Move or Improve? Do the Sums First!
There are plenty of reasons why people sell up and move, but with cheap money available it can make more sense to renovate the family home, as explained by Greville Pabst:
The logic is, if you are purchasing a home for $1million, the buyer has to add a further $100,000 for stamp duty, legal costs, agents commission and other charges, if they have to sell an existing property and so on. For that amount of money, there are a many significant improvements a home owner could do to their current home instead of buying a new one. The cost of borrowing money to renovate is the lowest it has been for years. One can borrow money at around four per cent. Allowing home owners to accomplish a $100,000 renovation with it only costing them $4,000 a year in interest, which is what some people spend on coffee and cakes.
Peter Mericka B.A., LL.B – Australian Legal Practitioner, Consumer Advocate and Principal of Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd and Lawyers Conveyancing – Melbourne – Victoria.