All Topics / Value Adding / First Renovation Project

Viewing 20 posts - 21 through 40 (of 47 total)
  • Profile photo of LeonieCLeonieC
    Member
    @leoniec
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 4

    Hi Jacqui,

    Laminated flooring is cheaper and very sturdy. It’s basically laminated wood on the top of chip board. I mop mine all the time and they are fine. Have had them in my flat for 7 years and they have lasted. However must say I’d only use them for rental properties and would always lay wood flooring for my own home.

    If your property is in an expensive area and you’re looking for the upper end of the market then go for quality wood flooring. If you’re at the other end, then go for laminate wood flooring.

    Having read your post though, I’d definitely be trying to get the original board resanded and polished. Nothing is more beautiful and lasting than original polished floor boards.

    Hope this helps.

    Leonie

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
    Participant
    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142

    Hi Leonie,

    Thanks for your reply. I spoke with the floor sanding guy again today and it may still be possible to get them done we will just have to scrape some of the glue off prior so it doesnt make a huge mess of the sander. Shouldnt be as bad as first thought and price is half the cost of vinyl tiles/planks or ceramic tiles.

    Are polished floor boards easy for tenants to destroy?

    I'm sorry for all the questions, just trying to learn as I go. I didnt realise all the different floor options available!

    Profile photo of FrankeyFrankey
    Member
    @frankey
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 7

    I can help answer your question!  I think the timber has a lot to do with it. I've been a tenant in two properties with floorboards in recent years.

    1. Spent 3.5 years in a house with pine floorboards that were discovered in a reno prior us moving in.  The biggest danger to floorboards is moving furniture (in, out, while washing floors etc) and these did not seem to have enough lacquer on them, perhaps just one coat, and developed scratches easily (especially if your removalists just shove stuff off the sacktruck, and when moving in or bringing in new furniture, nothing has a felt protector on the bottom).  Also fatal to pine floorboards is wheeled computer chairs (need a mat or they roll tracks into the soft pine, and pick up dirt that rolls the sheen out of the lacquer). So after 3 years despite our best efforts as good tenants who put stick-on felt protectors on the bottom of every piece of furniture, I'd say the floors needed to be – and were – redone after we left.

    2. Spent 2 years in a house with some jarrah, some pine, also discovered and polished back in a reno prior us moving in. After 2 years the jarrah looked like the day we moved in, although we were careful to use a carpet square under the computer chairs.  The pine, again despite best efforts with felt protectors, was showing marks. Particularly it bore the imprint of heavier furniture eg dents from the legs of the TV unit with a very heavy plasma on it, and the rollers from the bed ensemble, despite being in those little metal protectors with felt bases, had rolled little crater dents into the floor under each roller over time.  The worst of these had started to splinter the surface lacquer. Also had some very hot summers and cold winters and the pine started to curve up on the long sides of the planks and splinter, drawing blood from bare feet from time to time.

    I'd suggest a lot of tenants may not be as diligent about the felt protectors on the bases of furniture. (Quite a time consuming job to stick on every leg on a dining setting!) so depending on the timber in it, maybe be prepared to redo the floor every few years as needed!

    Profile photo of Daniel CameronDaniel Cameron
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    @daniel-cameron
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 46
    jacqui_03 wrote:
    Are polished floor boards easy for tenants to destroy?

    No, there the most hardy of them all and for that reason and there cost effectiveness many investors choose it! It can be stained in many different colors. There can be floor mats or a variety of rubber floor lay mats that can be put down on high traffic areas if wanted.

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
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    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142

    Hi Frankey,

    Thanks for giving me a Tenants perspective. I will be a Tenant myself for the first time in a couple of weeks so it will hopefully give me another view on things. You sound like a very good tenant putting on felt protectors on everything, your welcome to stay at my new place! haha

    Daniel,

    Thanks again for your helpful advice. Its all very confusing for me having never renovated before and being told different things but I think I will likely give the polished floorboards a go & stick with carpet in the 3 bedrooms. I will be getting 3 coats of polish so hopefully doesnt wear down too fast!

    Also appreciate the blinds website you gave me, I will get the measurements hopefully today and see how they compare. How long did you have to give for shipping? I live in regional NSW?

    I forgot to mention earlier – The details of the contract have changed again, now $200k with 28 days and we will no longer be doing early access and tenant will pay his legals as normal. Previously I was going to pay his if we had early access. It was starting to become too risky as one of his friends/or family members was in his ear telling him not to let us touch it until after settlement and I did not want to put my money into renovating the property if it fell through or a caveat was put on the property .

    I have taken Catalyst's advice and just started planning everything first and will then get in there straight after settlement.

    Once again thanks to all people that offer there advice, I really appreciate it.

    Jac

    Profile photo of Daniel CameronDaniel Cameron
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    @daniel-cameron
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 46

    That's alright Jac. Blinds, said allow three weeks but they we're pretty quick… one half weeks.

