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Maximise your Renovation Dollars

As a nation, we love a home project. And lately, this love affair of renovating has only increased due to a softer property market, with more people choosing to renovate, rather than upgrade.

So with many households feeling the financial pinch, it’s vital to maximise any dollars you outlay for renovating, to ensure they’re put to good use.

There needs to be a genuine financial advantage to your decision to retain and improve your existing property, rather than move on - because there’s no point deciding to go ahead with a renovation unless you have weighed up all the benefits of renovating over upgrading.

Your analysis should include determining not just your financial situation, but all the other reasons you live there. It’s important to think about the benefits such as local schools and transport links, not to mention the support friends and neighbours provide.

That’s the more emotional side of the equation.

You need to be realistic and crunch numbers on all the possible outcomes of buying and selling in the current market.

In the end, if you do finally decide that renovating is the better option for you, develop a blueprint to follow, based on finely costed, definitive plans.

Determine how you spend your budget based on the primary reason you are renovating. Is it to on-sell, improve rental yields, or to improve your lifestyle? 

There is generally less emotional attachment to renovating an investment property than one you will have to live in, but ensuring you have improved the property in both functionality and value - without over-capitalising on your spend, should always be the prime objective.

Then it will come down to whether the renovations are mainly cosmetic or structural.

If the renovations are largely cosmetic, there is a lot less to consider. It’s when you get into the structural type that you really have to do your homework by ensuring that any additions are in character with surrounding dwellings and that it will add to the re-sale.

Despite the reasons for renovating, the planning is one of the most important steps. 

You should always consider these twelve key points:

• Start with a list
• Set a realistic budget
• Obtain 3 competitive quotes
• Don't get out of your depth by being swept up in the need to DIY
• Ensure all your tradespeople are adequately insured
• Pay particular attention to key areas of the house
• Weigh up the merits versus the cost of adding a pool in your area
• Weigh up whether a garage will add significantly to the property value
• Weigh up whether adding a bedroom will add value in your particular area
• Don't underestimate the power of a good paint job
• A consistent and muted colour scheme is one of the safest options
• Allocate some of the budget to finish the job with smart landscaping

Resi Home Loans offers an ideal range of home loan and home mortgage products to suit your every need. To find the best home loans for you, check out our mortgage calculators and our current home loan rates today.