With less than three months to finish the enormous endeavor, a handyman has taken on the ultimate remodeling project to transform an abandoned “crack cave” into a white picket fence family home.
Two hours south of Townsville in the Queensland town of Charters Towers, Nat Redgrave recently purchased a house, and on Monday he posted a video of the dingy interior.
He asked a question about nearby investment properties on Facebook and got a response from the previous owner of the house.
He said to Daily Mail Australia, “I hadn’t seen it, I was just going from a handful of images.”
When I sat down with a carpenter after we had purchased it, his first response was, “No way, man, you’ve got to cancel this contract.”
It’s a restoration that is doable, but it will take a lot of labor.
The home’s overgrown front yard, burnt-out power box, dirty interior still filled with the former owner’s belongings, and drab kitchen and bathroom were all seen in a video taken on Monday.
Mr. Redgrave stated that he paid just under $60,000 for the three-bedroom house and intends to keep renovation costs to a maximum of $70,000.
He claimed that although he initially jokingly referred to the house as a “crack den,” he has since discovered a few artifacts that indicate drug use took place there.
Judging from the outside of the house, “I expected to find a lot,” he remarked.
I only discovered a box of syringes and a spoon with a bent handle and a charred bottom.
He said that the neighborhood’s residents were eager to see the eyesore removed soon, calling the house a “cat among the pigeons” in an otherwise lovely neighborhood.
In around two months, he aims to get the house “safe, nice, and cute” so that it may be listed for about $220,000.
Although the house appears strange, Mr. Redgrave noted that it has good floors and a roof.
The kitchen and bathroom are both adequate; all that is required is a thorough cleaning.
“We’ll make it a little cuter, install a picket fence out front, and it’ll be ready to sell,” was the statement.
Having already removed the old carpets from the house and removed a substantial amount of trash, he stated that he intended to share more of the renovation process.
With a population of 11,600, Charters Towers is a tiny community 137 kilometers (km) southwest of Townsville.
According to realestate.com.au, the average cost of a three-bedroom house in the area is $207,500, up 8.4% from the previous year.