Another To reno or not to Reno + advice required

Hi all,

First of all I am new to this forum and I have a lot of catching up/learning to do,

The Specifics of which are as follows;

Location: Hermit Park (above Flood Plains)

2 x bedroom (master bedroom built in cupboards and air conditioned)
1 x Bathroom (toilet separate)
1 x Large garage not use-able for cars due to new units built
1 x laundry
1 x courtyard
room for 2 parking spaces outside unit

My situation is as follows, I am currently on a 3 year fixed loan (30 year total) and can sell on the 02/01/11 without incurring any early BOC fees (total of $7000 as of this week if broken) And I am paying over $20 000 a year in repayments and rates/body corporate fees.

As such I am in a position where I am starting to fall behind and struggling to stay afloat so iI plan on selling my unit early and incurring the $7000 BOC fee which I believe will be offset by the not needing to pay another year of $20 000 worth of repayments.

The Unit is located in Townsville NQ and I am not sure of how much it has increased over the past 2 years of owning it with no renovations currently completed. I am looking to sell within the next 6 months which will decrease the BOC fee and give me time to renovate if required.

I will need to get a Loan in order to do renovations on the property and some major work that will need to be done is;

• Carpeting through the unit needs to be replaced
• Kitchen benches need to be re-lined
• New stove
• New main Split system as condenser is broken (ahh the heat burns in summer up here without aircon)
• bathroom Re-tiled/new vanity installed
• New Paint job throughout to modernise including cheap doors
• Tile toilet floor

Should I talk to a real estate agent and get them to look through the place prior to doing any renovations to give me advice on what I should or Shouldn't waste my time with to increase the value additionally I have the option of building a 3rd room onto the unit in the existing carport (concrete and part of the unit) if I was to do this, would it significantly increase the selling value by having a 3 bedroom unit?

If anyone is currently in Townsville in the residential market have the price of units gone up over the past 2 years ? if so by what ~ amount?

I appreciate any advise as to whats a cheap but effective way of increasing value before selling.

Regards,
Dan