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What does your uncle suggest?
Thanks for the advice. From the number of replies I presume most of the readers of this forum must be based in the eastern states.
I have a unit that is in a complex with no shared laundry. I found that a washing machine that saves time and effort for the tenant to be well worth the money. An extra $20 a week will soon pay back a second hand (tax deductable) washing machine and may turn a negative cashflow property into a positive one. In my experience all the white goods are negotiable, but I have found that a fridge is appreciated and the larger the better. Once you have a few units you will find that you accumulate these items that can be moved around your properties as required.
The RenoKings have certainly found their niche. I haven't been to a seminar but I got some great ideas from their book. It helps that they were both in the building trade and would be able to make very quick assesments of a project before calling a professional to look at it. They are quite open about the ammount of property they now have and the strategy has certainly worked for them.
I would think this strategy would get easier as you went along and got bit of a reputation for completed projects. The book by CathyJayne Pearse is worth reading. She is able to borrow money based on the expected value after renovation, which covers the whole project, but she has done a lot of these after starting with one apartment. The book is "Real Estate Cash from Treasure and Trash"
Hope this helps
I just got back from the UK and stayed at a friend's place that dates from 1200AD. Wonder how many people have died in there?? Also in the UK the West's house was demolished (but victims had been buried underneath) and a McDonalds in th US was demolished after a shooting spree. Sorry to sound morbid, but I think it would be many years before enough people moved away from the suburb for it to be forgotton about.
Perhaps if it sits around for long enough you may get it for less than land only price, then knock it over and start again.
Another thing worth mentioning is that any extra rent also increases the value of the property for lending purposes. It may not be that much in this case, but could be just enough for a bank to decline a loan application for your next place.
One for juder. The company I used was http://www.granitetransformations.com.au It's a franchise so you could email them and see if they are in your area. They came round and gave me a quote the day after I called them.
On the white goods issue, I once heard of someone who replaced the white goods in their own house with new ones, and put the old stuff in their rental house and claimed the depreciation on the new stuff. It would of course be deemed as tax avoidance and could not be recommended…..
Please don't take this too seriously, but I heard of a guy who was selling a property, but had the problem of a big hole in the backyard from an unfinished pool. He also had two car wrecks at the front. After some thought, the cars went into the hole, cutting down the ammount of fill needed and the need to get the cars moved, the house got sold, and hopeully the new owners didn't run a metal detector over the nice new lawn.
It was only a small area, and I found that the granite facing was twice the price of a new laminate top, and half the price of a stone top as I said. It ended up costing $1000, but I had a choice of colours and was well worth it. I renovated a 2 bed unit. I spent $12,500 and then had it revalued at $40,000 more. At the time I didn't know of Ken's idea of offcuts from manufacturers. In a one bedder you may still have pleanty of choice of offcuts, as it is only a small top you will be dealing with.
I renovated a unit and transformed the kitchen benchtops with a reconstituted granite facing. Half the price of granite tops and looks identical. Spend a bit on contemporary door handles on the units and you can get away without a new kitchen. Also good value is to rip down vertical venitians and put up DIY wooden slatted ones. There is good money in renovating units but make sure that it is a crappy unit in an otherwise tidy block.
I bought one in Perth as my first dip in property investing. Usual deal with 3 years remaining on the lease plus 5×5 options. When the lease came up for renewal in 2005 the operator was able to produce figures to show he was not making any money so due to a clause in the lease he was able to revert the rent back to what it was in 2000 when the lease was signed. This turned me from cash +ve to cash -ve, so I sold up. I was lucky to make money on it as people will accept lower yields now.
At the time I bought it suited me as I was working offshore a lot and the hands-off aspect was attractive, but now I spend more time at home I prefer properties where I have more involvement.
I hope this has been of help.Tip
I like units in larger developments as I don’t have a lot of time for research. I just go down to the Valuer General’s office in Perth and for a few dollars can find out every sale for the last 20 years in the complex. This makes it easy to see the times of good and bad CG. They make for easy revovations as well and can be a good money spinner.
P.S. I gather you can get all this online to but I haven’t tried yet as I like chatting to the girls in the VGO[biggrin]
