One of the biggest decisions an investor has to make is when to renovate their rental property. As an investor you don’t get to take advantage of the outcome by living in the home personally. However, a well maintained property not only ensures happy tenants but may increase income from your investment. Here’s a look at the right time for Renovating your investment property.
Why it’s important to renovate
- You may be intending to expand your property portfolio, but investing in existing assets first may increase your current rental return.
- Improving current assets can increase the appeal of the property and can reduce time between letting, attract more desirable tenants or hold onto good tenants for longer.
- Additionally, if you’ve been smart with your renovtions, when it comes time to sell your property you will have increased the value of your investment.
Before deciding how to smarten up your investment consider a number of important factors.
Renovate or repair
In the first place it is of utmost importance to increase the potential of your investment property without overcapitalising.
- Before you commence any renovation job of any sort, investigate small repairs that might work without investing in a full scale renovation.
- Secondly, install fresh blinds and curtains to quickly improve aesthetic appeal.
- Thirdly, consider built-in storage as space is always a premium in residential property.
- Next you should update old appliances such as dishwashers and install air conditioning units. Remember the importance of getting energy efficient appliances. Nowadays the sustainability of homes is a great selling point.
- Then you need a very thorough clean of the property. A fresh coat of paint on the walls can revitalise the interior and exterior of the property.
- Lastly, take into account that kitchens and bathrooms are generally the most used rooms in any space. Consequently they tend to look tired so update those areas before any other rooms.
Legal obligations
Prior to delving into any repairs or renovations you have to consider the tenants currently occupying the property. Evaluate whether any works on the property will disrupt the tenants. Make investigations into prevailing laws and regulations especially if you need the tenants to vacate the property.
Effective changes
With the ever increasing real estate prices, most people opt to rent instead of buying a property. As a result long term tenancies are common and it is important to make them feel at home. This truly effective renovations are aimed at making the property homey and tenants feel at home.
