Speculate To Accumulate In Property Renovations

Be careful when you plan your next renovation in hope of making an increased profit, the reality is your home is only as valuable as the development or area it is located and strongly influences on any renovation return expected; but that’s not to say you can’t make money from such a strategy.
With this in mind, if you are looking to sell or rent that property you have to set your budget you can afford to invest into the property without exceeding the true value of the property. In the past I have seen clients spend millions on renovating a house that they paid 5 million baht for to discover it only delivered a small increment on the property’s value of 500,000 baht. Why? Because the threshold potential on that house in that area or estate was 6 million baht tops.
Positive first impressions on a property are vital. This is a question we poise to many home owners when taking clients for viewings. You wouldn’t believe some of the properties we have been asked to list with our Real Estate business over the years. There have been cases when we have turned up and there are no kitchens, some with no furniture – which isn’t so bad – and many have no air conditioning. The old saying goes that first impressions count, so in hindsight, wouldn’t you, as a home owner, ‘speculate to accumulate’ to make sure that your property was the first on that potential client ‘wish’ list.
In the modern day and age, tastes and fashions change like the weather, but are not always to everyone’s tastes, nonetheless don’t you feel that by spending a little cash on your run down or well trodden home you increase the propensity to sell it quicker? Presentation is everything and is doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to get your home into a clean and respectable state.
The most common areas that require renovation in older homes are the kitchens and bathrooms, along with worn furniture.  These can come in at a heavy cost if you don’t consider beforehand how you plan to remodel. We recommend to most home owners looking to renovate or remodel to give themselves a project budget and then work to that budget. Secondly, take a checklist of each room in the property and consider which the most important initial changes are.
If you plan to remodel the kitchen, first thing to consider is whether the shell needs replacing. This is the ‘framework’ to the kitchen that separates the cupboards and drawers. It could well be the case that you can remodel a kitchen by just replacing the doors and fascias. Installing new doors, handles and having existing work surfaces polished can make a huge difference and save bundles in expense.
The same goes with bathrooms. Not quite as easy as kitchens due to the fact that most of the time the tiles will need replacing. Again, presentation is the key and nowadays you can pick up tiles relatively cheap. Check how many square meters are required and give yourself a budget for the tiles. Maybe mix and match a little so the finished product doesn’t look so ‘bland’. Areas to consider in the bathroom are the location of the fixtures and fittings. Relocating plumbing cost cash. So try to keep all the existing locations for the taps, bath tub, toilet and sink the same.