So far in our “new” house (built in 1990) here in Canada we have had to replace our dish washer, washing machine, dryer, and a few weeks ago our stove died. We have also needed to replace one window, and about a half dozen others have broken seals and should be replaced soon.

We had a home inspection done, but none of these things were picked up on. I was told that I needed to replace a strip of timber on one window, but in fact the entire window needed replacing because the wood rot in the frame was so bad. Other than the “small work” that they said needed doing on the window none of the other items were picked up on. We talked to our real estate agent and were told it was just “Murphy’s Law” and couldn’t follow up on anything with the inspector or with the previous owners, which sucked.

I’ve been watching Mike Holmes on HGTV since our first visit to Canada. Recently he’s started to look into shonky home inspections and even wrote a book about Home Inspections called “The Holmes Inspection”.

In The Holmes Inspection Mike Holmes looks at:

• What a home inspector can and can’t do
• The mechanicals of a house (plumbing, electrical, heating / cooling)
• The “envelope” (floors, walls, doors and windows)
• Location and sitting of the house
• Foundations
• How to see past the spit and polish people put on their houses prior to selling
• more …

I wish that I had purchased and read this book before getting this house. It certainly would have opened my eyes and helped me to see how much work was actually needed to get this house up to scratch.

After spending the last 5-years of our life in Australia renovating we were hoping to get here and take it easy for a while. No such luck so far …

Our house was relocated to the current site in about the 1930’s, probably from Charters Towers about 150km West of Townsville. Also the house that we owned and renovated before this one was sold as a removal home by the developer who purchased it from us. House removals has been a fascinating process for me, especially coming from Canada where it is definitely not as common as it is here.

I’ve been talking lately with a house removalist about some of the questions that people have had on the site about house removals. He’s been active on the site answering peoples questions in the comments, so I thought I would ask him if he would like to contribute a guest post to the site about the topic. Below is the article by Guy Drake. I hope that you find it illuminating, I know that I did … Continue Reading →

Since the shine came out of the housing market here in Australia it seems that it has also come out of the home improvement, DIY, renovation and Real Estate television shows.

Home Improvement television shows used to dominate prime time television here in Australia. I am watching a home improvement show right now, but it is a repeat, and right now it is 11.55 at night, not exactly prime time.

Lots of people are saying that with the current housing market there will be more people renovating, not less. People will want to look at improving where they live now, rather than upgrading to a new home. I guess that some of the glamour has come out of it however, since people will now most likely be making their renovation choices based on lifestyle, rather than ROI (return on investment).

The new "flavour" on television now in Australia seems to be cooking shows. What is it like in your part of the world? Are there fewer Home Improvement shows on television where you are? What has taken there place where you live? Let us know in the comments below …

Townsville is finally starting to be hit by a housing market slowdown in the last few months. There are fewer enquiries to purchase homes and what has been a sellers market is becoming a buyers market. Sellers are no longer able to set their price and not bother with negotiating, they now need to set a more realistic price for their home if they want it to sell.

With standard home loans around 9.4% here in Australia fewer people are wanting to make a move into the housing market. Also with house prices in Townsville still quite high housing affordability it at an all time low in Australia.

Townsville bucked the trend from the recent house price declines in many of the capital cities in Australia, so it was only a matter of time before this market correction came.

The question now is how far will the prices fall for houses in Townsville?

Source: ABC News – TSV Housing Market Struggles