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The last time I showed a property, I didn’t just have paint on my clothes, I had ceiling-white all through my hair
That wasn’t for a tenant but a valuer.Don’t fall for the ‘reduced’ trick. Tell them you’ll take it for $139k ‘reduced’ from 159
Even then I wouldn’t spend more than about 8k restoring it (and 8k can go very quickly when you’re talking kitchen/bathroom).Without seeing the place, it seems to me you’d have to get it for a real bargain in order to make any money on it in the short-medium term.
p.s. I have found one of the easiest and cheapest things you can do to add value is to rip out any ‘regular’ lighting or flouros and put in some nice downlights or other more modern lighting throughout the place.
I guess I’ll be the first to say… perhaps the motivation for writing that article is given away in the last line:
“Shares in Peet closed up three cents at $1.41.”
It’s funny how you can read all about other people’s mistakes a thousand times, but you never really learn to avoid them fully until you make them yourself anyway
A couple of years ago after landing my first full-time, high-pay job (high compared to Austudy), I went out and got a loan for a beautiful (2nd hand) car for $23000… At the time I could have bought a 2br unit in Toowong for $150k but this was before I really knew much at all about real estate.
Also, for my current renovation project, although I held back on a lot of expensive finishes, a few still managed to creep into my project and I bought some things that are not so practical for rentals… eg instead of buying the standard tile-on-the-wall soap holder for the shower I got one with a silver ring and frosted glass platter… It looks great but I’ll be surprised if it’s not broken within 12 months
For EVERY purchase during a project like that you must tell yourself RENTAL NOT HOME. And like I said I had read that very advice in many many books beforehand but still fell into the trap! Lucky for me they were relatively trivial items this time and I hope I’ve learned my lesson!I think it’s still possible that they will… for example even if they’re off by just a year and half and prices are flat until 2013 sometime, that’s 18 months left over for prices to shoot up and double by 2015
I suggest reading at least 38 more books… borrow them for free from the library. It took me 12 months but I read 46 books on real estate/investing and a few on success/business/negotiating and I’m so glad I did
If you do a search on this forum, you’ll find a couple of posts with huge lists of books to read along with forumite’s reviews and ratings!
-Ian
That wasn’t for a tenant but a valuer.
