get over it, seriously.

every industry since the dawn of time has charged the maximum the market will bear.

supply / demand rules.

you actually believe whining and moaning will bring prices down?

I think real estate agents and solicitors are much bigger ripoff merchants than tradies…….

floor sanding should be done LAST. dont risk damaging it while you have tools and powertools being used. polyeurethane takes weeks to harden and is easily damaged. second, you dont want paint going on the new floor.

this is our schedule:

1. garden
2. street appeal
3. kitchen
4. bathroom
5. painting
6. floors

I have already covered a lot of those questions in other threads recently.

For us, the golden rule is "you dont make money when you sell, you make money when you buy"

You have to buy below market value. If you pay market value, its very difficult to make a profit considering sell costs. If you are not buying at least $20k below value, find another deal. You must deal with motivated vendors. This includes distressed sellers, deceased estates, stale listings, half-finished reno's and houses that have failed building inspections.

You have to buy the house nobody else wants to touch. When we walk into a house, we get excited when we see rot, termite damage, dated kitchens & bathrooms, bad layouts, leaks and tennant damage. All of these things represent an opportunity. The more obvious these things are, the quicker buyers will run out the door. Its a simple supply & demand situation. If the house is tidy, everyone wants it and it fetches over market value. When nobody can see past the repair costs, nobody makes an offer and the price drops. People believe repairs cost more than they really do.

We go to realestate.com.au, search an area, sort by date listed, then go to the back page. Why? we want the smelly stale listings. We dont EVER look at houses that have just come onto the market. Why? because thats what everyone else is doing. We dont want to compete against them. Secondly, the vendor is unlikely to accept a low-ball offer if its a new listing. He still has his head in the clouds because the agent lied about how much he could get. Low-ball offers are only accepted after a month or more on the market, and few if any viewings.

I recently viewed a house and had no interest in it. It was reasonably priced and it hadnt been on the market very long. The agent called a few days later to see what I thought. I said I thought it was overpriced and wouldnt be interested until the 300k mark (house listed @ 339k). To my surprise she said they might take it and asked me to put the offer on paper. The offer was accepted after much negotiation on the sellers part (325? no,300. 320? no,300. 315? no, 300. and so on) until 300 was accepted. 2 weeks later the agent got an offer of 325k. I was forced to go unconditional, and of course did so happily.

Later found out the vendor was dying and couldnt spend the money anyway.

Ive found it useful to make a "first and final offer" and be prepared to walk away when the offer is rejected. My 2nd house, I dealt with the same agent earlier in the day, told him it was first and final and walked away when it was rejected. This put me in a great position later that day when I gave him another offer for a different property. He knew I meant what I said and would walk. He convinced the seller this was it.

We stay away from structural problems. If footings are gone, its difficult / costly / time consuming to repair. We are in it for a quick buck. In & out quick is the name of the game. Termite damage is easily repaired, and frightening to most buyers. Rot / leaks are the same. Asbestos is unavoidable, our main rule is to avoid houses with super-6 roofs. they are harder to sell. I prefer tile roofs, they are easily painted and can look new. Iron roofs can also be done, but its more work if there is surface rust and the result is less spectacular. With an asbestos roof its grey & old, and not much you can do. Serious paint decay is a bugger to repair. you can sand weatherboards for weeks. I allow $15k for a repaint.

Whatever house you buy, it MUST sell quickly. It must be presented well, be generic, neutral colors. Houses on busy roads are hard to sell. Houses next to hoarder neighbours are hard to sell. You must appeal to the largest market possible. Art deco houses are hard to sell. Ugly houses are hard to sell, even if beautiful on the inside. If street appeal isnt there, people make up their minds in the first 30 seconds.

