Re cladding our house opinions?

[Deseng]

Sounds like a lot are onto the right idea.

Short story - years ago when these plastic, steel and aluminium overcladding cladding systems first came around there were a lot of people jumped to spruce up older houses.  Many were under war service home loans (talking 70's, 80's, etc).  Part of my Dad's work was as a war service building inspector and insurance assessor.  After the work was done people often asked to have their homes reassessed for insurance purpose, etc.  Dad would turn up, devalue the house and write down the insured value - and not just a little!  Many people were not happy after having just paid a packet to "improve" their house to find it was noticeably devalued.  The reasons were simple - the cavity between claddings provide a perfect spot for vermin, decay and corrosion to occur and prevented clear inspection of the actual status of the structure. 

In short I would recommend steering clear of the overcladding option.

Have a look at these products after a good hail storm - not pretty.  If I recall I don't think war service would insure them for the cladding replacement either just to add further injury.

Deseng.

[Sir Kev + Darkie]

Huh? There are many considerations to comply with the requirements of the BCA when using rendered AAC panels, just as there are for any cladding product and here's a sample of them with Hebel-
http://moreplas.com.au/residential-walls/external-walls.html
You meet those requirements and both Hebel and render suppliers like Dulux will back their product but step outside those parameters and you're on your own just like you are with any building product. Most product problems and failures arise because the user doesn't understand fully the underlying requirements for use and there is no such thing as some esoteric Building Code 'Stamp of Approval', just a range of parameters to be met.

Well going by the National News Alert released by the AIBS (Australian Institute of Building Surveyors) and written advice by the QBCC (Queensland Building and Construction Commission) it has to be approved as an Alternate solution due to the issues I have already raised.

[BLKWDW]

thanks for the advice everyone, taking it all on board. Still waiting for the assesor to come look at the house before we get the cash but its been pre approved.

[BLKWDW]

Well cladding is of the agenda. We were only approved for 12k not the 18 we needed. I dont get how they evaluate houses but we have spent more then 20k on the house since moving in and its only worth 12k more in 4-5yrs. So will look into the best ways to spend the cash to hopefully improve the houses worth or spend some and pay of debt with the rest.  We paid 148k 4-5yrs ago and now valued at 160k. house across road is a Shitbox and is for sale for 130k.

[Mrs smith]

If your property value has only risen that little, try reducing your debt on it. If you owned it tomorrow you'd be saving all the interest each week to put into reno's or something else.

[BLKWDW]

If thats the case were better of not spending it on anything or just our own personal debt. The house needs a bit spent on it to tidy it up but yeh not sure now. New fence, entertaining area and shed would have been nice

[Mrs smith]

If thats the case were better of not spending it on anything or just our own personal debt. The house needs a bit spent on it to tidy it up but yeh not sure now. New fence, entertaining area and shed would have been nice

I'm not sure I follow your thinking, it's all your own personal debt (house and personal loans) ?
If It were me, consolidate all debt to 1 loan (the house loan, cheapest interest) do the hard yards saving a few $$$ learning to live without cards and small personal loans if thats the case. Put a $100 a month aside for the fence and you'll have it before you know it, if you don't spend it somewhere else. lol
Sorry if that sounds tuff.

[BLKWDW]

I meant me might be better of spending the money to pay of some of our personal debt we have. We dont have enough to consolidate everything into the house unfortunately. Maybe spend half on house and half on the debt.

[Nomad]

Well cladding is of the agenda. We were only approved for 12k not the 18 we needed. I dont get how they evaluate houses but we have spent more then 20k on the house since moving in and its only worth 12k more in 4-5yrs. So will look into the best ways to spend the cash to hopefully improve the houses worth or spend some and pay of debt with the rest.  We paid 148k 4-5yrs ago and now valued at 160k. house across road is a ****box and is for sale for 130k.

That is because of the GFC and decreased housing prices. The money you have put into it should come back to you in time.
It sounds like the bank has not asked the valuer to do an "as if complete" valuation. This is where you supply your quotes to re clad, build the shed and refence and ask them to assess the value as if this work had been done.

I don't agree with consolidating your personal debt into your house. All your are doing is taking a short term loan and turning it into a long term loan. So on the face of it the interest rate may be cheaper but you are paying it off over a much longer period of time.

Cheers Nomad.

[oldmate]

That is because of the GFC and decreased housing prices. The money you have put into it should come back to you in time.
It sounds like the bank has not asked the valuer to do an "as if complete" valuation. This is where you supply your quotes to re clad, build the shed and refence and ask them to assess the value as if this work had been done.

