House Rules: Would you buy a home off Gumtree without a building inspection report?

Western Australian couple Russell and Carole - contestants on House Rules 2014 - purchased their home off Gumtree.

It was advertised under the heading "renovate or detonate".

"Russell was being ridiculous looking at places that were too expensive so I plugged into Gumtree, ‘Houses for Sale’ and put in an amount that we could afford," said Carole.

Despite the extensive work needed, Carole could see potential, falling in love with the valley views, then buying without any building inspection report. 

They now have a $290,000 mortgage, with the renovation by rival contestants airing this week on Channel 7.

Their home on stilts was sitting unstable on an overgrown block in the Perth Hills.

"I wasn’t happy because there was so much work to do," the administration manager, Russell recollects.

After he met Carole, who works for the local council, at a party in 2001, they renovated and sold their first Perth house at a profit.

But the pair lost money when prices dropped after the global financial crisis in 2008.

Reminscent of the 2013 couple Steve and Michelle at Collaroy Plateau in some ways as the Sydney couple had previously hit tough times too after putting money into a property development venture that went bankrupt. Even after Steve and Michelle sold their prior house they still had debt to pay off.

There are currently anywhere between 2,000 and 4000 properties for sale on Gumtree from over $1 million to desired swap arrangements.

Many of them are offering the house for relocation with the land being kept by the owner.

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