    Typical of people to be fearful of early access.

    Profile photo of lormorganlormorgan
    Member
    @lormorgan
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 6

    Hi Jacqui,

    I agree with Frankey's comments – I have rented a property with polished floors and had to put carpet or felt under my dining table and chairs as they were scratching the varnish. On the other hand, the floor had not recently been varnished and I believe this was redone after we left.

    One of my sons is a floor coverer who lays a lot of vinyl and clip-in wood flooring. He has advised me to avoid the cheaper wood flooring as it chips too easily. Apparently the thicker the boards, the better. However nothing really beats actual wood floorboards for durability.

    My son has vinyl flooring in the bathroom (looks like wood) and paid for a floor sander to some in and do his hallway & kitchen. It looks great – older houses in Tassie tend to have oak floorboards which are beautiful sanded and very hard wearing. The trick is, as others have said, to put enough varnish on the top. It can be a pain to do extra coats of varnish as you have to coat the floor, usuaslly leave it for at least 24 hours and resand between coats, but it is well worth the wait if you look at durability.

    I have often had to remove glue from floorboards – it is a terrible job and we usually use the sharp end of a spade to scrape the glue off. Not sure I would use kero due to the flamability factor. My daughter has someone who sands the floors of her rental properties and he just sands over the glue. Having said that, there was so much glue on the kitchen floor in the second last house that I renovated that we ended up covering the whole floor up with vinyl tiles – it looked great.

    There are always options – and you can get a lot of alternate looks from silimar priced yet different products.

    Have fun – sounds like you have bought a bargain!

    Lorraine

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
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    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142

    Hi Lorraine,

    Thanks for your post. I think we will be able to get away with just scraping it off as it is only in a few patches. I found out contracts have exchanged today so settlement will be on 19th November. Very excited, now I can book tradies in with exact dates.

    What should the order be? I got told painting & floors last?

    Profile photo of lormorganlormorgan
    Member
    @lormorgan
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 6

    I always paint first and do floors last – reason being that any paint spills down… and on to your beautiful new floor
    Leaving the old floor covering there while painting (especially ceilings) makes an excellent drop sheet – you will have to lift up floor coverings around the edges of your skirting boards though before painting them, as your new floor covering will often be a different height/depth to the existing one, and there is often a paint line or ridge on the boards from the previous carpet/vinyl/tiles that you will want to sand off prior to painting.

    All the best – it's a lot of hard work but the rewards are worth it!

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
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    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142

    Hello everyone,

    Just reporting reno has been completed last week and property has now been listed online.

    Can someone tell me how I can add the link from Domain etc on here and also add the before/after photos?

    Profile photo of CatalystCatalyst
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    @catalyst
    Join Date: 2008
    Post Count: 1,404

    Just copy and past the page from Domain.

    I haven't posted photos on here so can't help there. Sorry.

    Keen to look at it. Any hiccups? 
    Did you take the wall out?

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
    Participant
    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142

    http://www.domain.com.au/Property/For-Rent/House/NSW/Lake-Albert/?adid=6839698

    This is the link – hope it works..

    Now I just need to put the before photos on

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
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    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142
    Profile photo of CatalystCatalyst
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    @catalyst
    Join Date: 2008
    Post Count: 1,404

    Well done!!!    It's a great feeling of accomplishment isn't it.

    Love the kitchen. Isn't it amazing what a new kitchen and bathroom can do.

    So are you over it or keen to go again?

    Care to share some figures?

    Profile photo of lbluedentolbluedento
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    @lbluedento
    Join Date: 2009
    Post Count: 98

    You’ve done a great job, a bit of inspiration for us all. The before and after photos of the kitchen blew me away, I scrolled through them a few times.

    Would be really interested in seeing the figures if you are willing to share.

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
    Participant
    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142

    Thanks for your feedback guys.

    Catalyst – In relation to your question about if I would do it again – YES DEFINATELY, I loved the experience and it has really encouraged me to go out and do it again.

    In relation to any ‘hiccups’ along the way, I won’t go into too much detail now but Our Sander pulled out last minute and we were unable to get any professionals to do it so close to Christmas. The reason he pulled out was due to some glue being on the boards in the kitchen. I told other Sanders that I called and they just laughed and said he must think his Sander is too precious to do it. Anyway…We were lucky to get my partners Dad to do it for us. He went to Bunnings and hired a Sander and the appropriate materials and we got the job done in 3 days (1 day sanding, 2 days polishing). The original sander quoted us $1200, we did the job for approx $400.

