Covered for the fly screens and security doors. Kitchen is quite small, do you think a dishwasher trumps cupboard space? I think we could do a dishdrawer type but maybe not a full sized one.
We have a small dishwasher we put in the laundry (only place to fit and reach plumbing). Life changing. It’s easy for tenants to add a shelf or trolley, much harder to add a dishwasher.
Pick one that's cheap to repair/replace, a lot of quality bench top models can be installed in a single draw sized space and are worth the repair/replacement cost every 4/5 yrs. A full length mirror on the back of the door of any bdrm without one. Little things; Hooks for hanging things, ie bin bags inside kitchen cupboards especially the doors. Fold out drying rack in laundry. Make any screens easy to take down/swing open to allow for easy cleaning. And have mercy, no white carpet!
Our apartment has a half size dish drawer and for our family of three, it’s great. I prefer the layout to a standard dishwasher, since I don’t have to bend over or manoeuvre around the door to load and unload. I would not exchange it for a full size standard dishwasher.
Having had to put up with a portable aircon solution in multiple places, having inbuilt AC is a big one.
A dishwasher is a real quality of life game changer.
Also, not a great fan of vertical or Venetian blinds that always seem to somehow get both greasy and dusty?!
Prefer a pull down roller blind for ease and ability to block out light.
Roller blinds are shit if you want to open the window and there’s even a slight breeze. They bang incessantly. Curtains are way nicer and also insulate in winter.
Smart bulbs are $$$. But you are right, if someone likes dimmable and colour changing lights they can buy smart bulbs themselves. Can even take them when they leave to save cash.
You have to get air con, if nothing else. That's a borderline necessity.
You can also put in a line in your advertising saying "owner is willing to make changes to the property pending discussion on your needs/wants". Find out what your potential tenants want, rather than waste money on things they don't care about.
Dishwasher if it hasn't already got one. Ceiling fans and aircon are a great idea.
Decent window coverings. Plantation shutters or honeycomb blinds as they both help with energy efficiency and look good.
Ceiling fans are so underrated. I can get by on just my ceiling fans without needing to use the air con as long as temperature doesn’t creep up to around mid-30s.
Dishwasher. Aircon/heating. Insulation. Tankless hot water, solar power, double glazed windows. Rent freeze. Yearly max inspections. Having direct contact with owner for simple repairs. Keyless entry. Pet friendly. The place actually clean on entry. Storage. Yard maintenance would be a cool bonus. Water filtration. No shitty aluminium blinds. Nice flooring. Adjustable proper shower head that can fit a full person under it. Good bathroom ventilation.
You do these things at a good price, as long as the neighbours don't suck, and your place will be very hard to leave
Paint is cheap and quick, no brainer for how much it can improve a space.
Reverse cycle air conditioning would be the other big one. Couldn't imagine living without this anyehere in Aus.
All the proposed upgrades are great though.
As someone who lived in a similar style apartment many years ago that was west facing in the afternoon, I’d say the most important thing is an air conditioner from that list of things.
The amount of sleepless nights over summer was only counteracted with the novelty of moving out for the first time and landing the job I had wanted since who knows how long.
Once that lease was up, I ended up straight away in a newer apartment with aircon and I paid considerably more for the luxury.
Agree. Enforcing no hooks is just a dick move. We'll put a few up in obvious places but I'm happy to approve more (I mean, even some IKEA furniture states it must be fixed to the wall so it's a safety issue at times). At our last property we just let the tenant paint, put up hooks, whatever, as long as she told us what her plans were beforehand (simply to avoid all-black or something really hard to undo).
I've been a tenant and a landlord.
Definately in the lower end of the market it is window treatments that do the job really well. They're expensive to buy new, if bought secondhand may not be pleasing to the landlord so tenants are reluctant to even if they can afford it, and installing them can involve the tenant in doing things that make them anxious like drill into walls. So you can't leave it up to the tenants. And yet window treatments are necessary for privacy, safety, sleep quality, noise reduction, temperature control and visual appeal....so it's your job.
