I was lying in bed this morning thinking about all the work I had been doing on my rental houses and granny flat lately. I’ve been adding fly screens and security; making curtains, changing locks, painting and doing all those little things to make my properties perfect for my tennants.ANd I feel a great satisfaction over this.
However, I look about at my PPOR… my beautiful old queenslander that is draughty as all hell. A window(frame and all) fell out last week. I hadnt noticed how the wood had rotted. The bathroom leaks. Taps leak. the vinyl flooring in the kitchen badly needs replacing. The house needs painting, windows need putty replacing. The list is endless!
I wonder how many other renovators find themselves in the same situation. We find we can put up with our own homes being nectlected while we keep our IPs well maintained.
I guess I’m lucky I dont have a whinging husband complaining that I havent changed the blown lightbulb in his office.[ohno2] [tongue]
Milly
Sounds a bit like the ol’ mechanics car syndrome.
I find it’s the “hidden” price you eventually pay…not necessarily dollars…when you purchase less than immaculate properties for less than top dollar initially.
The options are pretty limited, either pay top $ upfront and avoid it, or pay it later over the course of ownership via lower yields, more maintenance issues and more stress and time. I am like you and choose the later option, usually to receive a larger land content for the same purchase price initially. However, I know for example most of TIC members prefer the first option.
Each to his or her own.
Hehe, first of all, I like the topic title, Milly,
“My Poor Neglected Home” Sounds like a good title for a country song. [guitar]It is very true for us, too. There are several (maintenance) jobs to be done at our PPoR, but if anything at all needs to be done to our IP, it is always attended to immediately!
In some countries, the maintanance, improvements and renovations of your own home are tax-deductible when you set up a LOC and pay the renovations etc from that. Sounds like heaven to me. [thumbsup]
Celivia
Originally posted by Dazzling:…most of TIC members prefer the first option.
I don’t think they “prefer” the first option. I just think they pay the first option not knowing there is a second option or thinking they are getting the second option ‘price’.
TMA
http://www.email4money.info
Investor Links
First Home Buyer WebsiteHi Milly,
I have the solution to your PPOR renovation/ maintenance needs.
Put it on the market! (just joking)It’s amazing how things seem to get done when you have the pressure of getting it ready for sale.
This has happenned with my last 2 PPOR’s. Neither of them were completely finished until we were selling them.
Regards,
PeteMove over Milly,this is my territory.Here’s an example.I am a trade qualified carpenter,commercial construction site foreman,and have no trouble completing othe rpeople’s projects valued at millions of dollars on time and budget.But at home it is a different story.Decide to replace my front fence in 1989,so did the posts and rails.Pickets went on in 2002,aftyer having to replace one of the posts.Still no gates though.I have them,but haven’t got aroung to hanging them.Can anyone beat that??
Tools
Ha ha. Youre a disgrace Tools! [stun][upsidedown]
Im sure there are times when most of us wish we could just pick up the phone and call the landlord/property manager when a tap is dripping.
Pete and jacky, You’re absolutely spot on! If i was to put the house on the market I would definetly bring it up to scratch. Amazing what we can learn to live with.
milly
Hi Milly,
I agree with you and Dazzling about the mechanics car thing.
I grew up in a builders home (builders son). The old man specialised in rehabs and cottage work after doing 20 years in “town building”in mining communities. So when they settled down the home was a constant work in progress.
Not so much that there were alot of unfinished jobs just always a new job being started or a new plan drawn and submitted to council.
All these jobs were done when we were tired (yes I was made to help) and had gotten home from doing all our best work at other peoples homes. The other thing is that because you have the knowledge there is no excuse when the spouse wants an new “thingimebob” built somewhere.
I think like many families we spent most of our quality time at work. ie renovating and investing (when the family started buying their own homes to fix) became a team/family sport. Holidays and weekends were spent on site with teams of builders and plumbers and mates who professed to have a skill in some particular area. If we were not doing that we would travel around to open homes trying to find the next project and talk with agents etc.
So Milly you are right. Many of us probably live in homes that need a little more tlc. Makes it all the harder when tenants make their little noises and the home they live in probably has a better paint job/bathroom/kitchen then yours.
The good thing is that we love it so it hardly seems like work. In that way we are lucky!
Cheers
Don Nicolussi | Mortgage Broker - Home Loan Warehouse
http://homeloanwarehouse.com.au
Email Me | Phone Me"I think of finance as a technology, a way of getting things done." Robert Shiller
I had a ppor which I renovated over a year and wanted to sell but didn`t have the money to finish it, and the things to get done were endless, I decided to bite the bullet and just put it on the market and fix what I had to in a hurry and see what happens.
Well the house sold very quickly at twice the price I had paid a year before, also the buyers were so keen besides leaving a a ten grand deposit, said they`d finish it themselves!.Those were the days!.[cigar]
He He, how very true!
Great topic Milly.
I had been taking people through one of our immaculate newly renovated rental properties all weekend. They all look so much better and cleaner than our own home. I thought about renting out our family home and moving into the beautiful rental property we were offering, but then I thought, we’d have to fix things up in our home before we consider it as being “rent ready”!!!
We buy properties in all conditions. Can offer Immediate Cash Settlements, No Real Estate Agents Required
[email protected]
phone 0412 437 582Oh Tools, you should meet my husband – ha ha ha
He moved into our PPoR in Sept/Oct 1996 & promised that by the time I moved in in Nov 1996 he would have my additional kitchen cupboards & laundry cupboards installed. Now this should be easy given he is a cabinet maker.
Well last month I got my laundry cupboards because dear husband bought a dirt bike & I asked nicely “Well where are you going to store all the stuff for that, we are out of room in the house?” I had the cupboards that week.
But guess what, I am still waiting for the kitchen cupboards [rolleyes3]
It sounds like it’s time to spoil yoursel and lead by example, I think you will get more personal satisfaction that way.
Just remember you are boss.
Roy H.
L.R.E.A., Dip FS (FP)
Guardian Property Specialists (GPS)
http://www.gpsnetwork.com.auI knew someone who had a toddler and a baby (years ago). Her husband promised her a kitchen for a couple of years. They were slowly renovating and she was using tubs and tables for a kitchen.
She and a friend took the kids and flew to Hong Kong and she rang her husband and told him she’d be home when the kitchen was in. She was home within the fortnight.
True story, straight from the horses mouth.
Regards, Wylie
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