I don't agree with consolidating your personal debt into your house. All your are doing is taking a short term loan and turning it into a long term loan. So on the face of it the interest rate may be cheaper but you are paying it off over a much longer period of time.

Cheers Nomad.

couldn't agree more

[BLKWDW]

That is because of the GFC and decreased housing prices. The money you have put into it should come back to you in time.
It sounds like the bank has not asked the valuer to do an "as if complete" valuation. This is where you supply your quotes to re clad, build the shed and refence and ask them to assess the value as if this work had been done.

I don't agree with consolidating your personal debt into your house. All your are doing is taking a short term loan and turning it into a long term loan. So on the face of it the interest rate may be cheaper but you are paying it off over a much longer period of time.

Cheers Nomad.

Yep your right mate I just asked the mrs and despite us giving the bank 2 quotes for the cladding they only done an as is valuation. Still with 20k spent on it and with 5yrs of ownership I thought it wuld be worth more maybe I'm being unrealistic then.

So instead of consolidating loans with money wuld u recommend spending it on the house or not borrowing it at all.

What add on would actually add value to a house?

[deepop]

So you're back to what someone else wrote - paint it up in some modern colour scheme, do the front fence and your BBQ area out the back.

Don't get in to too much more debt and put some hard years in (if possible) to reduce your mortgage a lot.   By the time you've done that (5 year plan?) check the valuation again and see where you stand - reassess and do again.

[Nomad]

Yep your right mate I just asked the mrs and despite us giving the bank 2 quotes for the cladding they only done an as is valuation. Still with 20k spent on it and with 5yrs of ownership I thought it wuld be worth more maybe I'm being unrealistic then.

Compared to my house and my real estate market you have done well, consider yourself lucky there, some markets have seen prices cut by half. You may be in an extremely stable kind of market, say like Toowoomba, so may not see huge value growth in a short time frame, but as the market becomes more active, and it is, you will see a shortening of stock. Best way to find out is keep a close eye on For Sale signs you see around the place and see how long it takes for a sold sign to go up.

So instead of consolidating loans with money wuld u recommend spending it on the house or not borrowing it at all. 

I don't know enough about your financial position to give an answer and I am not qualified. I do recommend you talk to someone other than your banker though. A financial planners advice can be very helpful. But get recommendations off someone you know who is financially well off and then still research the planner. If they aren't financially well off there advice isn't worth a POS.

If you can comfortably afford to pay the increased mortgage based on your spend plus 2% as a buffer I would seriously consider it, though you have to consider if the bank will give you the coin or not.

What add on would actually add value to a house?

When I was valuing for the banks, I would always look at presentation. Paint is cheap and excellent if your selling. Landscaping looking nice. Affordable things that you can do over time such as updating your plumbing fittings and door handles and light fittings (use an electrician disclaimer) things like that can really improve your salability and don't have to cost alot.

I have just returfed and remulched my garden and planted a crapload of new plants, all up cost was about 4k and because I had a nice house but a sh!t yard I reckon I have added a fair load of value to it.

If there is a decent real estate agent around where you live ask them to come  out and give an appraisal, but more importantly ask them what they think buyers in your price bracket are looking for so that you can get a good idea of what you should do. Then ignore the follow up phone calls you get asking you to list the house for sale...or be nice and say you have decided to sit and wait for the market to improve.

Cheers Nomad.

[Mrs smith]

I don't agree with consolidating your personal debt into your house. All your are doing is taking a short term loan and turning it into a long term loan. So on the face of it the interest rate may be cheaper but you are paying it off over a much longer period of time.

Cheers Nomad.

IMO there's nothing wrong with consolidating if your serious about having a crack at pumping as much money into it as possible for a period of time, then refinancing. Often finding a better deal while also being easier with only the one debt. With our loan, I can refinance at any time without any fee's but we pay 1% more than the variable rate to be able do this. Handy for business. 
I think we agree it's best to reduce the debt as a whole (minimize, reduce), it's no good paying out 100s of thousands in interest on a house that's only gaining value slowly.
This is only MO, as Nomad has suggested you really need to sit down with a professional put your cards on the table and work out a plan. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a case of short term pain for long term gain. 

Good luck.

 

[BLKWDW]

Thanks for the replies. We have been approved and signed of for the increase of $11500.

We can afford the extra $20 a week repayments which is why we decided to go ahead with it. Where are more leaning towards spending most of the money on the house and maybe leave a bit left over to pay of a small one of our small high interest loans we have. Theres a few things we want done to the house now we just have to sort out what we are better or getting done now and what can wait still.