Hey Glenn,
I subscribe to Australian Property Investor and it’s fantastic, also, as well as Steve’s course, I have done Peter Spann’s course (good course) and he did a large chunk on renos; and Stuart O’Neil from Guerrilla Real Estate has a renovation kit.
Make sure you get a building and pest inspection -these guys are good for contacts for tradesmen.
Good luck
CookieGlenn: I’ll probably get shouted down for this, but i wouldn’t rely on anyone elses opinions when renovating – to me it’s up to YOU to judge what you need to do and what to spend…
Having said that there are plenty of good tips that you can take on board…
Shop around and look for things like kitchen auctions, ex demo carpet, tiles that look great but aren’t made anymore (make sure there is enough for your job though !!), there are all sorts of savings to be had…I was recently quoted $16k for one bathroom, (i was curious what the pros charge [
] ) and decided to rip into it myself… I ended up spending 23k but i did the following:
* Two complete new bathrooms (yes, 2 !!)
* Brand new kitchen
* New carpet
* New colourbond fences
* Double carport
* Replaced/modified three internal walls
* Painted internally and externally
* Replaced pool filter and pumpThe value of the house shot up 100k over the three months i worked on it…
Just remember that if you are only interested in capital gain try to look after your budget.
If i was rebuilding the house for myself to live in i’d have put a spa in the main bathroom and also gone for a timber and granite kitchen – which would have meant another 10k… 10k that didn’t “need” to be spent… []Cheers,
Paul…“The only thing you get from looking backwards is a sore neck…”
Hey Guys!
Thanks for the replies. I’ll get my hands on the AIP magazine, and other courses that was mentioned. [
]Melbear- I’ll grab myself a copy of one of their books.(Reno kings) They sound really professional so ill see what they have to offer. Thanks! [^]
Cookie – Yes Ive read Peter SPanns book. In one of the chapter, He acutally did reno and sell for 3 years. he mentioned he only earned 300k in 3 years. SO to him, it was nothing…He wanted to be a millionaire straight away. (But for me, it will be a good start to earn that much in a young age! hehehe)[
] I’ll also have a look at Stuart O’neil. Thanks for the tip! I really appreciate it. []Fatboy- Great example Fatboy [
], just wondering, did you sell the property after renovating it? If you did, what taxes were taken off? what kind of a house is it? (3bed 2 bathroom?) How much did it cost you all in all? You can email me the answer if you do not wish to show everyone the results. [email protected] Many thanks Fatboy []Thanks everyone and let the replies keep on coming! [
][][8D][][^][][]Just a quick question guys, as soon as i renovate a house and decide to sell it, which method would you prefer, auction or via a realestate agent? Pros and Cons pls!!
Gee
i thought that renovation for capital gain of more than what you spent on it and flicking it as soon as it’s done pretty much relies on you being in a rising market. if the market is heading south or flattening out you might not make what you spent on the property let alone what you hoped to make for your time.
one of the pieces of advice people give you when renovating is ‘have a budget and stick to it’. however there are always things that happen or that you discover along the way that you have to deal with, that you didn’t predict, even if you are experienced and had a builder’s report. even if you did stick to budget you might find you went over with time, which in my book equates to going over budget too.
i’m a great believer in polishing the floorboards as the cheapest most beautiful and hard-wearing flooring, if you have boards underneath. it quoted cheaper than the nastiest vinyl or carpet – and so i had it done right through the house,
(2 houses actually) – even into the kitchen and bathroom. i’m not saying it’s the best option for wear and looks, just that i think it’s the best option for wear and looks for the price.i think the best thing you can do to a property for less than a grand is to paint it. the more prep you do the better the job.
we’ve learned a lot about painting after doing two, and we’re in the future going to stay away from low-sheen like you’d typically use on walls and ceilings, and gloss enamel like we used to do cupboards, bathrooms and doors and window frames in. the gloss is a nightmare because you have to let it dry for so long and then sand between coats, and although it gives a great finish and you’d use it in your own home, i’d advise forget it for a rental property.
ditto low sheen. although it looks great it marks too easily. use it in your own home, yeah fine, but in a rental property use an acrylic wipeable paint, which cleans up with water. we used a semi gloss now for all the doors, window frames, and even the ceiling. we did use low sheen last time on the ceiling but we’re not going to next time….oh my BF is yelling over my shoulder ‘you wanna use wipeable paint!’ as i’m writing this….
another thing we learned was to take all the clips, door handles, catches off , unscrew powerpoints etc with a power-tool before painting. saves so much time rather than cutting in or masking.
