7 Sins of Renovating

7 Deadly Sins of Renovating

In the latest release of the Property Investor Magazine there was an interesting article about renovating. Seeing it was summer and a common time for landlords to undergo maintenance and renovations I thought I would remind you of a few ‘what not to do’s’.

When it comes to renovating, you have to know who you are renovating for i.e. your target market. Decide if you are renovating for a small young family, young professionals or an elderly couple and then renovate by catering to their needs i.e. having carpet colours that will hide stains for families with young children, fully fenced properties and making sure all windows have safety latches. These things appeal more to younger families and will increase the pulling power in making their final decision to want to live in the property.

Copying other peoples renovations never ever work! How often have you heard of cases where people see things on TV and say wow we should get it like that! Stop right there, as the property you are renovating is firstly an investment and secondly is different to the one you saw on TV.

Not doing your due diligence and having a lack of planning will lead to the renovations taking longer and more often than not, making hasty decisions lead to spending more unnecessary money! Plan well, set you budget, monitor the progress and end up with a successful renovation.

Wondering what you budget will be? Think about things such as the value of your investment, what your renovations will be to suit the specific target market, figuring out whether you are over or under capitalising. Rule of thumb never proceed without knowing what your budget is!

Don’t have a experience with renovations? One of the biggest mistakes people make are they do not know what things such as materials, labour administration cost. Make sure you have at least two or three quotes and make sure they are for the same thing and then make a decision accordingly. There is no point in comparing apples with pears.

The final two sins are taking too long to decide and not getting expert help thinking you have it under control. We as investors undergo renovations to improve the quality of living for our tenants and by taking to long it can be a nuisance for not only the tenants but also suppliers and tradesmen who are ready to go and putting of other jobs to get your one done. In saying all this there is a fine line between being to hasty and then taking to long. And finally getting an expert opinion and/assistance never is a waste of money particularly if you have no experience with renovations. So seek advice if needed it will save you more money in the future compared with the small cost to get advice now.