    My 2nd mistake was having too much trust in friends that are tradesmen and taking their word when recommending other friends for work. My biggest lesson learnt was ALWAYS GET EVERY QUOTE IN WRITING, AND GET AT LEAST 2 QUOTES. Our painter did a good job, don’t get me wrong however when it came time for us to pay the bill went from $5000 to $6500. He claimed that when he quoted me $5000 it was only for the ‘internal’ and we owed him $1500 for the ‘external’. There were a few issues that really annoyed me about it. First I really nagged him for a paper quote and he would always come up with an excuse, ‘Aw my Mrs is away and does all the books etc’. Then he started painting the house PRIOR to settlement which we did not have early access which caused a problem with the solicitors but I did not ask him to go, he just went ‘presuming’ we had settled. Meanwhile we are in Sydney not realising any tradesman were there as he did not phone us first. The painters was lazy and didn’t put drop sheets in some areas so paint ending up on the edges of the floor boards which created more work for us. He claimed he thought a professional was doing it even though I rang him to say the Sander had pulled out and that we were now doing it. Anyway, the issues just go on and go – however he knows we are not impressed as I have stopped dealing with him and left it up to my partner to pay him.  I dare say there have been many other people who have got burnt as well.

    I have not had time to sit down and go through all the receipts to crunch the numbers however doing rough calculations we are under our budget which was $20k. Time of renovation 3.5 weeks.

    Purchase Price – $200k

    Val at Purchase – $215k

    Renovation – $20k

    Rent – $340 p/w (Currently on the market)

    I will be getting a real estate agent to do a market appraisal prior to getting the property re valued so I have a realistic estimate prior to dealing with the Bank.  I will keep you guys posted. on how I go.. I am sure the valuer’s will be conservative so I am not getting my hopes up. Market is a little flat at the moment too. I am going to wait until front lawns have grown back (We reseeded them due to it being ALL weeds in the front yard) and when we have a lease secured.

    I wish I got more photos of the backyard – It was like a forest out there – Back corner was out of control, the weeds were taller than me, we even found an old fridge and bath out there. Getting the yards in order was a big job – lots of labour and trips to the tip! Lucky we have family and friends who were happy to lend a hand

    Profile photo of yoyo galaxyyoyo galaxy
    Member
    @yoyo-galaxy
    Join Date: 2009
    Post Count: 79

    Hi Jacqui,

    Well done! numbers and the reno result both look very impressive!
    Where did you find this house? from domain or realestate.com.au? and would it be possible to have a complete list of the jobs that you did and their cost? I am trying to work out budget for my first reno and think a list of your cost would be a good reference guide for me.

    Thanks! and congratulations again!

    viv

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
    Participant
    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142

    Hi viv

    I bought the property privately off a guy I met so it wasn’t ever advertised.

    The suburb is lake albert which is in Wagga Wagga NSW.

    I don’t have exact figures yet but when I get time I can post them up or email them to you.

    Jacqui

    Profile photo of House CallHouse Call
    Member
    @house-call
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 165
    jacqui_03 wrote:

    Market prices in the area for a 3 bedroom place is around $265k-$275k. Residex estimates it to be valued at $280k. Offer has been accepted at $210k however it needs a new kitchen, carpet, paint, new doors, finish tiling in laundry/kitchen. Bathroom & toilet have already been done renovated. I have negotiated a a 52 day settlement with early access so I can start reno's and give enough time to get a tenant in place. He has also thrown in tiles which had previously purchased but couldnt afford a tiler to complete. I am budgeting $20k- $25k max as this is my first renovation so I am trying to get extra conservative.

    Going back to the original post, are these good numbers, anyone?  Correct my numbers, but there does not seem to be much profit margin:
    purchase $210k
    puchase costs (approx 5%)= $10.5k
    renovations $25k
    estimated sale price=$270k
    sale costs (approx 5%)=$13.5k

    net profit=$11k.
    you then get slugged for CGT on $270-($210+$25)= $35k capital gains, so whatever CGT applies to that.

    To me there is almost no margin, so why do it? 

    (PS This is not a comment on what Jacqui is doing, more a question on how people calculate the numbers, as I have very similar numbers on a place I want to get and renovate and the above calculations stump me because there seems to be almost no fruit for your labour, as it were, unless you renovate and hold, which would mean no sale costs and no CGT.)

    Profile photo of jacqui_03jacqui_03
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    @jacqui_03
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 142

    House Call,

    Just to confirm,

    I am not selling – It was a Buy, Renovate, Hold project. I plan to hold the property for the long term.

    And the figures you have calculated are not accurate. If you read further down the post you would see a change in figures.

    Purchase Price was $200k – The valuation at Purchase was $215k – So I bought it for $15k under market value prior to renovating.

    Purchase costs were – $5600 for stamp duty, $1000 legals, $600 buildling/landlord insurance.

    Renovation was $20k – Not $25k. $25k was the very maximum if something went wrong.

    I have not got a valuation yet after the renovation as we have just completed.

    We do not have any sale costs either as we are leasing the property.

    The property was purchased due to being Under Market Value, Opportunity to Add more Value and decent rental yield.

Viewing 20 posts - 21 through 40 (of 47 total)

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