Hi all…[8D]
Sitting here thinking as usual of many, many, things and thought of Rolf DeRoos 101 tip’s book and thought let’s start our own Tip’s and Techniques regarding How to $ave dollar$ when it comes to Real Estate Investing !!
Everybodies good at something and you can learn something from everyone… so feel free to post here a Cost-cutting or money saving Tip you’ve used, know about or have thought of..
From Saving money in the garden, to carpet’s, painting, finance, insurance,beating your mortgage down, cutting your bills,hidden savings, retirement tip’s “Whatever”… trust me, if it’s helped you, it’ll help someone else…
I’ll throw my hand in the ring first and i’ll be adding to these also, please..feel free to post, i’ll look forward to some new and interesting ideas..
REDWING
“The man that thinks at 5o as he did when he was 20 has wasted 30 years of his life”
Make Improvements-
Landscaping
Improve what you can, simple landscaping such as Mulch or Shredded bark to keep weeds down, you can even place newspaper ( 10 sheets together ) on the ground prior to putting Bark etc down. Newspaper is porous and any water can still drain through, putting plastic down doesn’t allow this to happen, and it’s cheaper than the weed matting available.
You can also plant Native plant’s ( less watering and hardy ) to assist by holding the soil together and giving some colour to the area ( some native’s have great flowers/colours). This tip is handy for large ( road verges or corner blocks where you have a lot of land content, but don’t necessarily want to water/ lay lawn on it all) and smaller areas ( that are hard to grow plants, due to shade/sun etc)
Learn how to graft plants, or strike them from cuttings etc.. a cheaper alternative than regular visits to the nursery, and you can obtain from Family/ friends etc.. you may even do well enough to sell extra’s to others ( garage sale’s/ markets)
A cheap fence can be erected by using Copper logs and rope ( drill 3 holes in each post Lower/Middle/Upper and thread the rope through) The copper logs are white ant resistant and can even be painted, this fence gives an effective ‘border’ to your garden.
REDWING
“The man that thinks at 5o as he did when he was 20 has wasted 30 years of his life”
Ask the paint store for ‘mis-tints’ for your gutters or metal garage. This paint has been coloured for another customer and they decided not to but it for whatever reason. I got a 10lt tin of solargard for my guttering and they kept tinting it till it was the color I wanted and it cost less than 1/2 original price.
ok heres just a simple tip…
…. but probably is the most important tip about money ive ever been taught.
“A Dollar Saved, is a Dollar Earnt”
– might not seem like much, but if you can learn this and understand it, you will learn, and have a better understanding of how a dollar works.
Cheers,
sisTip no
1) When u want to paint find the colour u want and instead of buying it, ask the shop what the cheapest good base is, (usually not name brand) and have that tinted, usually about 1/3 of the originals paint price. Keep the tinting code for further reference and touching up.
2) Building recyclers, have every thing from shower cubicles, to roof sheeting and gutters and very cheap prices.
3)Carpets, most offices change carpets regularly as do 5 star hotels. Contact these places direct and ask them how they dispose of their carpets. Some give them away, others auction them off very cheap and in very good order.
4) Furniture, 1st class furniture from 5 star hotels are sold cheap as they change over on a fairly regular basis.
5) As well as news paper as pointed out already, cardboard is also good for gardens to keep weeds down. Old cardboard boxes broken up etc. I have even heard of people using old carpet, however I haven’t done this one myself.
6) A friend of mine once offered an unemployed builder free accommodation for work done on his house. Not only did they become good friends, but also worked out very very cheap labour and the house went from 130k to 380k in value in about 8 months.
7) When renovation offer cheap accommodation for a tenant. Some people don’t mind the mess in lieu of cheap rent.
When fence is leaning over and wood looks bent and non straightable, just get a 7 foot star dropper and put in behind the bent wooden fence post and wire wood to star dropper. Be sure to wet wood 1st and keep moist for some time, after about a year or so u can even take the stat droppers out again, and wood should be straight.9) Steam cleaner/ hi pressure cleaner just b4 u put house on market clean all concrete around the house, as silly as it sounds I have done this for a few friends and its amazing the difference it makes. Looks Brand New. However one winter and its back to what it looked like b4, so it doesn’t last long, but looks great for selling.
10) And last for now simple things like pop up sprinklers and drippers. If selling, most people love these things, and if renting more chance of having your garden looked after. Much easier to turn on a tap and off again then to set timers and move sprinklers.
Save time (=money) by having a list of prospective tenants and buyers before you’ve found the place so you lose the least possible time.
Pisces
“A Dollar Saved, is a Dollar Earnt”
Actually depending on your tax bracket a dollar saved is two dollars earnt!
My recent reno – I went through a builder for a kitchen and he had it built at trade prices for $2000 and he installed it for $400. I had previously run around four different “budget” kitchen builders and my best deal was $3500 installed.
