New to adding values: ideas for kitchen please

[Altonz]

Hi everyone I have attached 2 photos of one of our IP's kitchen for experienced renovator's valuable feedback.

We do not want to spend more than $5000 (ideally $2000-$3000 max if possible) and we would like to learn how we could best invest our money. it is highly unlikely we would be able to do it ourselves (no experience & no skills) unless it is very very basic..

We only thought about this idea as we found out that the house next door with an updated kitchen is getting $360 per week whereas our place is currently being rented for $260 only

 

[wylie]

For a rental it looks fine. I don't like the backsplash tiles, but I wouldn't change them unless you were updating the whole room and they go with the era of the kitchen. They would be easy to change, but it is a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic...

You could update that kitchen for a cheap price because it is small, but I would be guessing it won't bring you another $100 a week. I'd guess that there is another reason why the neighbours are getting $100 more. Perhaps your rent is simply too low?

 

[Truly Exotic]

to be honest, $5k all professional work wont get you far,

paint job $2-4k
Kitchen- $3k for a budget (if you have mates rates, you can get a full kitchen, for $1000 installed)
new upright oven $700-$1000 installed

theres $5k-$7k already

 

[Altonz]

For a rental it looks fine. I don't like the backsplash tiles, but I wouldn't change them unless you were updating the whole room and they go with the era of the kitchen. They would be easy to change, but it is a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic...

You could update that kitchen for a cheap price because it is small, but I would be guessing it won't bring you another $100 a week. I'd guess that there is another reason why the neighbours are getting $100 more. Perhaps your rent is simply too low?

Thank you Wylie
After posting the post I found another link of the house next door with more pictures and description and here are the things mentioned that our IP lacks
- Double lock up garage
- ensuite
- updated bathroom

I have attached a floor plan to find out if making an ensuite is an option in the future.

Also, out of curiosity if updating the looks of the kitchen would not cost much would $5000 be enough make a double lock up garage and do some basic landscaping?

 

[wylie]

You could turn the laundry into a full bathroom, and knock through the wall from the smaller bedroom into the current bathroom to make it ensuite. A builder would give you prices to do this, but your rent would need to at least cover the interest on the cost of the funds you would borrow to do this.

If you can do this all for $20K could you get an extra $23 per week rent. I would guess three bed/two bath is worth at least $23 per week more.

Do the same sums with the double garage once you get a quote.

And make sure you ask some local agents whether a second bathroom and double lock up garage is what the house and area is looking for.

You could "steal" some of the larger bedroom to give the new master bedroom some cupboard space, so that the bedroom with the ensuite doesn't seem so small.

We are looking at adding a bathroom and reconfiguring some rooms in a house we have to increase the rent.

Another house we are looking at adding a deck.

In all cases, in every improvement we make, we ensure that at the very least we are covering our costs. Even if we don't make more rent than the cost of doing the work, the house is being improved and on resale, we reap the benefits.

Of course, spending $30K on a deck, borrowing @ 6% means we must get $35 per week back in extra rent. We would hope for more.

 

[Altonz]

to be honest, $5k all professional work wont get you far,

paint job $2-4k
Kitchen- $3k for a budget (if you have mates rates, you can get a full kitchen, for $1000 installed)
new upright oven $700-$1000 installed

theres $5k-$7k already

thank you for the feedback it's really good to get some rough idea of how much things cost..was thinking of doing the paint job ourselves as we have a friend who's a painter who can give us a hand..

is it possible to paint the kitchen cupboard or benchtop?

 

[Altonz]

You could turn the laundry into a full bathroom, and knock through the wall from the smaller bedroom into the current bathroom to make it ensuite. A builder would give you prices to do this, but your rent would need to at least cover the interest on the cost of the funds you would borrow to do this.

If you can do this all for $20K could you get an extra $23 per week rent. I would guess three bed/two bath is worth at least $23 per week more.

Do the same sums with the double garage once you get a quote.

You could "steal" some of the larger bedroom to give the new master bedroom some cupboard space, so that the bedroom with the ensuite doesn't seem so small.

We are looking at adding a bathroom and reconfiguring some rooms in a house we have to increase the rent.

Another house we are looking at adding a deck.

In all cases, in every improvement we make, we ensure that at the very least we are covering our costs. Even if we don't make more rent than the cost of doing the work, the house is being improved and on resale, we reap the benefits.

Of course, spending $30K on a deck, borrowing @ 6% means we must get $35 per week back in extra rent. We would hope for more.

Thanks once again for your valuable feedback Wylie. Yeap like you suggested we will start getting quotes.

Like you said, it would be great to improve the house even if the rent doesn't go up as we are also considering to move into the house for a few years in the near future.

 

[wylie]

thank you for the feedback it's really good to get some rough idea of how much things cost..was thinking of doing the paint job ourselves as we have a friend who's a painter who can give us a hand..

is it possible to paint the kitchen cupboard or benchtop?

If you go to my gallery, you will see what our son did with a similar sized kitchen in a unit with cheap bench tops and paint. I'll try to attach a photo here. All up his kitchen cost about $1000 to turn from this to this...

 

[Altonz]

If you go to my gallery, you will see what our son did with a similar sized kitchen in a unit with cheap bench tops and paint. I'll try to attach a photo here. All up his kitchen cost about $1000 to turn from this to this...

It is inspiring to see what $1000 can achieve. Thanks for sharing!
Does it include the floor as well? Very nice result!

 

[wylie]

Also thought I would add that we recently spent about $20K on a new bathroom for our PPOR. I worked out that I could have done the same bathroom but with less expensive fixtures and fittings for about $11K.

In my gallery you can look for the bathroom in our son's unit that was horrible (and leaking) and had to be gutted. He spent less than $10K from memory and it looks great.

 

[Altonz]

Thanks Wylie

I tried to post my response yesterday twice and for some reason it didn't post. I will definitely check out your gallery. It is inspiring to see what $1000 can do in the above pic. Your son did a great job!