Buying an investment property is strictly business. You aren’t buying a home to fall in love with. You are buying a financial asset.
If it’s a permanent rental in Newcastle or a holiday house in Port Stephens, the goal is income. But nothing kills your return on investment faster than unexpected structural repairs or a lawsuit because a deck wasn’t safe.
If you are looking at picking up a rental this season, here is why a proper inspection is the most important step in your due diligence.
The ‘Tenant Factor’
Here is the hard truth about renting out a property. Tenants will never care about the house as much as you do.
A homeowner might notice a small drip under the sink and fix it immediately. A tenant might ignore it for six months until the cabinetry rots out and mould takes hold in the wall cavity.
When we inspect tenanted properties, we often find maintenance issues that have been ignored for a long time. We look past the furniture and the fresh paint to see the house through a builder’s eyes.
Safety and Liability
This is especially critical for holiday rentals (Airbnb/Stayz). If you have paying guests, you have a duty of care. We see a lot of timber decks and balconies in this region. If a handrail is loose, a balustrade doesn’t meet current height regulations, or the timber substructure has dry rot, you are potentially sitting on a massive liability risk. You don’t want to find out your deck is unsafe after it collapses on your tenants.
Our Pest and Building Inspections cover these safety aspects. We check the structural integrity of the sub-floor, the roof void, and external structures like decks and pergolas. We tell you exactly what needs fixing so you can rent it out with confidence.
The Silent Destroyers
Termites love empty houses, but they also love tenanted ones where nobody is checking the dark corners.
In the Hunter and Port Stephens areas, termite activity is high. We often find active termites in investment properties because the previous owners didn’t keep up with their annual inspections.
You cannot rely on a generic report from the vendor. You need an independent inspector working for you to tap the skirting boards, check the moisture levels, and crawl under the floor, we provide you with a non-biased report, stating the true condition of the property, good or bad.
Budgeting for Repairs
As an investor, you need to know your numbers.
If the roof needs pointing, the bathroom waterproofing is failing, or the retaining wall is leaning, you need to know those costs before you settle. You can use our report to negotiate the price down or ask the vendor to rectify the issues. Without that information, you might pay full price and then get hit with a $20,000 repair bill in your first year of ownership. That wipes out your rental yield quickly.
Protect Your Asset
Buying an investment isn’t something you want to rush. You should know exactly what you’re getting before you sign anything. If you’re looking at a property, call our team, we have inspected thousands of homes across the region and know the signs that matter.
Call our team on 0488 885 203 to book your Inspection or alternatively, Order an Inspection online.