I filled the front garden with some old agapanthus destined for the tip – they are flowering and look great and will be a very low maintenance rental garden
White Knight tile paint bought the bathroom up a treat for $100 – cheaper than tiling. New taps were $200, a Vanity $50 at auction and a shower screen was $270 installed. Looks like we spent thousands. Even the agents who have been around didn’t pick the tile paint and had to look closer. One still didn’t believe it and I had to show her a run to convince her!
Mistint paint is great but not if you need more than one tin matched perfectly. My brother bought a 10 litre tin of Solarguard for a little house and paid well under half price.
End of run tiles and odd lots save you too – I got 6 m of tiles for $66 instead of well over double that for the same tile.
Lastly, with all the flexible hoses and fittings available now I plumbed the whole bathroom and kitchen myself for a hundred odd dollars – I can’t imagine what that saved!
Cheers,
Simon Macks
Mortgage Broker
[email protected]
0425 228 985Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.
Salutations
When negotiating on property purchase price, after you’ve made your first offer and received the vendor’s counter offer, offer two prices. First a price if they pay for the inspection report/pest inspection/LIM report/whatever. The second price is if you organise the reports but this price is significantly lower than what the reports will actually cost you. Most people are lazy/can’t be bothered/too busy to organise these things and you can get a good little discount from your offer that goes into your pocket.
Cheers
Nic
I too used the White Knight paint on my kitchen.
clean uncluttered homes cost nothing, and bring more prices, de-personalize.
Negotiate commission with agent, nothing is fixed.
Remove all rubbish, keep grass cut, cover weeds, straw is pretty good as is newspapers
People often like an unpainted (freshly) home, so they feel they can barter the price a bit, and personalise to their own tastes, so think about the need to paint, if paint isnt in bad condition. You might save money and time.
fresh natural smells are more appealing than on the nose odours- real estate trick, bake cakes, have coffee on the stove, put lavender in a room when viewings are being held.Simple but effective. As are fires in cold regions, some people love open fires.
recylce your food scraps, helps the garden- composting
sorry if some have already been mentioned
Elves
Doing the work yourself..
With what it cost’s for materials and the usual tradesmens markup of 10-15%, then the labour costs, you can save a great deal of money..
For instance – we got 3 different quotes to have the reticulation installed at our PPOR, prices varied from $800 to almost $1400 odd. We then looked at doing it ourselves, and saved $400 to $1000 just on the front yard.. however, we purchased enough materials to do the front ‘and’ back yard, so saved approx $800 to $2000 Plus,as the rear yard is almost 1 1/2 the size of the front yard also..
It cost us $70 to get a plumber to install a levered tap onto the mains water for us, and approx $350 in materials ( 3 solenoids, PVC piping, reticulation and sprinklers, controller )
We borrowed a trench shovel and got my father in law to connect the wiring to solenoids and controller ( he used to be an Auto-electrician ) he said that it should be easy, as all came with instructions, but electricity and i have an agreement, we don’t upset each other!
DON’T FORGET THE TRADING POST (QUOKKA HERE IN WA)
i’ve had friends get great stuff “free” in this paper for reno’s- it’s online tooREDWING
“The man that thinks at 5o as he did when he was 20 has wasted 30 years of his life”
Top 10 Tips for your own home
1) Buy a water-efficient showerhead
You can recognise these by an AAA rated sticker or an Energy Smart label. They can save hundred of dollars a year in power and water bills.2) Use compact fluorescent lights
Compact fluorescent lights can last up to 15 times longer than ordinary globes and use 80% less electricity.3) Insulate your home
Good insulation will make your life more comfortable all year round and save you thousands of dollars on heating and cooling costs.4) Buy energy-efficient household appliances
Choosing the highest energy-efficiency star rating whitegoods can save you many $100’s of dollars on electricity and tonnes of greenhose gases. Go to http://www.energyrating.gov.au for a complete listing of star ratings.5) Buy a solar or gas hot water system
The largest part of your energy bill is usually hot water. So when your hot water service is ready to retire make sure you replace it with a solar or high-efficiency gas one. As well as the saving on your energy bill you can get money back on buying a solar hot water if it replaces an electric one.
Call the Energex Energy Institute on 1300360209 and ask about renewable energy certificates. You could get as much as $800 cash back in your pocket. In addition many State Energy Authorities have cash back schemes.6) Choose Green Power
When you join a Green Power scheme, your electricity retailer agrees to buy the amount of electricity you specify from clean, renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydro, replacing electricity that would have been generated at a coal-fired power station.
.7) Use a solar powered clothesline!
Every time you use a dryer it costs you around 30c and you lose lots of your precious clothing in lint! The clothesline is free and you will saves hundreds of kilograms of greenhouse gases each year. Wash a FULL load
Use full loads in washing machines, dryers and dishwashers. Wash clothes in cold water (up to 90% less greenhouse gas emissions), and use concentrate phosphate-free laundry products such as Planet Ark or Aware.9) Choose a fuel-efficient car
All new passenger cars are now required to display fuel consumption labels in litres per 100 kilometres. The label will tell you how many litres of fuel the vehicle uses to travel 100 kilometres when driving around the city. The lower the number on the label, the less fuel the vehicle uses. These labels will help save you money in vehicle running costs as well as helping to reduce greenhouse gases.