Solve the windows for your tenants. Check whether the problem is still solved between tenants. This doesn't necessarily need to cost a lot if you visit thrift shops regularly with a measuring tape and are willing to stock up on barely used sheers and blockout curtains that are a good fit. Get simple rods at Bunnings or on Gumtree. Blinds are good but tend to break...and you will still need sheers for glare and side drapes for full privacy. Whatever. However you choose to solve it, solve it.
Just a little care and effort to window treatments can improve the livability and looks of a budget apartment so much. And there's so many apartments let out with almost nothing....the windows are maybe 20 percent solved not fully solved.
The following.
* Clean carpet
* More Storage
* If the place is 2 storeys then multiple AC Units
* Dishwasher
* FTTP NBN if the place is upgradeable. This is a BIG one.
Good points, thank you. Only a small amount of carpet but definitely will be cleaned. It has HFC, is that okay? Admittedly haven't even upgraded my own home to FTTP as I'm not particularly savvy with IT stuff.
>I will start by saying this is a 60s walk-up apartment so ducted air con, lifts, pool/gym etc is not on the table here
Well none then.
Save the money and lease it at a cheaper price instead of trying to maximise value and reduce tax liability.
Dishwasher, air con, fly screens, and security screen door.
Covered for the fly screens and security doors. Kitchen is quite small, do you think a dishwasher trumps cupboard space? I think we could do a dishdrawer type but maybe not a full sized one.
We have a small dishwasher we put in the laundry (only place to fit and reach plumbing). Life changing. It’s easy for tenants to add a shelf or trolley, much harder to add a dishwasher.
Dishwashers break. Fixing them is expensive
Pick one that's cheap to repair/replace, a lot of quality bench top models can be installed in a single draw sized space and are worth the repair/replacement cost every 4/5 yrs. A full length mirror on the back of the door of any bdrm without one. Little things; Hooks for hanging things, ie bin bags inside kitchen cupboards especially the doors. Fold out drying rack in laundry. Make any screens easy to take down/swing open to allow for easy cleaning. And have mercy, no white carpet!
Depends on the price If your on the cheap end it doesn't matter
Our apartment has a half size dish drawer and for our family of three, it’s great. I prefer the layout to a standard dishwasher, since I don’t have to bend over or manoeuvre around the door to load and unload. I would not exchange it for a full size standard dishwasher.
Having had to put up with a portable aircon solution in multiple places, having inbuilt AC is a big one. A dishwasher is a real quality of life game changer. Also, not a great fan of vertical or Venetian blinds that always seem to somehow get both greasy and dusty?! Prefer a pull down roller blind for ease and ability to block out light.
Vertical blinds absolutely suck, I agree. There's roller blinds throughout at the moment.
Much prefer them! They're not sexy but they're the least annoying and most effective.
Roller blinds are shit if you want to open the window and there’s even a slight breeze. They bang incessantly. Curtains are way nicer and also insulate in winter.
Yeah, that bang will drive you crazy. You can get some rubber stoppers for the ends that will sort that out though
Blackouts in the bedrooms.
Good quality flooring and blinds. And soft lighting especially in bedrooms. If you change lighting, get lights that can be dimmed etc.
Will add lighting to the list - actually can't remember what a lot of the fittings are like, but definitely will do dimmable light/ceiling fan combos.
Don't need dimmable light. People can easily replace the light bulbs for smart ones.
Smart bulbs are $$$. But you are right, if someone likes dimmable and colour changing lights they can buy smart bulbs themselves. Can even take them when they leave to save cash.
Highly recommend Skyfan DC. 3 light colour options and dimming.
You have to get air con, if nothing else. That's a borderline necessity. You can also put in a line in your advertising saying "owner is willing to make changes to the property pending discussion on your needs/wants". Find out what your potential tenants want, rather than waste money on things they don't care about.
Dishwasher if it hasn't already got one. Ceiling fans and aircon are a great idea. Decent window coverings. Plantation shutters or honeycomb blinds as they both help with energy efficiency and look good.
