It’s no secret that we tend to favour older homes. Not only do they bear many of the beautiful aesthetic features from the period in which they were built, but we believe they’re almost always a solid investment.
Period homes are often built to a higher calibre and boast a number of other features – more generous proportions, for example – that commonly make them far superior homes. They also tend to generate a deeper emotional connection among potential buyers, if and when it comes time for our clients to sell. In fact, being a period home that typifies its location is one of the main pillars of a Milk Chocolate property.
Applying the Milk Chocolate philosophy to renovations
To us, though, much of the magic of an older home lies in its renovation potential. A huge part of the investment strategies we put together for our clients involves optimising a property’s value through smart renovation. Naturally, older properties fit this scenario nicely, as often a home may not be at its best during the purchase stage, but can realise its full potential through cosmetic and/or structural works.
As well, many of the hallmarks that make older properties worth purchasing equally make them worth restoring and renovating. When assessing the renovation potential of an older property, we look for good bones – that is, a solid foundation and structure – plus decorative features or materials, such as timber, that we can reuse in the build.
A delicate balance of old and new
That last part is pretty crucial to us. Our ethos when we approach an older home focuses on maintaining or replicating many of its historic elements, while also making it appeal to today’s standards.
Overall, our designs honour the primary characteristics of an older home, such as the facade, ornamental features like cornices and fireplaces, and often materials and colour schemes. We sustain this focus right down to the finishes, as we did in a recent project in Ballarat where we included brass accessories as an homage to the home’s Edwardian heritage. (Brass was an incredibly popular material at the time.)
However, we also realise that there are different demands in the homes of today. So, we work extensively to improve each home’s liveability to meet contemporary expectations. This might mean renovating key rooms like the kitchen and bathroom, or even making massive structural adjustments – such as an extension or an alteration to the home’s floor plan to make it more comfortable.
There’s just so much you can do with an older home to truly bring it to life and into the modern age.
Preserving heritage and the environment
Another obvious benefit of working with older homes is that it allows us to preserve a crucial part of Australia’s architectural heritage.
We work with some of the most quintessential designs that have shaped the nation’s history and now typify many regions across the country. These include sandstone cottages around Adelaide, grand Victorian terraces in inner-city Sydney, federation dwellings in Melbourne, and Queenslanders across Brisbane. We’re pretty proud to be able to do our bit to keep these homes and their beautiful features very much alive.
An additional bonus? If we can avoid knocking these homes down, we’re steering tonnes of waste away from landfill. Instead, we’re maintaining and updating them, and enabling them to last another 100 years. Anything that’s a boon for the environment is a massive win in our books.
Projects that pay off
If we look at some of our renovation projects, it seems this approach has really paid off – not least in terms of financial outcomes. A project in Torrensville, Adelaide, is a fantastic example (you can read more about it here). The property is a stone-fronted villa built around 1915 that we bought for $682,750. While certainly impressive in its heritage and facade, the home needed relatively substantial work on the interiors.
To make it more liveable, we undertook a $387,000 renovation that included cosmetic updates and an extension to the floor space. At the end of the project, its value increased to $1.4 million, and its weekly rent increased from $425 pre-renovation to $650 post-renovation. This just goes to show how smart renovation can really optimise financial returns for our clients.
A worthy challenge
Despite being an obviously successful aspect of our business, all of this is not to say that older homes are without their challenges.
One of the most common issues we see among these properties is differing floor and ceiling heights throughout the home, a reflection of the fact that foundations have shifted over time. Dampness from poorly insulated subfloors and asbestos are other obvious hurdles. On the whole, working with an older home takes considerably more time, planning and labour than a newer one.
Regardless, we’ll still opt for older properties time and time again. They make for excellent challenges and produce even better outcomes, for the property, us, our clients and even Australia at large.
If you’re looking to purchase an investment property, expand your existing portfolio, find a family home, or undertake a renovation get in touch to see how the Milk Chocolate team can help.
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