For us, updating isnt enough. We want to add living space. Usually this means adding a bedroom and/or bathroom. We often turn a 3 bed 1 bath into a 4 bed 2 bath. Sometimes its simply a matter of changing the layout. Old houses often have large laundries which are not used much. On my first property, I created space by switching the position of the kitchen and dining. A lot of space in the kitchen was wasted due to the back door and walk through access for it. The dining required walk through access anyway so the two were combined. Knocking out walls is not that hard. Even structural walls can be taken out with the right know-how. The layout was appropriate when the house was built but life has changed. The kitchen is now the most occupied room and other rooms should be designed around it.

Bathrooms are often easily increased by knocking out the wall between the toilet and bathroom. This also allows you to steal some space from the hallway, and even more space if you demolish the hall cupboard that usually is on the same wall.

I think I have an advantage over other renovators because Im a tradesman (so Im good with my hands, plus I own heaps of tools), and Ive spent 15 years on building sites watching other trades do their thing. Im also very thrifty and spend $1 where other people would spend $4. I buy stuff on ebay, from St Vinnies, Ikea discount bin (my favorite for kitchens) and auctions. NEVER PAY RETAIL. EVER.

You make money by improving the house for less than people believe it should cost. If you plan on spending $12k on a kitchen the buyer wont give you an extra $12k for the house. he might give you $7k though. Spend $12k and youve lost $5k. However, do the same kitchen for $1500, and youve made a profit of $5500. Same goes for bathrooms. I did a bathroom people thought costed $15k. Cost me $2k.

thats how you create value……..

Unless you are willing to do 90% of what I just listed, it might be difficult to be profitable. Plus, you must be willing to live in filth and suffer inconvenience for long periods. If you are afraid of debt, pass on renos. If you are afraid of hard work, give it a miss.

what are you painting the doors with?

Ive used enamel and aquanamel. aquanamel dries fast & easy cleanup but far less glossy & not as durable.

good info, thx.

how would you feel about using wagner to spray roof on windy day?
how skillful do you need to be to avoid overspray / patchiness?
do hands get tired holding trigger?
does it give a thicker coat than roller?
does it make much noise? ie could you work at night?
do you need to wear a mask?

thats not true, there are plenty of reasons:

1. stamp duty
2. agents commissions
3. advertising
4. unforeseen expenses (eg damp, termites)
5. buying is easy. selling is hard
6. cannot possibly do 5 reno’s a year. 3 at best.
7. full time job being project manager

and it goes on. It is POSSIBLE to make good money, but not IDIOT-PROOF as chump implies.

topic is GOOD mortgage broker

not "mortgage broker who works for half the going rate"

Ive found that GoGecko give less than half rate service with their half rate fees.

Mortgage brokers will be the same.

A good mortgage broker will act like your life depends on them focusing on your application. Ive had a bad broker before, he never called with urgent critical info, he sold his own companies loans (AFG), he was slow, I had to get extentions 12x, he was incompetant, often sending the wrong forms.

Then I found the complete opposite of that clown. She understood my situation and knew exactly how to align the hoops so I could jump through them with ease & speed. When a form needs to be signed, she sends it by express post with the forwarding express post envelope inside addressed & ready. She calls every day as important dates near giving a progress report (with recent exception when she was giving birth!). She hounds the banks when they drag their feet, which is always. She even managed to get a loan approved during the Xmas break when all the banks were closed. She emailed top execs at the bank and didnt stop going higher till she got a result. And during a period when most people forget about work and focus on family. She even sends flowers, wine & chocolates when we move in.

Now THATS a good mortgage broker. No, you cant have her, shes mine.

I painted my window frames.

One half I used a cheap black spraycan, gloss black, cost $3. painting itself was quick, good finish. prep work was needed, mainly masking off glass & boards. paint brittle, chips off with any hard contact. using a primer didnt help. good for security screens.

other half I used tin of black enamel, gloss black. small paintbrush. took a lot longer. less prep work, but painting takes ages. finish is patchy. paint thicker and more durable. not practical to paint security screens.

next time Im using spray can.