DR CHET SPEVENS | Finance Expert | CONTACT
If you’re a property baron like me, you’d know that inflation is hitting our cash flows harder than expected. Rents have not kept up with inflation over the last decade. That is the cold hard truth.
As one of Australia’s foremost expert financial life advice gurus and landlord, I keep across the latest and brightest ideas that flourish within the eternal struggle between landlord and renter. And one of the lesser known but strikingly effective profit-making tools of war is using your tenant’s bond to improve your rental property.
Let’s look at three simple ways to do this.
- Paint your vacant property – With rents not keeping pace with inflation, it actually makes more financial sense to leave your rental vacant, at least until inflation calms down. The wear and tear on your rental by tenants can be overwhelming at times, if not downright disgusting. Many of them are given to pooing and weeing in any room of the house, so I’m told. To avoid unsavoury damage to your rental by the lower class, kick them out, keep their bond, and use the proceeds to give your rental a fresh lick of paint while it sits empty.
- Upgrade your gas stovetop – We know the renewable energy transition has started, and the humble gas stovetop will need to go if your property is to keep up with this brave new net zero future. So when the lease is next up, find faults in your existing gas stovetop and blame it square on the pricks who were paying your mortgage these last 12 months. That way you can keep their bond and put it towards your brand new electric induction stovetop. The planet and your hip pocket will thank you.
- Kitchens sell homes – Thinking of selling your rental? Why not add a good $10k to its sale value by upgrading your kitchen island bench to a bigger, better one? Once you’ve got your prick renters out, walk into your investment property, and hack off a chunk of the existing laminate bench. Blame the tenants (obviously), grab their bond and put it towards that shiny new stone bench and watch as your listing price goes up!
I know it goes against our nature as landlords to improve our rentals, but if we can do it by using their bond, then why wouldn’t we?
