3 Common Mistakes To Look Out For When Renovating A Property
Within the real estate world, many developers are keen to get their foot on the ladder by purchasing an old home and renovating the property. However, too many developers make the same mistakes when planning renovations, so it's important to ensure you take steps to avoid these three common slip-ups:
Purchasing the Wrong Property
Buying a property with the intention to make it into your dream home, or to make you a significant profit, can be extremely exciting. Many budding property developers get a thrill of excitement from taking a neglected and run-down property and turning it into something magnificent. However, the renovation process is often highly stressful, difficult and time-consuming. Therefore, it's imperative you take on the right property when looking for a renovation project.
The first thing to clarify is what your true intentions are. If you're looking to renovate the property with the intention of living in it, then you may not be highly concerned with the length of time required to renovate it. However, if you are looking to flip the property and make a profit, you must choose a house that has high resell potential and can be renovated in a relatively short period of time.
Therefore, it's important you spend time assessing the amount of renovation required on the property in order to get it to market. Diving in at the deep end can be a huge mistake, as costs can quickly accumulate and make it difficult to break even. Spending a little time at the front end of the project will allow you to assess whether or not the property will be profitable when you eventually take it to market.
Rushing the Design Process
As a property developer, you'll know the true importance of design. A good design, both internal and external, can transform a neglected home and add significant value to the property. When renovating, it's vital you keep the importance of design to the forefront of the project, rather than rushing the process to get the property to market.
The design of your property should accurately reflect the type of homeowner or tenant you wish to attract. Students will require a significantly different living space than a family of four, so you should adjust your design to suit your target audience. Remember to look at the property through the eyes of your target – you aren't designing the home for yourself!
Once you have a design in mind, you should thoroughly plan the allocation of resources to ensure you are making the best use of available time. A lack of detail during this stage can lead to delays when hiring contractors, resulting in an empty property that leaks money from your wallet. Keeping things organized, concise, and easy for contractors to interpret will ensure the renovation process goes smoothly and quickly.
Taking on Too Much DIY
When it comes to renovating a property, you have two options – to carry out the bulk of the work yourself, or to hire a contractor to carry out specific jobs on your behalf. Before committing to buying a property, you should have a clear plan in mind outlining the allocation of jobs to ensure a quick and easy renovation process.
If you have good experience in DIY, you may be inclined to take on the bulk of the work by yourself. While this will help you to control costs and ensure a good standard of workmanship, don't overcommit yourself. It's easy to become over-ambitious at the front-end of a project and believe you can renovate the property yourself in a few months. However, this often proves to be an unwise decision which can lead to stress and unnecessary costs down the line.
Therefore, you should consider alleviating your workload by hiring external contractors to carry out jobs on your behalf. These contractors may only be used for highly specific jobs (such as strengthening a roof truss), or they may be used to carry out most of the renovation work. Whichever you choose, you have to be certain the renovation will be carried out to a high level of workmanship at a reasonable cost.
Avoiding these mistakes will help you have the best experienced when renovating a new property. If you plan to use the property as an investment, either to sell it or rent it out, you may want to work with a property management company who can help you make the best decisions in regards to what your targeted buyers might want.
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