20/07/2023
Coming back with some budgeting expectations, based on the goal of a renovation. Let's look at the goal of renting out your newly bought property for short-term rentals.
First thing to start with, when planning to rent your apartment, is to focus on the ROI that you would like to achieve. A renovation, in this case, is an investment on two grounds - rental return and forward looking sale vaue increase. Balancing those two, is very difficult, but there are some caveats.
1. Infrastructure - electricity & plumbing. Only dable with changes in electrical or plumbing structure, if you are doing an up-scale renovation or the structure is not working correctly. These foundational parts can have a massive impact on the budget and have a lot of underlying uncertainty behind it. Just make sure that a professional takes a look into the system and change the important parts - broken swtches, broken plugs & fuses if required.
2. Kitchen & bathroom. Do not go over the top and think only about the necessary equipment that would support your guests, but make sure that they are working good. So if you are refitting a kitchen or a bathroom - plan around current electrical and plumbing points. Additionally, make sure that drainages are properly made, that there are minimal external pipes and cables - this minimizes potential for the repair costs in the long run.
3. Surface materials. A fresh coat of paint, polishing the floor or retiling old surfaces is extremely important. Fresh coat of paint will always give off a cleaner feeling to your guests, jusut make sure to use easily accessible paint and remember the brand-colour of it (you will need to repaint a lot). If you have hardwood floors installed or planning to install them, make sure to varnish them thoroughly as it adds a layer of protection from dents. But if you have a choice, use ceramics as much as possible.
4. AC. If there is no AC in the apartment, immediately plan where you would like to install it. To minimze the cost, plan in a way that minimizes the distance between the exterior and interior units, as copper gas piping can get expensive.
5. Furniture. Refrain from purchasing expensive furntiure pieces, as it is likely that they will get damage in a rather short-term. For soft materials, choose furniture that has an option to easily remove the material shellfor cleaning or choose an easy to clean material. Do not overdo the bedrooms aswell, guest usually come to relax in the area and spend the timein the bedroom only for sleeping late at night.
Lastly, always budget for maintenance, repairs & cleaning as you go. We would suggest to cut out roughly 10% of planned return for such needs.
Hope it is innformative!
