A cost-effective update on a rental property can both increase the chances of rental and increase the price of the rental. Here’s how we achieved that for one of Which Hue’s clients.
An interstate client was having difficulty leasing her rental property, a house, on Sydney’s North Shore. After a number of tenants, the place was looking pretty run down and certainly less than it could.
Apart from looking tired, the house also needed some maintenance work done to it (decks, verandahs and the like) – including repairs from the previous tenants’ two Labrador pups who had obviously delighted in tearing up the yard and chewing on the woodwork.
Of course, there were some budgetary considerations to be worked around. But certain things needed to be done.
Bathroom solution
We gutted the existing bathroom (pictured right) and started anew including tiles a new bath, shower screen, toilet plus all the accessory items whilst keeping the budgetary constraints in mind (pictured right).
However, I managed to get hold of a pre-fab cabinet which saved considerable expense. The ceiling was dropped to make the room feel a little bigger and by boxing out the window, the room was given a more modern look. We also tiled to the ceiling with the tiles laid horizontally, to make the room look wider and larger. And, from a maintenance perspective, it also meant the client wouldn’t have to worry about painting the room in the future.
Kitchen
The original double sink was terribly positioned as it was stuck in the corner, we just went with a single sink bearing in mind we had a dishwasher. That also freed up some bench space. The overhead cabinets were all replaced but we reused some of the existing cabinetry, just changing the doors. A new bench top in a laminate was put in. We laid a laminate splashback over the existing tiles, it was in a lovely shade of olive complementing the bench top and a really inexpensive fix.
To finish off we painted the panelled wood walls so it didn’t look so sauna-like.The kitchen required a tighter budget as the client was hoping to return to Sydney and fully renovate the house at some point in the future. So we created a workable interim solution – replacing the freestanding stove, rangehood and dishwasher. Care had to be taken, however with finding similar sized appliance as we weren’t replacing the cork floor.
Bedrooms & living areas
Part of our brief was to remove the old and torn wallpaper which allowed us to repair cracks in the walls suitable for painting – ensuring that further damage and repairs wouldn’t be needed in the foreseeable future.
Exteriors
We also suggested that the house be repainted in its existing colours to save on costs and that the sun-damaged window frames be painted in a lighter colour so it faded less quickly and required repainting less frequently.
All that was left was for the client to spend a weekend in Sydney working on the garden and it was all ready to go on the market where it was snapped up by tenants quickly.
If we can help you restore your rental property to attract a better tenant, please call Margot on 0402 855 299 or drop us a note.