now, even in this HOT market, there is merit in paying a bit extra and buying the finished home. I was reminded of this as I prepared for a big auction at 16 Walker Avenue, Teneriffe.

The auction was of a stunning new home and buyers had poured in from inside and outside of state lines, with 7 registering for the contemporary masterpiece.

I decided to tickle their taste buds with an opening address of delightful anecdotes about ‘fluffy green grass so perfect it looked as though it had been combed’ and ‘crackling wood fires to warm tender nights in Brisbane’s brief winter weeks’. With the crowd now smiling and warm, it was time to slip in the mouth guard and get the show started.

Opening at $4,400,000, the 7 registered bidders were immediately reduced to two and that pair exchanged blows through to $5,070,000, where Matt Lancashire announced the property ‘On the market’, and all the way to $5,450,000 where the home sold under the hammer to thunderous applause!

As the buyers filtered out I spoke to the new home owners about all the extra things they had bought by purchasing a new home.

Not only had they bought the house. A home where everything was fresh, new and of the highest quality, but by buying instead of renovating or building they had bought much more.

They had bought the luxury of knowing their full costs, no ‘variation’ surprises. They have every appliance, there is no waiting for ‘COVID delays’ as items they were depending on and deliberated over were now sold out or stuck overseas. They don’t have to find a suitable rental and then pay years of rent in an increasingly tight rental market while their dream home is built. Finally, now bought, there are no elevated chats about colours, stones or handles (only adding to the stress inside the household). These decisions had been made.

In short, as the adrenaline from the auction filtered from their bodies, they had now bought and they can now simply move in and relax. That comes at a price and it’s all wound up in what they paid at the auction.

Haesley Cush I Published in the Sunday Mail I