Before writing today’s post I’ve been sitting at the desk making a list of all of the things that still need doing and I came up with about 35 things that I still need to do. If this was a week ago a lot of them would be large time consuming tasks but fortunately they are mostly small things that should not take long…I hope. I have one full day left before heading back to work and I’m aiming to get at least 25 of these tasks written off tomorrow. The remaining 10 I will class as ‘like to do’ jobs but not essential, such as pressure cleaning the outside concrete, it’s fun do do but won’t send a tenant running away if I don’t get to it. Enough about what hasn’t happened yet though, let’s talk about today.
After what seemed like a life or death decision of white vs. coloured grout, I picked up my box of ‘Havana’ coloured grout this morning, purchased a new bucket and got to work. Handy hint if you need to mix grout, get a mixing attachment that goes on to the end of your electric drill. I didn’t and it took ages to mix by hand to make sure it was well mixed through. That done though I got on to grouting the tiles. This was hands-down the messiest job I’ve had to do for the entire reno. Working across the back of the kitchen it went on easily and I got around the kitchen, bathroom and laundry tiles in just over a hour. Looking back after it though there was grout absolutely everywhere so it needed a quick clean up in the areas where it wasn’t meant to be. After waiting for it to start to set I then had to go back over it with a sponge to get the bulk of what was over the tiles washed off. In the entire process this took the longest (probably about 2 hours) as it involved constant rinsing of the sponge. Needless to say I’m sick of looking at the colour ‘Havana’ now. I left them until the end of the day to give the tiles a good clean over and they have come up well. I’ll do it again in the morning before using matching sealant in the gaps. So far the tiling project has gone without a hitch. I finished off some more painting after this and now the only painting left is in the smallest room in the house 😉
Today’s interesting event was that I made an early call to a local agent (the one that sold me the property in the first place) to get him to come in and do a valuation. Thinking it would be some time until he could make it I was surprised when he showed up at 4pm. We’d spoken a lot over the phone during the purchase but this was the first face-to-face meeting. He was impressed with the renovation and after giving him the grand tour (all 5 minutes of it) he did a few internal calculations and gave me a number. Whilst I was pleased (and somewhat skeptical) with the number he gave me, I’m keeping it under my hat for now until I get a few additional valuations and I can present my numbers to you all. I have a feeling that there may be a range come through so I’m excited to see what they are.
Now I don’t want to jinx myself but I’m taking a leap and declaring tomorrow to be the penultimate day for renovation rescue 2014.
You wouldn’t be wrong if you said that property investment and the subsequent property management that goes along with it can be a competitive business. It can take a good amount of research and experience to decide on what your criteria is that makes the ideal property manager for your requirements. Whilst my property manager 
The article below appeared today in the news.com.au real estate section and is a timely reminder of the financial drain that some people can find themselves in over the Christmas period. When it comes to weighing up between the many costs of surviving Christmas or paying rent on time the landlord can often be the loser ending up with a nasty new year surprise! The key lesson mentioned in the article and one that I fully support is to ensure that you utilise the services of a professional property manager, they are are worth every cent when something goes wrong and they know exactly what to do about it, after all, that’s their specialty. Read on below or 
Landlordism 