Go to on-line fuel guide site for all the stats on your cars consumption and more fuel saving tips.Fuel prices being what they are today, this tip is essential, or, buy a bike, save money burn fat : )10) Get there greener!
Walk, cycle, use public transport or car pool whenever you can. This will save you money and improve your health at the same time.Costly calls
with the ‘booming business in mobile phone sales and deals it’s hard to get by without one nowadays.
Check out this site http://www.phonechoice.com.au , it provides free independent and unbaised solutions to consumers based on all the offers the mobile and landline telecommunications industry has available.The website also has a bill xcalculator and a “tips n tricks” section to help you find the best plans.
Also a number of people are juggling multiple mobile phone numbers and SIM cards in an effort to cut bills
Check out sites such as voucherbank.com
When we carpeted our place we eventually went with a company that predominantly makes huge rolls of imported carpets into rugs, they’re in a light industrial area and don’t advertise as a carpet store, as they sell thier rugs in bulk.. cruising local Light Industrial Areas is great, you never know what kind of interesting businesses you come across [^]
REDWING
“The man that thinks at 5o as he did when he was 20 has wasted 30 years of his life”
A good site to look at is http://www.simplesavings.com.au
They have a free email newsletter that offers all sorts of tips.
For around $27 you can subscribe to their info vault with lots of ideas if you wish.
Originally posted by Hux001:A good site to look at is http://www.simplesavings.com.au
Another is Frugal Living:
http://frugalliving.about.com/
Many, many ideas.
But you know when it’s time to stop if you’re spending so much time saving money that there’s no time left to make money ; )
Peter
Replace all the power points and light switches before
selling and many people will assume that you’ve had the
house rewired.andy
Update the lights – new lights (kill those old oyster lights) look great
Solar hot water/solar systems, may not be as economical as you think. I tried to seek out the following for a house I was going to build and the architect said dont bother!
It takes absolutly years to recoup the cost of a solar system for eg hot water.
enviro cycles, eg enviromental loos, might benefit some, but you need a certain size block and not all councils permit the use of these.There are new loos out now, dont cost much as the plumber! but they are smaller cisterns, and have the half flushes which are even more reduced….well my new loo works great.And I mean smaller flushes
Spose you can always use the brick or two in the cistern…
Air conditioners are a selling point, but can be costly if not operating correctly, clean filters, and where possible minimise use. Better still close the blinds and open the windows!
Some dishwashers use less water than a full sink and you can load more in them than a sink full!
Where possible, recycle washing machine water either for the next load, or as in GREY WASTE on the garden, cuts the watering, reduces water rates, saves time, feeds plants.
turn off and unplug electrical appliances, they all draw power even when not in use
Hi, I have found heaps of bargins at garage sales and through the neswpaper ( trading post, weekend shopper – in QLD). One of my best bargins, was an eight seater outdoor spa , guess how much ? NOTHING, it was FREE !!!! it was a giveaway that was advertised in the paper and it was in perfect condition, no cracks splits or anything !!!! The only thing we had to do was remove it ourselves!!!! The guy just was sick of it taking up space, because he didn’t use it.
My second best bargin, was 70 sqm of carpet that we got from a local garage sale for $40.00 delivered, it was commercial quality and in new condition, as it had never been laid, it’s been great – especially when you have a messy little nine year old !!!!
Another place to try for bargins are tender centres.
One thing you have to do when buying goods through garage sales & the newspaper is get up real early or you’ll miss out, I rang the guy about the spa @ 5 in the morning !!![]. So my tip is to get out early and you are bound to find some bargins !!!!P.s I also got a housefull and more of Kresta verticals & tracks ( 12 to be exact) for $30.00 in great nic.[^]
Thanks guys
i was planning to write a book on this, you’ve saved me hours.
my favourite is to go to church late, after they have taken up the collection, we save heaps each week.[
]bye
westanI find +ve cashflow deals in New Zealand which I sell to other investors. To be on my database send an e-mail to [email protected]
There’s a software package that you can buy. You put in all of your bank statements for the last 4 years, and it picks up all the mistakes in them. e.g. charged too much in interest payments etc. Then you can go and claim it back from your bank. If you don’t find mistakes which add up to more than the software costs, then they give you your money back.
Cheers,
Karen[]Scully i’ve heard of these people do you have any ideas where you can contact them or there software?
Regards Westan
I find +ve cashflow deals in New Zealand which I sell to other investors. To be on my database send an e-mail to [email protected]
When fence is leaning over and wood looks bent and non straightable, just get a 7 foot star dropper and put in behind the bent wooden fence post and wire wood to star dropper. Be sure to wet wood 1st and keep moist for some time, after about a year or so u can even take the stat droppers out again, and wood should be straight.
]. So my tip is to get out early and you are bound to find some bargins !!!!
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