OK, here goes!
In December we brought a Home and Income consisting of a 5 bed, 2 living area established home and 12 year old 2-bed stand-alone income. Both came tenanted at a healthy 9.6% yield.
In Janurary, we returned from holiday to learn that the tenants of the larger house had given notice 2 days after we went away, and were due to move out in 12 days time, teaching us to learn how to check our messages when away from home!
When we purchased, the intention was to refurbish the house when the tenants moved out - it is all just happening quicker than expected!
The main issues with the house are:
Roof leaking over bedroom in heavy rain.
Old, outdated kitchen
Single, small bathroom in sad state of repair
General untidy look to decoration
Numerous sticking doors, windows etc. (Even the front door doesn't lock, so I'm not telling where it is until the locksmith has been!)
We have borrowed a builder from another investor, who has come up with a whole pile of advice and ideas already, and is going to take his electrictian and plumber around next week. We had another builder round, and I swear that it was news to him that renovating a rental was different to renovating your own place!
At present, our priorities are:
1. Perform remedial work on roof, windows and doors.
2. Update bathroom with new shower and vanity
3. Update kitchen with new doors/benchtop and stove (currently has a huge wall oven which looks ugly and takes up too much space for the modern cook!)
4. Create a new bathroom, which will be created out of space currently used for the 5th bedroom, the overly large laundry a small toilet and a large what can only be described as a cave, its so dark! This involves messing around with walls, floors and drainage, and will be the biggest cost.
5. Redecorate other areas as the budget allows for.
As I said, these are the priorities, but we have no prices yet - my guess is that some of 1-4 will get done, and bits of 5 will be slotted in as we can.
We don't intend doing much of the work ourselves, although some of the demolision and re-decorating may be within my scope!
We have also decided to attempt this whilst trying to get some new tenants in, offering a lower rent for the duration, to keep the cashflow healthy!
As time progresses, I'll keep you up to date with how things are going, but if anyone has any ideas, comments or questions, fire away!
Happy renovating
cube
In December we brought a Home and Income consisting of a 5 bed, 2 living area established home and 12 year old 2-bed stand-alone income. Both came tenanted at a healthy 9.6% yield.
In Janurary, we returned from holiday to learn that the tenants of the larger house had given notice 2 days after we went away, and were due to move out in 12 days time, teaching us to learn how to check our messages when away from home!
When we purchased, the intention was to refurbish the house when the tenants moved out - it is all just happening quicker than expected!
The main issues with the house are:
Roof leaking over bedroom in heavy rain.
Old, outdated kitchen
Single, small bathroom in sad state of repair
General untidy look to decoration
Numerous sticking doors, windows etc. (Even the front door doesn't lock, so I'm not telling where it is until the locksmith has been!)
We have borrowed a builder from another investor, who has come up with a whole pile of advice and ideas already, and is going to take his electrictian and plumber around next week. We had another builder round, and I swear that it was news to him that renovating a rental was different to renovating your own place!
At present, our priorities are:
1. Perform remedial work on roof, windows and doors.
2. Update bathroom with new shower and vanity
3. Update kitchen with new doors/benchtop and stove (currently has a huge wall oven which looks ugly and takes up too much space for the modern cook!)
4. Create a new bathroom, which will be created out of space currently used for the 5th bedroom, the overly large laundry a small toilet and a large what can only be described as a cave, its so dark! This involves messing around with walls, floors and drainage, and will be the biggest cost.
5. Redecorate other areas as the budget allows for.
As I said, these are the priorities, but we have no prices yet - my guess is that some of 1-4 will get done, and bits of 5 will be slotted in as we can.
We don't intend doing much of the work ourselves, although some of the demolision and re-decorating may be within my scope!
We have also decided to attempt this whilst trying to get some new tenants in, offering a lower rent for the duration, to keep the cashflow healthy!
As time progresses, I'll keep you up to date with how things are going, but if anyone has any ideas, comments or questions, fire away!
Happy renovating
cube
Comment