Whether you’re a landlord or a tenant getting your rental home to look the way you want can be tricky especially if you don’t have huge amounts of cash to splash around.
As a landlord you’ve just spent a big sum of your savings on the property itself and now you have to spend even more getting it to look and feel like a home, and addressing repairs and upgrades like roofing maintenance, plumbing repairs, fence construction, etc.
For tenants, you’ll more than likely be paying a fixed monthly fee so you have to keep that in mind while deciding how much to spend on the property itself to make it look good at the same time.
Fortunately there are ways to get a rental home ready on a budget. Below we’ve put together a list of 5 such ways that both landlords and tenants can benefit from.
Applying these 5 things to your rental home will definitely help save you some cash and make your rental property look and feel more like the way you want it to!
1) Do it Yourself
One of the first things you should do for your rental property is figure out everything you can do for it yourself to a reasonable standard. This could potentially save you the most money in the long run.
Things like general cleaning, painting, fixing small fittings are very straight forward for most people. To organise this a little better sit down and make a list of tasks you can do.
We do advise a little caution here as some people do tend to take on too much. If there’s something more specific that needs doing and requires a certain skill set, we highly recommend getting in a trained professional as the cost of fixing a poorly executed job may prove to be more expensive than the job itself!
2) Don’t Go Overboard
When people start to renovate a property, they sometimes lose perspective of what the home is going to be for.
For starters, a rental home (both for landlords and tenants) is not likely going to be a permanent life time residence so when redecorating keep that in mind. If you’re a tenant and only have a year’s lease don’t spend on it like you’re going to be there longer.
The same applies if you’re a landlord. Don’t spend on your rental property the same way you would on your family/own personal home.
3) Try Second Hand Furnishings
This is often seen as ‘tabu’ for some reason but don’t be put off by other people’s opinions!
Purchasing second hand items in good condition will more often than not knock off more than half the price than if you were to buy it brand new!
This makes for huge savings and complete financial sense for those who are looking to get their rental property looking good on a budget.
Online outlets like Ebay are great for this as well as websites like gumtree or craigslist where you can find personal ads for these kinds of things.
In addition property buying specialists Housebuyers4u recommend you visit charity stores, garage sales and other second hand stores to see if there’s anything good available.
4) Repurpose & Renew
This isn’t very common but can save you money if done property.
Repurposing furniture basically means using it for something else than it was originally made for. An example of this is if a chest of drawers has some drawers missing it can easily be re-used (with a little work) as a shelf.
Renewing something means to get it looking like it once did (or better). For example if the doors in your property look in good condition but the colour is fading – simply re-paint it!
There are so many more examples of this so be sure to have a good look around and see what you can re-purpose or re-use.
5) Ask Family & Friends for Help
Family and friends can not only help you with money but also with furniture and trade skills!
Ask them if they have any furniture they don’t need and if it might be useful to you take it off their hands. At the same time if someone you know is an electrician, decorator, plumber, etc. and you need some work doing, ask them if they’d be willing to do it for a cut price. You may also consider hiring this residential or commercial electrical contractor who can provide competitive and affordable prices on their electrical services.
The possibilities with this are endless so be sure to utilize your family & friends list as best you can.
A Final Word
So there you have it, 5 awesome ways you can save money and get your rental home ready on a budget.
There’s no doubt trying to implement all these things will take up a fair amount of time but in the long run it’ll save you a boat load of cash which you can use for something else in the future!
We hope our list has been beneficial to you. Let us know your opinion in the comments section below!
