From: Michael Croft
Hi Paul,
Last things first; I have never (touch wood) been asked to stop using/converting something to a better use by a department or council. Mind you I haven't always asked for their opinion either ;^)
$10k 'sunrooms' can add $100 per week in some cases - as the missing family room on a house or an extra bedroom in student type accom. This is a yield of 52%. Sleep outs i.e. enclosing verandas with custom made windows/sliding glass doors. My best was a $2,000 window door combo which added $80 pw, a 208% yield. Look for houses with patios/verandas under main roof line, these are the easiest to do, and if they look a little boxy after the addition, tack on a pergola to break up the slab side (if visible from the street). This last point is for the revaluations.
Garage conversions are a cinch, the plumbing/drainage will cost you about $5k plus pc items. Realistically I have converted double garages to nice two bedroom units for $15k and received $150 to $190 pw for them. Garages start out boxy and private open space is created with courtyard walls (6 foot timber) lattice and pergolas. A 2.4 meter wide sliding glass door fits beautifully into a single roller door space.
I have walled off half of 4 bed ensuite homes and turned them into 2 plus 2 bed units. The cost is usually a second kitchen and associated drainage plumbing and sometimes another door to an ensuite making it 'two way'. Cost about $10k and rents up about $110 pw, so about a 57% roi.
I have paid to have three bed houses relocated to the rear of larger blocks. Council permits a must on these. Cost $20- 25k plus service connections. You've already paid for the land once so it comes free to the second house. Best ROI to date of 71%.
I recently bought a doctors surgery with house above. Small market for this these days. Converted the surgery which had heaps of drainage and plumbing points to two flats and reno'd the house upstairs. ROI for conversion 142%. The rent went up from $360 to $580 pw and turned the property into an 11% yielder in an area where people swear blind your doing well to get 5-6%.
Fire rating and separate metering are the basics for peace of mind (yours and tenants) but in addition I focus on amenity. I like my tenants to like where they live - saves me heaps of hassles, in fact the last hassle I had was a Vietnam vet going off the deep end about ten years ago. The place needed an insurance paid reno anyway ;^) I routinely add pergolas and private courtyards on the multiple tenancies. This is for the tenants and the revals.
I have converted old high pitch roof space into two extra bedrooms, converting the classic two bedroom semi into a four bedroom 2 bath one. The laundry was huge and so it went into a cupboard and an extra bathroom created. Cost $30k (yes I lashed out on this one) rent doubled and valuation up $120k.
So you see there are more ways than one to skin the proverbial.
Hope this gives you something to go on, and I might just post this to the forum.
Michael Croft
"The best parachute folders are those who jump themselves."
Hi Paul,
Last things first; I have never (touch wood) been asked to stop using/converting something to a better use by a department or council. Mind you I haven't always asked for their opinion either ;^)
$10k 'sunrooms' can add $100 per week in some cases - as the missing family room on a house or an extra bedroom in student type accom. This is a yield of 52%. Sleep outs i.e. enclosing verandas with custom made windows/sliding glass doors. My best was a $2,000 window door combo which added $80 pw, a 208% yield. Look for houses with patios/verandas under main roof line, these are the easiest to do, and if they look a little boxy after the addition, tack on a pergola to break up the slab side (if visible from the street). This last point is for the revaluations.
Garage conversions are a cinch, the plumbing/drainage will cost you about $5k plus pc items. Realistically I have converted double garages to nice two bedroom units for $15k and received $150 to $190 pw for them. Garages start out boxy and private open space is created with courtyard walls (6 foot timber) lattice and pergolas. A 2.4 meter wide sliding glass door fits beautifully into a single roller door space.
I have walled off half of 4 bed ensuite homes and turned them into 2 plus 2 bed units. The cost is usually a second kitchen and associated drainage plumbing and sometimes another door to an ensuite making it 'two way'. Cost about $10k and rents up about $110 pw, so about a 57% roi.
I have paid to have three bed houses relocated to the rear of larger blocks. Council permits a must on these. Cost $20- 25k plus service connections. You've already paid for the land once so it comes free to the second house. Best ROI to date of 71%.
I recently bought a doctors surgery with house above. Small market for this these days. Converted the surgery which had heaps of drainage and plumbing points to two flats and reno'd the house upstairs. ROI for conversion 142%. The rent went up from $360 to $580 pw and turned the property into an 11% yielder in an area where people swear blind your doing well to get 5-6%.
Fire rating and separate metering are the basics for peace of mind (yours and tenants) but in addition I focus on amenity. I like my tenants to like where they live - saves me heaps of hassles, in fact the last hassle I had was a Vietnam vet going off the deep end about ten years ago. The place needed an insurance paid reno anyway ;^) I routinely add pergolas and private courtyards on the multiple tenancies. This is for the tenants and the revals.
I have converted old high pitch roof space into two extra bedrooms, converting the classic two bedroom semi into a four bedroom 2 bath one. The laundry was huge and so it went into a cupboard and an extra bathroom created. Cost $30k (yes I lashed out on this one) rent doubled and valuation up $120k.
So you see there are more ways than one to skin the proverbial.
Hope this gives you something to go on, and I might just post this to the forum.
Michael Croft
"The best parachute folders are those who jump themselves."
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