Before you splash your cash on home renovations, consider these 10 important tips.
Blogger: Paul Bennion, managing director, DEPPRO
1. If you are buying an established home with a view to renovating for investment purposes, check the resale price of similar renovated homes in the local area so you can determine if it is a financially viable project.
2. Determine what kind of renovations are most popular in the local area. If you add an additional room that will not appeal to future buyers, then you could be wasting money.
3. Focus on the front of the home as this will improve the street appeal of the property. If the existing home has dark brown bricks and old guttering then consider rendering the bricks and replacing the guttering. Also, if you invest some money in better landscaping this in turn will improve the street appeal of the property.
4. Inside the house you should focus on the bathroom and kitchen areas. Improvements in these areas traditionally deliver high returns when the property owner decides to sell.
5. For ideas to improve the kitchen and bathroom areas, consider visiting new home display centres. These display homes will have the latest trends in new home design. They can also provide ideas on how to internally finish a home, such as paint colours and floor coverings.
6. You should also focus on the outside living area of the property as much as the inside. The reason being one of the biggest trends in the Western Australia real estate market currently is a growing demand by home buyers for usable outdoor living areas. It is an important new trend which is highlighted by the large number of project home builders who are now promoting alfresco areas as part of the new home package.
7. Any renovation in this outside area should be fully integrated with the family and kitchen areas. This is because people want to move easily between their internal and external living areas, especially during the summer months.
8. It is important to ensure that you get local government approval for any major renovations to your home, such as building an alfresco area or new external walls.
9. If you are employing a builder to undertake your home renovations, check that they belong to a professional building organisation. In addition, you can ask them to view recent work which they have undertaken in the local area.
10. Before you undertake a renovation, make sure you obtain a tax depreciation schedule for the property so you can legitimately claim any improvements, such as new carpets, for tax purposes.
Paul Bennion
Paul Bennion is the managing director of DEPPRO tax depreciation specialists.
DEPPRO Pty Ltd is Australia’s leading property depreciation company, specialising solely in the preparation of tax depreciation reports for residential, commercial, industrial and leisure investment properties.
