Hey there,

Great post, I have been watching with interest since I am basically doing the same thing up in Cairns. Although I try to add a couple of rooms and a bathroom to each one so they turn into positive cashflow. I am on my second reno now and almost finished, last one is the paper for rent this weekend. I also work full time so it can be done

Just a comment about the laminate floating floors – I used to install these for a living. You definitely do not have to take the architraves off. Just simply grab an offcut of board, lay it down next to the architrave on top of a piece of underlay, grab a handsaw or reciprocating saw, lay the saw on top of the offcut so the blade is parallel with the ground, and cut the bottom of the architrave off. Now when you go to lay the floor, you can just slide the board underneath the architrave  for a perfect fit. I would also be hesitant to coat the floor with a poly, you can get a waterbased primer and sealer that you can just mop on in high wear and wet areas, it would be much more suitable. Also, if a board becomes damaged it can be quite easily replaced without ripping the whole floor up to the bad board

Good luck!