‘use a small roller for the window frames rather than a paintbrush’, my BF is interjecting ‘i’d highly recommend using the same colour on the walls and the ceiling, say an off white, and then do a feature wall to make the place a bit more alive. it’s another thing that saves time. then all you have to cut in is the feature wall.’i also think stay away from ‘grey’ paint, it looks totally horrible
and gives a bad vibe.here he comes again…ok my BF is now saying ‘ you also need to put an undercoat sealer on before you paint, especially if you bogged and sanded. otherwise the bog will shine through,’
……’ tint the undercoat in the colour your top coat is going to be and then you have to do less coats. you can generally say that you need one undercoat and two coats on top. that’s barely enough but you might get away with it. doors and archetraving need three coats especially if you use the roller.’
oh he’s on a roll….
‘you have to clean all the grease off the wall and the ceilings and use light sandpaper to go over everything before you start. this has to be done more properly if painting over gloss, otherwise the paint will just fall off. waterbased paints dry quicker, aren’t as durable though, but far less grief if you spill it – it’s worth it.’
he also says you should paint from top to bottom.
one more thing is that we’ve painted over wallpaper. technically it’s a nono and some would say super-dodgy, but we made it work. it depends on the standard of your future renting clientele but if it’s ripped off in places you just bog over it and sand back, you hardly notice when it’s painted. if you have bubbling wallpaper just make a cut with a stanley knife and squeeze some glue in and paste it down.
really you have to do a time/money study and figure out if it’s worth it to do the alternative which is to steam off the wallpaper and re-paper, or re-plaster. if it will make any financial difference to your tenant. if it’s supposed to be an immaculate job for future capital gain of just to tidy the place up and make it look clean and bright. we did the latter because we weren’t doing renovations in a capital gain place and it was an old house. really the houses we were renovating weren’t worth putting in a brand new kitchen (for example) or steaming wallpaper off and replastering (for example) but (for example) it was worth replacing just the kitchen bench and taps and painting the cupboards.
blah blah blah
i love itmy BF is saying ‘don’t tell them about painting over the wallpaper baby’ and of course you wouldn’t do it in most houses, but my disclaimer is that these were 16K and 19k houses and they were at what i call the ‘bottom of the bottom of the market’ and as such i think it was fine to do that.
cheers-
miniGreat tips Mimi. Thanks.
My hat off to Paul. How could you do that massive renovation with only $23K? How many days (ave. 8 hr/day) did it take you to complete it? Did you use any trademan at all? If I have to do the same it would cost me close to $100K. [
]Glenn, be careful, especially you use your parent’s equity to invest. You have to sell more than buying cost (the purchase price + Stamp duties + Bank/Solicitor fees) + renovation costs + selling cost(agent fees + Bank/Solicitor fees). Tt’s not as easy now to make money in doing this as 1, 2 year ago. There are also many pitfalls as well.
Something good for you to read :
http://www.domain.com.au/Editorial/Article.aspx?a=articles/2003/11/04/1067708175862.html
Regards
Huey
Hi Guys
For you reno wannabes there might be some interesting info on this site.http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au
Regards
Thanks for all the replies.[
]Im printing all your examples for future references. I guess i can sell the property after one year, that way, i dont get taxed a lot. But the real question is, when do you know when your really ready? [?]
Cheers!
Glenn[^][
][][8D][][][^][?][?]
Ok guys, im gonna need everyones opinion here..And i mean everyone who reads this post. Lets vote if we have too!Okay, after reading a fair few books on RE and renos (12 to be exact) I AGAIN got into a dilemma! (Something i seem to alwayws stumble on)
Last week, i got a permanent job. This should help me borrow some funds for my first investment. Iam now faced with 2 options. With the money i saved, what am i to do?
Lets view them[|)]Option 1 – I save 8k-10k + use my parents house’ equity to borrow funds for my reno and sell/hold.
Risk is high due to the fact that I have never done this before. (I could also lose all my savings and in return, i many not get cash… but i gain experience)[|)]Option 2 – I can save $6k for The Reno kings/ Peter Spann seminar- I’ll bring my dad so he can help me get started. It may be expensive, but this will give me step by step on what to do and reduce the risk of making major screw ups. The only down side is, i may have to save up again and it may also take time, which in turn can lose the momentum and basically possibly lose my $5k from the seminar. (I dont want to end up like a seminar junkie. )
Let the voting start guys. I’ll tally up the scores in 7 days. With your vote, pls also explain why i should choose that option. From what i found out, most of the rich guys (Robert Kiyosaki, John Burley, S.Mcknight, etc) went to expensive seminars to start off there ventures.
Should I do what they did???
you really opened my eyes on this one. Many thanks guys, and power to everyone who believes!Glenn [8D]
My hat off to Paul. How could you do that massive renovation with only $23K? How many days (ave. 8 hr/day) did it take you to complete it? Did you use any trademan at all? If I have to do the same it would cost me close to $100K.Believe it or not Huey i think i “wasted” about 2k during that renovation – just buying stuff that was expensive because i was too lazy to drive an hour to another suburb to get cheaper materials etc…
Time wise i did it after work and sometimes before. Saturdays i spent working 12 to 14 hrs on it and Sunday was “sit on my bum and do nothing day”. It took about 3 months in total… [
]The only tradesman i called in were an electrician and a plumber. Both i got at “mates rates” because i did half the stuff myself anyway – the electrician wanted $30 each to install 24 lights throughout the place so i did it and some minor rewiring myself saving over $700 there alone… (I even replaced all the lightswitches and powerpoints throughout the whole house, you’d be suprised how much more “modern” they make the place look.)
