Ballad of a landlord .. Rant

Having resurfaced a bathtub in my IP i would NEVER do it again.

$650 down the drain. Lasted about 12 months.... was guaranteed for 6 years (with a whole bunch of conditions).

I would have been better off painting it myself.

Looked good for the first 3 months, then it just started getting worse.
 
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Just read through this as I found it accidentally and was wondering if you had bought in regional NSW, anyways, here is some objective feedback.

Being a landlord is NOT easy & never will be, frankly, it is a pain the rear end mostly & can be very costly. Now thats out of the way....

When looking at the images, straight away I thought what a neat looking place, even though that style of house is not me. Then as I looked further, I was looking for this kitchen, and I am afraid I have to say, as someone who does not cook, but being partnered with someone who does, if I bought a house like this that so called kitchen would be gone an a proper one would need installing....or I would get no food and probably be in a legal battle ! That is a few cupboards and a sink, even too me. I think this is key.

I also had a house with timber floors once including the bedrooms, easy to clean, but cold and un inviting, I really do not like carpet personally, but I can tell you a lot of tenants seem too !

As others have said, get rid of those ugly curtains, better with nothing than have them.

If I did need to rent, I would not care about the cables or paint cans, I can see what I need too.

The other think I know the boss would look at, is, the garage to front or back door means getting pretty wet in rain, however in saying that we have lived mainly in houses with similar setup & the ones with internal access garages are useless anyway as I fill them up and use as storage :)

I think your manager should know what the hold up is.

PS why did you not buy in that regional suburb ?
 
To the OP - just had a thought. I know you've just reno-ed the kitchen.
The cupboards look a bit sparse though. Could you put a couple more cabinets on the back wall?

I'm surprised you didn't put a dishwasher in, since you were reno-ing the kitchen anyway?

If you feel you need new curtains, you can get them relatively inexpensively from Ikea or Kmart. I say relatively as curtains are always a bit exxy.

If your wife (or you ;)) is handy with a sewing machine, it may be very economical to make some yourself.

If I may offer some advice on selection of curtains - the ones with the metal eyes like this

http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/00230195/

always look neater than the one with the fabric loop tab tops like this

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...m%2F2014%2F09%2Ftab-top-curtains.html;350;410

These scrunched-up looking curtains also look untidy

http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/20237879/

I'm not sure if at the end of the day it's the curtains though that's stopping your property from renting.

I am wondering if you will get an offer if you put "$410 neg"? To me that doesn't smack of desperation, just indicates the landlord is having trouble renting the property out but will accept a reasonable offer.

All the best.
 
I'm surprised your PM didn't take a new photo of the bathroom!!!

The ad and photos are much better!! Perhaps time to consider gardening included if that's popular in the area?

Few too many opens as others have said but looking much, much better than before. I think you might have to withdraw it for a couple of days and then put it back up online and possibly with professional photos.

Sadly, having the old photos on for such a long time has resulted in the listing becoming 'stale' and toward the bottom of the list for your area. Take it down, do a bit of a clean up and a garden tidy (it must be a bit overgrown by now?) and get some professional photos done. Then hit the advertising with an open for the following weekend already booked.

Let us know how the opens go!
 
I always wondered why properties dropped off and then came back, sometimes repeatedly :)
Is that actually allowed or will re.com penalise the agents for that?
I thought that was the new bathroom ?
 
Sorry mate but the add still has awful photos. Why would anyone bother to turn up to an open?

The walls and ceiling in the bathroom and kitchen look as though they are mouldy and I cant see the house at all in the main photo.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys.Not justifying agents actions nor mine. But, some of you criticised the house and photos in such a way as if I am 'selling' a million dollar house.
I agree the photos are still not good, but not awful!.
Again, I am not justifying. I had asked for professional photos and they uploaded phone pics. I had a chat with them and asked to get pro pictures.

