Love It Or List It: Fixing a packed to the rafters home

Should the McEvoy’s renovate to create the space they desperately need or is it better to sell and buy a bigger house?

Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker hosts of Love It Or List It Australia, weigh up the options for this family and their overcrowded Californian bungalow.

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The median price for a three-bedroom home in Canterbury like the one the McEvoy’s own is $1.26 million and Winter says now is the time to sell.

“These are all the original traditional rooms which are lovely, for maybe a couple with one child,” says Winter.

“But with nine people in this house it needs more than an extension to make it work – it needs a magician,” says Winter.

But even if the McEvoy’s do sell, the couple want to stay in the inner west and their budget for a new home is $1.5-1.7 million.

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Glen and Leanne estimate that a renovation will cost around $280,000 which Whitaker says is workable.

“So for $280,000 I need to deliver five bedrooms or more, two bathrooms, some much-need additional living space and an outdoor area,” he says.

Whitaker says a renovation should add an eight-metre rear extension, but he can’t quite deliver on the couple’s wish list.

“You’re not going to get three extra bedrooms, you’re going to get two. That’s the compromise.  I can’t give you three extra bedrooms but I can give you a whole new house,” he says.

Watch Love It or List It Australia exclusively on Foxtel’s Lifestyle.