The tiles for the bathrooms i got at very cheap prices because they have stopped making that design now – there was more than enough to do the job and i still have plenty of spares so thats a win/win – they were less than half the price of other design tiles…
Just shopping around etc can really save big dollars. Another example is the kitchen – it should have cost in excess of 10k but i found a retired guy who builds them in his shed for a little extra income – for $2800 i got an absolutely beautiful kitchen, people don’t believe me when i tell them how much i paid for it… []Glenn: Sorry i didn’t reply earlier, i missed your questions… [
]
I still have the place, it’s now tenanted for a very nice return and more than paying itself off. It’s 5 bedrooms/2 bathrooms with a i/g pool etc. I don’t think i’ll ever sell, my strategy is to buy and hold. After all, i can easily tap into the equity in it to buy more properties – i just don’t think the time is right at the moment…I don’t want to spoil your party, but be very careful looking for property with the idea of making a quick dollar at the moment. Renovations can cost more than you think so be wary of overspending. Just remember with Sydney prices being crazy at the moment you will pay big dollars in stamp duty when you buy. Add agents fees and CGT to your costs/profits when selling and you would have to make a huge capital gain to make it worthwhile…
Cheers, (and Good Luck !!)
Paul… []“The only thing you get from looking backwards is a sore neck…”
good stuff fatboy!!!
yeh – i vote for the seminar. Go the reno kings. i’m thinking of going to it myself.
Hi Glenn
Option 1: Too risky & possibly not enough money/equity to buy a place in Sydney. You are about to start a permanent job (congratulations) & I assume you will work fulltime. If you buy a country property far away from home you won’t have time to renovate.
Option 2 : It’s OK. You can have a go at renovating your parents’ house. It will increase the value of the house & makes them very happy.
I go for Option 2 but still prefer to see you to wait & save more before doing anything.
Cheers
Huey
Glenn
I say go for the seminar. You never know what you might learn in regards to securing that first property as well as how to do all the renos! Learn from the experts – they’ve already made a lot of mistakes, and it will save you a lot of time and money to take theirs onboard.
Cheers
Melsorry gfunk188 i say $6k is too much to spend on the seminar…
you could study at tafe or the like for less money and become nearly qualified for that amount!!
I don’t know much about the reno kings but having a go at it yourself on your parents place seems like a good start, some people just aren’t cut out for renovating no matter what they learn at a seminar (steve says he isn’t cut out for it in his book). See how you feel getting you hands dirty first before you spend sooooo much money.
Sorry again, vote for neither!![^]
scampushOption 2. Knowledge is everything. If the seminars save you their price then its already break even.
Learning from others mistakes is much cheaper.
Although I do agree with scamp, 6k is a bit much.
Josh
Ok guys, so far, the tally goes like this.
option 1 = (Get started now!) 0 [
]option 2 = (Learn from seminar b4 starting) 4 [
]So far so good. im thinking of going there too. I think 6k is abit of an exageration. Im only planing to bring my dad along so thats twice the cost plus airfare and accomodation. roughly 5-6k.
Keep the votes going guys.[
] Were doing great. Remember, dont hesitate to give your opinions!Annaw2, u still there? can u tell me which post you posted your success story?
Thanks for the story Fatboy, ill print this one for my folder!
THANKS A LOT!
Glenn []
Thanks for the story Fatboy, ill print this one for my folder!No worries Glenn – when you get that elusive first reno let me know and i’ll let you know who my kitchen guy is – he’s a legend !! [
]Cheers,
Paul…“The only thing you get from looking backwards is a sore neck…”
By the way Fatboy (Paul)
DId u go to any reno seminars? DO you do most of the handy work yourself?Glenn[8D]
Hi Glen,
Be careful and make sure you do the maths before buying and renovating. I have had friends loos big time by forgeting % costs while vacant. Alwats have plenty in reserve (cash)
If you are buying to flip, add all costs ie. int charges (holding costs), your time, advert, sales comm’s, delays in the time for council approval etc.
Good luck and stay focused.[]
Don’t listen to all the people who have never done it, talk to people that have… and won!
Cheers
Property[8][8][8]Hey Guys!
Has anyone read the book “Buy, Fix it, Sell it” ?
Its by Kevin C. Myers.
This book is fantastic! THe only problem is, its based in the US.[]..what do you guys think?GLenn [8D]
] ) and decided to rip into it myself… I ended up spending 23k but i did the following:
]
] I’ll also have a look at Stuart O’neil. Thanks for the tip! I really appreciate it. [
]
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