Regarding the kitchen, there are two pantry cupboards apart from the cabinets shown in there. The way the design of the kitchen is, it is hard to have overhead cabinets. It is a very narrow design and I added those cupboards for storage.

I have been against providing any whitegoods (washing machine or dishwasher) as they tend to be pain in the long run.

The curtains were used as a temporary measure for idiots to stop stealing things/vandalising the property. It hides the 'vacant' view of the main room from outside. I will be getting new blinds done for the property soon.

I am not sure which photo you are referring to @Angel, but I personally cannot see any mouldy walls (and there are none). And, I don't understand what you mean by 'cannot see the house in the main photo'

If you guys have read by first post, you will see the tenant did a runner with some damages and some idiot decided to steal all the copper pipes from under the house. I had to fix those and get the house to a liveable condition PLUS adding some extras to get new tenants in. All these when I am not getting a cent of rent since more than a month and since my wife is on maternity leave (unpaid) , I am back on single income . I had just bought another IP in Brisbane as you guys can read in the first post.
I do not have too much buffer to keep spending money on the house.
 
Just needed to add that there were 4 interested groups during last 3 open homes. They have taken the applications. Just a wait and watch game now.
 
mumbai said:
But, some of you criticised the house and photos in such a way as if I am 'selling' a million dollar house.
Click to expand...
It's not, but pro photo can make it looks like one and attract visitation:), the property i just bought in Brisbane had pro photo done for their listing, looks amazing in the photo, really terrible in real life.


mumbai said:
Again, I am not justifying. I had asked for professional photos and they uploaded phone pics.
Click to expand...
GAHHH!

mumbai said:
If you guys have read by first post, you will see the tenant did a runner with some damages and some idiot decided to steal all the copper pipes from under the house. I had to fix those and get the house to a liveable condition PLUS adding some extras to get new tenants in. All these when I am not getting a cent of rent since more than a month and since my wife is on maternity leave (unpaid) , I am back on single income . I had just bought another IP in Brisbane as you guys can read in the first post.
I do not have too much buffer to keep spending money on the house.
Click to expand...

Hang in there, I'm kind of in the same situation.
IP1 - has a squatting occupant, still not coming out until probably another 4-6 weeks, no rent and potential damages to fix. I also need to plan to refresh the place for $5K max. Selling is not an option as it won't sell fast enough and won't be at a good price :(

IP2 - just settled, about $10-12K reno to be planned and done before renting out. Similar location as yours, so might take 3-4weeks to rent after reno. Again, weeks of no rent and everything to pay.
 
To the op
Ok, looks like your best bet at this stage is pro photos to present yourself in the best possible light?
Some advice about blinds- roller blinds are in the the moment. They are a single sheet and roll up like a roll of toilet paper :)
I don't like them as they are hard to fix when someone yanks too hard and they fall off. Unless you're handy and good with fiddly things, each breakage will entail a handyman =$$$
Very nice and modern looking i know.
I would advise dishwasher in next Reno.
I know how you feel, can't say much except wish you all the best.
 
EN710 said:
IP1 - has a squatting occupant, still not coming out until probably another 4-6 weeks, no rent and potential damages to fix. I also need to plan to refresh the place for $5K max. Selling is not an option as it won't sell fast enough and won't be at a good price :(

IP2 - just settled, about $10-12K reno to be planned and done before renting out. Similar location as yours, so might take 3-4weeks to rent after reno. Again, weeks of no rent and everything to pay.
Click to expand...

I really feel for you. I hope the tenant does not do any damage before evicting!
 
Again to the op, I'm not being picky, just trying to help - i see lots of little black areas around the rooms. They look like blobs of mould or dirt.
Why's that, if it was recently painted?
Can you paint over or clean them off?
 
The rooms are not dirty and not mouldy. There are no blobs of them in the house.
This makes one thing very CLEAR that I need professional photos as these ones are not doing any justice!
I will chase the REA up right now.
 
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