Maintenance Cost

I just want to see how much your maintenance costs you, as a % of property value, per annum.
If you have multiple IPs you can vote multiple times (if you really want to..) or just use an average.
Apologies if a poll like this has already been run.

 

That's pretty good! Do you have many older properties?

 

That's good. I'm interested to get more votes on this and see where the majority lies.

 

Depends. Some years very little, some years everything goes wrong.

I have two similar props, both built in the late 90's. One cost me about $500 in maintenance this year and the other over $10k.

 

Far out what happened?

 

Leaking showers - needed to rip up tiles, replace subfloor (in one bathroom) re-waterproof and re- tile 2 bathrooms, plus remove and replace mouldy gyprock, timber and carpet in a bedroom and hallway. Price doesn't include the reduced rent the tenant paid while the saga went on and on. Wasn't a good year to own that property.

 

Slums don't need maintenance

 

Bought blinds, carport and external painting for just one property this year. All up cost about 11K. That's not usual at all. Current tenants in sam property cost me a lot in maintenance too - window locks, door knobs, child proof oven, balcony railings, garage door etc. Have dealt with it all over the last few months. Now put my foot down. Any more unnecessary stuff needed, I'll give notice, move in myself and renovate.This property has cost me approx 1.5 -2 % recently.
Renovated property requires very little work - new stove, new oven, a plug got stuck, minor stuff and not often. Already renovated is the cheapest option.

 

I had about 3 aircond units go all at the same time last summer needing replacement which kinda sucked. Pretty minor stuff otherwise, taps, hinges, etc etc

Bit of a myth that cheaper properties have higher maintenance costs some times because they also have lower expectations.

 

Pro tip: If the property is a bit old don't rent it to a stay at home mum. They ***** and moan about everything because they have nothing better to do than burn the world

 

It's highly variable and it depends on the tenants to some degree.
Some properties cost nothing in maintenance for a couple of years but then I worry that problems aren't being reported and the place is becoming run down.
I have a few problem places that always seem to have electrical or plumbing problems.
The really good tenants often repair or replace minor items, some offer to paint internally for free rent which is good.
Air conditioners failing over summer is always a big one and hot water systems.
Fence replacements with OOs in adjoining properties interstate is great fun.

 

Helps to buy places in decent condition. Doesn't mean nothing can go wrong. But it helps. Or if you can do some work early on, it will help down the track in minimising costs. Of course things can always go wrong and cost a packet but thats the risk we take as property investors. Bathroom, kitchen appliances, HWSs and air con units being the main culprits.

 

On the horizon right now doing the 2x driveways, installing a 4 in 1 light for a bathroom, getting rid of some old, useless shed in one of the property that makes the land look smaller than it is, roof cleaning/ possibly tile replacement and if there are some funds lying around fencing for one of the place because it has the old school yard fence.

 

For just maintenance and repairs, it's around .5% of the property value, but adding in replacing assets - eg. hot water systems, carpets, airconditioners - and that will nudge it up to 1% for that particular year.

 

I've owned my property for 6 months now and maintenance during this initial period has been very costly. If it continues at the same rate over the full year the annual cost will be 0.7%. I'm hopeful that there will be fewer expenses over time, not more, now that some of the initial "kinks" have been worked out, but that's probably wishful thinking. That's what I get for buying a 100 year old Victorian in Melbourne....

 

Looking at last year's figures: mine range from 0% to 0.25% PA. These are older properties renovated to bring down ongoing maintenance costs.

 

Hi Perthguy - on average, what percent of the total initial value would you say you had to put into the renovation to bring down ongoing maintenance costs?

 

Probably not very useful for you because these are cheap properties in the $350k to $500k range, DIY reno projects (paint, carpet etc) and some work was not invoiced even though invoices were always requested. Because these are low end rentals, a lot of the materials are from gumtree (new or good condition second hand). Tiles from a factory outlet etc. I would estimate the reno budget to be between 0.5% and 2.5% of the purchase price. This is whole other league to a 100 year old Victorian in Melbourne.