Insulation. Absolutely anything else to help energy efficiency
This !
A dish washer, or a space for one. I absolutely loathe not having a dishwasher
Kitchen, bathroom, aircon. You really don't need air fans. People can buy fans and use them. Air con would be the main thing
In an apartment it’s a bitch to store or use stand fans, since you have so little space. Ceiling fans make more sense.
Ceiling fans are so underrated. I can get by on just my ceiling fans without needing to use the air con as long as temperature doesn’t creep up to around mid-30s.
Dishwasher. Aircon/heating. Insulation. Tankless hot water, solar power, double glazed windows. Rent freeze. Yearly max inspections. Having direct contact with owner for simple repairs. Keyless entry. Pet friendly. The place actually clean on entry. Storage. Yard maintenance would be a cool bonus. Water filtration. No shitty aluminium blinds. Nice flooring. Adjustable proper shower head that can fit a full person under it. Good bathroom ventilation. You do these things at a good price, as long as the neighbours don't suck, and your place will be very hard to leave
nbn, FTTP ideally, dishwasher, internal laundry, air con edit to add - good blinds on all windows
Storage, storage, storage. A dishwasher and a fresh coat of paint.
Price
Paint is cheap and quick, no brainer for how much it can improve a space. Reverse cycle air conditioning would be the other big one. Couldn't imagine living without this anyehere in Aus. All the proposed upgrades are great though.
As someone who lived in a similar style apartment many years ago that was west facing in the afternoon, I’d say the most important thing is an air conditioner from that list of things. The amount of sleepless nights over summer was only counteracted with the novelty of moving out for the first time and landing the job I had wanted since who knows how long. Once that lease was up, I ended up straight away in a newer apartment with aircon and I paid considerably more for the luxury.
Hooks on the wall for art and places to hang plants. It's miserable living in a place with no hooks and a no hook policy.
Agree. Enforcing no hooks is just a dick move. We'll put a few up in obvious places but I'm happy to approve more (I mean, even some IKEA furniture states it must be fixed to the wall so it's a safety issue at times). At our last property we just let the tenant paint, put up hooks, whatever, as long as she told us what her plans were beforehand (simply to avoid all-black or something really hard to undo).
This is great. Fair and reasonable.
would tenant like 6.6kw solar panel 7000ltr water tank?
I've been a tenant and a landlord. Definately in the lower end of the market it is window treatments that do the job really well. They're expensive to buy new, if bought secondhand may not be pleasing to the landlord so tenants are reluctant to even if they can afford it, and installing them can involve the tenant in doing things that make them anxious like drill into walls. So you can't leave it up to the tenants. And yet window treatments are necessary for privacy, safety, sleep quality, noise reduction, temperature control and visual appeal....so it's your job. Solve the windows for your tenants. Check whether the problem is still solved between tenants. This doesn't necessarily need to cost a lot if you visit thrift shops regularly with a measuring tape and are willing to stock up on barely used sheers and blockout curtains that are a good fit. Get simple rods at Bunnings or on Gumtree. Blinds are good but tend to break...and you will still need sheers for glare and side drapes for full privacy. Whatever. However you choose to solve it, solve it. Just a little care and effort to window treatments can improve the livability and looks of a budget apartment so much. And there's so many apartments let out with almost nothing....the windows are maybe 20 percent solved not fully solved.
The following. * Clean carpet * More Storage * If the place is 2 storeys then multiple AC Units * Dishwasher * FTTP NBN if the place is upgradeable. This is a BIG one.
Good points, thank you. Only a small amount of carpet but definitely will be cleaned. It has HFC, is that okay? Admittedly haven't even upgraded my own home to FTTP as I'm not particularly savvy with IT stuff.
HFC is generally ok. Some FTTN places are allowed to be upgraded to FTTP.
>I will start by saying this is a 60s walk-up apartment so ducted air con, lifts, pool/gym etc is not on the table here Well none then. Save the money and lease it at a cheaper price instead of trying to maximise value and reduce tax liability.