Spent the whole day renovating !

Just got home after being up at 6am this morning after arranging to meet a German backpacker I found on Gumtree ready to start my day renovating my IP that I got very cheap a few weeks ago.

Young fit lad with construction experience, he knew his stuff .

I changed all the door handles to brass color $19.90 at Bunnings .
We built a rockery .. Spent nearly $100 on plants... I actually wish i took some before and after pics but anyway.
Added bark , palm trees, flowers .

All my new neighbours came out and said how good it was.. I love talking to new neighbours as they watch over my place too.

We changed or should i say my assistant the German boy changed the cupboard handles to brass ... Looks much better !

Painted the garage floor with grey paving paint .. I think that was about $74 !
Put in new built shelves $85 into the garage.
Tried haggling at Bunnings but seems they dont know anything about it.

Just he didnt know how to change the kitchen mixer ... But thats ok .
I reckon i increased about 10k value on my ip today .
All up i spent over $500 but it seems much better .

A few more days painting a bedroom, tidying up ends etc and it will look hopefully 40k more than i paid for it.

 

How was the tools? Did you use a grinder?

 

No only used a drill and bought a rubber hammer from Bunnings to knock in the wood boundary fence for the rockery.
The carpet will be changed this week .

All up it was a very tiring day .. Im glad i found this young German guy who was a hard worker... Changed all door handles to brass and it looks great better than those old dreary silver ones .
Kitchen cupboards look great too with new handles and theres many to choose from at Bunnings .
I will take some pics next time im up at my IP to show before and after shots .

I bought some brass light switch covers but seems they are too small to fit on , i always thought the light switches were same size unless im doing something wrong.

 

Sign up to a Bunnings PowerPass card, discounts of 5-15%, better than nothing
https://www.bunningspowerpass.com.au/myaccount/f?p=111:62:142341786494959::NO:62::

 

Will you be staging it before sale/leasing? A good quality glass coffee table is essential.

 

whats the address of your IP? So we'll know the before looks.

 

Germans make great tradies. They take pride in their work.

 

You've changed some door handles, made a rockery & painted the garage floor. And it has made you 10k? May I ask what you are basing it off - it doesn't really sound like much work has been done on the house (although, I'm sure it does look better & the effort hasn't been wasted).

Are you sure the value isn't from purchasing well?

 

Yes your right i did purchase about 35-45k under valuation partly due to the state of the place and the tenant who had been a problem and had clothes and rubbish everywhere.
I only came to find this property through doorknocking where a neighbour alerted me to his brother who owned the house 2 doors from him and he had it rented to a man who was just plain filthy and abusive and he wanted out but hadnt put it on the market yet.

They had shown other people who had interest ( according to the PM) but so far no takers , (they couldnt get finance excuses etc)but i knrw it was because of the tenant and even looking at the property was difficult.

All building structure was good, eg no holes in walls just dirtiness.
One of the cinditions of the sale was the tenant was to be changed over to the new owner but as he hadnt been paying rent etc i decided he would have to go once i took possession,and surprise he did a few days before and and i Immediately changed the locks.
The previous owner seemed to just want out and i think the same with the managing agent .
He (owner)had his property managing agent represent him so i took it they both wanted out .

I think they may have been physically scared of him (tenant)as he had a mental illness.

but i have made things nice now, cleaned dead mice and cockroaches, new carpet, shelving in the garage.

 

@Darlinghurst Boy Will there be photos later? Everybody loves reno photos

 

That's why I asked @Darlinghurst Boy for the address. It's now sold to him so no risks in revealing.
I'm happy to show my before reno pictures. Prep for painting starts today and kitchen is being made as we speak.

 

Woops, I must have missed some threads!
It's ok, photo of sink and handles before and after should be great too

 

Photos?

 

I would like to get this project finished ,so it can be rented out, mostly for security reasons.
One of my concerns is the previous tenant coming back but i have made friends with all the neighbours who i have showed inside to, they were just glad to get rid of him i think.
I rather enjoy the friendliness of this area , people actually say hello not the same here in Sydney !!
I did actually go out of my way to be friendly to neighbours though because i needed that extra security as the place is vacant and by waving and saying hello to neighbours they then all approached me and introduced themselves.

I never forget a thread on here a long time ago where a guy who had just bought a IP and was renovating it saying how nosy the neighbours were and he had told them to mind their own business !!!

Not the way to go in my books ! In fact they all now have my number and all of them said they will watch over the place.

But im enjoying it but going to have to watch the budget.
One of the best things was finding a guy on Gumtree who has handyman skills and im paying him per day rather than per job .
New shelving will go up in the garage and workmens desk which hopefully will attract handyman types, i bought it from Bunnings for $84, some may say its a waste of money but it makes the garage look good .

A lot if stuff i have done is more appeareance i guess, changing everything into brass, adding shelving, painting , etc but it looks far far better .

 

That's probably not a good idea. As soon as the new tenant has a party, noisy visitor, loud car departure, etc etc, Who do you think is going to get a call?
I know this from experience. They hold their phone towards the noise source and say "can you hear that?" ...........

 

@Darlinghurst Boy are you managing the property or do you have a PM?

 

Wait a second. You went around the neighborhood door-knocking to see if anyone wanted to sell their house and this happened to work?

 

Every one already knows that he is starofdavid so no secrets there. If no one else has caught on then I must be a good detective.