Sunday 29 March 2015

5 Things you must know before buying a property to renovate


As many property investors have discovered, a bad renovation can cost you a fortune, so here are tips on how to spot the diamonds from the duds.
1. Know the approximate price of what things cost to fix - and that is a major advantage. It means not being fazed by problems that might scare other buyers off, like concrete cancer or a total rewire job, because by estimating the cost of repair and factoring that in. Having a good idea of costs means you can do a rough crunch of the numbers as you are walking through a property and know by the end whether there's profit potential in renovating it.
2. The big no-nos - never consider: buying on a main road or beside a railway line, or a house that sits below street level these are what are called 'major buyer objections' and there are a heap of them. No renovation will ever fix them. Move on.
3. Look at whether there is sufficient scope for improvement. If you can't substantially improve a property and uplift its value, whether through a cosmetic facelift or significant structural changes, then it's not worth bothering with.

Older properties offer the best pickings for structural improvement as there's obviously more work to be done., whereas cosmetic renos are well suited to properties of a certain age and style.

And you want to be familiar with what type of renovation works for the particular style of property you're looking at.

4. Conduct due diligence on property prices in that suburb, so you know what price you should offer for the property to make a decent return on investment, after you have factored in all other project costs, and the price of the renovation. If the price isn't right, walk away. There's no better way to erode your profit than pay too much for a property to start with.

5. Get to know the suburbs where you plan to buy -  know the best and worst streets, where high and low price pockets are and what style of home buyers want to buy.

An intimate understanding of your local suburbs is key.








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