Renovation questions....will it be worth it?

[xplosion]

A few queries simply with regard to renovation,

background: Single Storey 1983 house in a high class suburb in WA. Wondering about the following:

Is it worth replacing windows? Can you get them powder coated? they are an ugly brown at the minute?

The guttering has various colours in it due to a really bad paint job, again, worth spending the labour repainting or will it be more cost efficient to simply replace? I intend to replaster the exterior of the house for the modern look?

Also, I've ripped out a very bad timber covering at the exterior at the back, thinking about cheap options to provide shade/cover for an outdoor idea, thinking of using the existing brick piers and installing a shade cloth,


Thanks,

 

[mystery]

Xplosion, ....... IMO none of your suggestions would add any extra dollars to the rent or property value. They would clean the house up but spending thousands of dollars replacing windows and rendering the exterior seems like throwing money away for no return to me.

Re-painting the gutters would be worth doing to tidy the place up, but won't add any dollars to the rent. The only thing it may do is give it extra appeal to renters as a first impression, but basically it's the same house inside.

If you want to spend dollars then make the changes internally. Modernizing the kitchen and bathroom, replace floor coverings and update blinds and re-paint throughout. This will add dollars to both the property value and improve your rent return.

Mystery

 

[xplosion]

Hi Mystery,

I'm already planning to modernise the kitchen, bathroom and repaint the inside, the work proposed is to supplement these as I intend to rent it out for a year then sell it, I want the house to have a modern first impression for a potential buyer.

Thanks,

 

[Sheryn]

Xpolsion


How about some pictures of;

a) the windows
b) the guttering
and
c) the bad timber covering at the back or the poles that are left.

A picture of the front of the house would also be helpful.

Besides using this forum (and us the posters) you may find an interior designer (about $88 per hour) will give you detailed options to modernise.


cheers
Sheryn

 

[Jane - Hotspace]

Hi xplosion,

You may find that you don't need to do anything with the window frames at all. Shock horror! I have had loads of clients re-use their window frames etc.. to great effect. It's what you do to the adjacent finishes that can make all the difference. A disclaimer here - if it is a high value property then yes you would replace or re-coat the existing window frames. Painting the frames is a pretty expensive exercise, so if you are keen to avoid that cost it's worth looking at the alternatives. Here is an example of a lower value property (one of my deals actually) where the window frames remained - just the adjacent paintwork changed (easy and reasonably cost effective).

BEFORE

AFTER

This entire reno (interior and exterior) cost $15,000, took less than 2 weeks and increased the value of the property by $65k ($50k profit in 2 weeks - not bad huh??).

Also, a little hard to comment on what to do with the exterior without seeing photos - but again think outside the square. Maybe you don't need to spend all that money? Here are some other photos. This client may have rendered the property - but I recommended some other changes instead (because of the property location/current property value etc... meant rendering would over-capitalise):

BEFORE

AFTER

Last thoughts: 1) think about the current value of the property, 2) what it will cost to reno the way you are considering, 3) probable re-val on property, 4) is there enough fat in it for your efforts?

ps Don't listen to throw-away comments from people who are not investors and do not understand the concept of ROI or over-capitalising. Yes wouldn't it be great to totally gut your property and start again? But if you spend too much it's just simply not worth the effort!

Good luck!

 

[xplosion]

Thanks Jane, your advice was really good, what did you do to change the front in the latter picture? how much did it cost?

Some pictures of the house below

This is the current patio, I have totally demolised this as the timber was rotten and made the house very dark internally

A shot of the front of the house, I intend to totally clear and redo the landscape and level the front. Also, going to grow a hedge in the front and make it a "private garden". This will be followed with changing the front window to a french door and a small decking. This is to function as a opening into the front garden and also can be utilised as a home office,

This is the side of the house, again, ive removed all the patio and opened up the whole area, intend to redo the landscape. You can notice holes in the gutter which is also painted green/brown where the timber was.

I've got a very clear picture of what I want to achieve, but having some opinions of the smaller touches will help, all the details matter and will add to the cost,

Thanks,