Kitchen Makeover for Investment Properties
So you have decided to give your investment property a makeover. Of course the kitchen is your first priority. If you want to get your Kitchen Makeover for Investment Properties right, you need to follow the five proven steps. Make your budget (and stick to it); get (and compare) quotes; resurface, don’t replace; do it yourself and skip the real estate agent. Read on to learn why these steps guarantee you the best return of investment for your kitchen makeover for investment properties.
Make your budget and stick to it
It is stating the obvious, but it is the most important step when renovating for profit: Make your budget and stick to it. This rule is even more important when renovating your investment property than it is when renovating your family home. Overspending on the renovation of an investment property is defeating the purpose as you will not have any (or at least less) return on your investment.
As a rule of thumbs you should spend no more than 1-2% of your investment property’s value on your kitchen makeover. Whether you lean closer to 1% or 2% depends on the state of your bathrooms. If they are in good nick and don’t need much attention, you can spend a bit more on the kitchen. If the bathrooms are outdated and need a full makeover, stick to the 1%-rule to leave enough cash for the bathrooms.
For an average 3×2, $400,000 investment property this means you do have a kitchen renovation budget of about $4,000. (For more information on how to budget to renovate your investment property for profit, click here.)
Resurface don’t replace
You got $4,000 to turn your kitchen into a stunner. Impossible, you think? Not at all. True, you cannot buy a brand-new designer kitchen on this budget. But instead, you can give your old kitchen a make-over and make it look brand-new. Replace only what is broken and fix what is working but looking dated. The magic word here is re-surfacing. Your old-fashioned and discolored cupboard doors and drawer fronts can be re-painted; your door handles can be replaced with new ones; or left out altogether to make for a handle-less kitchen.
The result is: a brand-new (looking) kitchen that costs a fraction compared to buying a new one.
Get quotes and compare them
With a tight budget of around $4,000 it goes without saying that you need to get quotes. Shop around, call some cabinetmakers and kitchen warehouses, painters, and get some prices. Most importantly, compare the quotes. What is included? What are the materials used and what are optional extras and services? Market research shows that quotes from tradespeople vary by up to 300%. You want to make sure you get a good deal for your money.
DIY – wherever you can
A kitchen make-over offers huge saving potential if you are prepared to add some elbow grease. At Dianella Polishing we allow you to step up and do it yourself at multiple steps of the kitchen makeover and we show you how. When we come out to quote for your job, we show you how to dismantle your cabinet doors and kitchen drawers. It takes a bit of time, let’s say an afternoon for an average-sized kitchen, but you can save $100’s compared to us sending our cabinetmaker to do it. We can pick the doors and drawer fronts up from your property, or you can drop them off at our factory… The more you do yourself, the more you save. All up you can save $1,000s when you do some of the time-consuming but easy jobs yourself. This is how you successfully do a Kitchen Makeover for Investment Properties.
Skip the real estate agent
All of the above said, you can’t let your real estate agent handle your investment properties kitchen makeover. Real estate agents offer great service at a great price. And when we say great price we mean expensive. For one, a real estate agent does add his margin to everything he does; between 15% and 20% are added to each and every service he organises for you. Which is fair enough as this is his business model but if you only have $4,000 to spend you cannot afford to pay 20% to your realo. Skip that step.
Also the real estate agent does not normally shop around. They have their usual tradies they work with and that is the quote you get. DIY is not an option either. So instead of getting a brand-new looking kitchen for $4,000, you’ll end up wasting money and losing all your potential for profit. So keep your agent to find and manage your tenants. But care for the bigger investments yourself.
Kitchen Makeover for Investment Properties
Want to get going? Give us a call on 9303 2176 or click here to book a no-strings quote appointment for your Kitchen Makeover for Investment Properties.
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