LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!

And in Zimbabwe water! water! water! 

So often I see beautiful houses in the wrong area or with no borehole (or a dry borehole, which we in the industry call a "Long drop"! After all you do have a hole in the ground which could be used for ablutions if a crisis hit!!!) At the end of the day, these are the two most important factors that affect property prices.

You can change your property: knock it down and start again; add a bathroom; change the kitchen, BUT the two things you can't change are the location and the water situation. Before you buy a house, these are the two things to consider. And once you have bought the house the amount of money you spend on it is also important.

If your property  doesn't have water and is not in the Northern suburbs, I would advise you to be very cautious on the amount of money you spend to renovate it, because when it comes time to sell it, you may not get your money back. In other words, you would have overcapitalized the property.

Remember if one has $300 000 to spend on a house, one would rather buy in a good area, than a beautiful, modern, state of the art home in the wrong area.

These are some points to consider when doing renovations, and they apply to any area whether the property has water or not:

1. Don't personalize your home too much: One day when you come to sell it, the future buyers may not want some of the additions to your home, especially if you have to walk through one bedroom to get to the extension.

2. Try to avoid putting up too many outbuildings as these clutter the property and even a big stand looks small.

3. Colour schemes are so important. Wall colors can be changed, but permanent fittings in the bathroom should be white if possible and the tiles should be neutral with an accent color. Coloured bathrooms date your property. Also carpet color is a big factor. These are expensive, so try to choose neutral colors that can be a blank canvass when someone else buys your home.

4. Saunas and tennis courts are a dodgey subject, because although very valuable, not everyone is looking for those features in a property and won't see them as value adding if it is not on their list of wants.

If you are buying a house on spec to renovate and resell as quickly as possible, these are things to consider doing:

1. New Kitchen
2. Clean white bathrooms with accent colour
3. Borehole (This can add up to $30 000 to the value of the property and costs about $6000 to drill and case)
4. Wall the property and add security, like electric gate, electric fence and alarm
5. Fresh new flooring
6. Paint the whole house inside and out, again keep things neutral, but not white!
7. Don't do too many structural alterations, unless you have a good builder and the alterations are going to add huge value to your investment.

Remember if you are renovating property as a business, you need to keep costs down, but still have a first class finish. You don't have the luxury of letting house prices appreciate over time like normal homeowners, so the way you spend your money to improve it and resell at a profit must be done with careful thought.

I would appreciate your feedback and am always happy to give advice if needed...Leave me a comment and I will be sure to get back to you! Enjoy the weekend!