How To Renovate

EP46 Turn Your Reno into Revenue: How to Make Your Home Pay You Back

• Tash South • Season 1 • Episode 46

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Hi I'm your host, Tash South I'm an Interior Designer and Renovation Consultant.
Each episode of How To Renovate is short, but brimming with practical advice to help you manage your renovation project with confidence and success.

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Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, tash here, welcome back to the how to Renovate podcast. Today we're talking about something a little bit different. I wanted to go over some ways you could make some money from your home after you've renovated. So I know how expensive renovating is and I think sometimes after the renovation, once you're settled in, I do think it's nice for your home to be able to earn just a little bit of that money back. Now, both of these things I will discuss in this episode we've actually done ourselves with our own home, so I just wanted to give you a little bit of a rundown of how it went, some pros and cons, and give you some tips on if you're renovating, or shall I say before you're renovating, things to consider as I go through, if you're thinking about doing these things to earn some money out of your own home.

Speaker 1:

So let's get into the episode, okay. So firstly, we're talking about holiday rental, so basically Airbnb. So Airbnb comes with a few pros and cons. I know so many people have concerns about you know who will be staying in their home, will their possessions be safe, perhaps some concern about property damage, people kind of not looking after things or breaking things. So these are really valid concerns and I guess you need to think about how you feel about these things before you make the decision to rent out your home as a holiday rental. I'll talk you through a few. Firstly, a few things to think about before you're renovating. If you're planning on doing this in the future, that would be helpful. And then I'll talk about my experience of Airbnb-ing our house and a few things I did to make it generally a smoother process and also a more enjoyable process for the people who came to stay, and also a few tips for just kind of upping how it feels. So you can demand a little bit more for your place to make it all worthwhile, because it can be quite a lot of work to do this. You can get some good money from it, but it can be quite a lot of work to prep your home as well. So I'll talk through all of that.

Speaker 1:

So firstly, let's talk about some things to consider when you're renovating if you're going to consider renting out your home as a rental. So firstly, I would say is to choose your materials. Well, If you're thinking about renting out your home, you want to make sure that you're choosing durable materials, especially things like flooring, tiles and so on. You don't want to be too precious about people kind of spilling things or accidentally dropping something, so they need to be hard wearing or it has to be a kind of material that you're you know you're okay with if it might get dinged or damaged or whatever here and there.

Speaker 1:

So throughout our home we have herringbone engineered wood floors in quite a light color and I mean over the years we have dropped things on there. They've got a few dents in. It's been there's. There are a few stains and scrapes and things here and there. Um, you know general wear and tear so that doesn't bother me too much. Um, there's no major issues with it. Um, and also I don't mind those little marks and so on as you go through the years. I think it kind of adds to the character and of course you want to enjoy your home. You don't want to be kind of worried about every single little mark and scratch that happens to to come onto the floor or you know you want to kind of be relaxed in your home with the materials that you choose.

Speaker 1:

So I think just think really carefully when you're doing this about materials and finishes that are hard wearing, that are easy to clean. Perhaps they don't take too much maintenance, so that you're not having to kind of before guests arrive. Let's take what can we use? We can maybe use cement tiles as an example. Those are pretty porous and if they're not treated properly they can stain easily. So let's say, perhaps before you have guests you may want to put an extra coat of treatment on there and then when the guests leave you might want to clean and do it again. So I would say if maybe avoid materials like that that take extra maintenance. Maybe just choose things that can be easily cleaned, hard wearing, so that when you're having guests in your home you just don't have to worry about these things so much. So just in terms of materials like that, just think carefully. Maybe worktops is another example If you just have kind of composite worktops instead of real marble, which stains a lot easier and marks a lot easier.

Speaker 1:

So I would just say think ahead If you're thinking about using your home to earn money for you in this way in the future, just think ahead, because it's going to make your life a lot easier when you come to actually renting out your home. So that's one thing I would say in terms of choosing hard-wearing materials, but then I would also say in terms of layout, when you're planning your renovation and your floor plan is to make sure that there's spaces that are just lovely to use. So I'm sure you'll do that for yourself, for your own enjoyment, for your own family anyways. But I find the things that work really well for rentals is a nice spacious kitchen, so open plan, light, somewhere to sit in the kitchen, if it's a little table, or the spa, somewhere to have breakfast, so definitely somewhere to sit and eat in the property. So when it comes to Airbnb as well, I think the number of bedrooms is important. So if you think ahead and think about your home in terms of how many bedrooms you can fit in there, always think about ways you can perhaps close off areas. So, for example, upstairs here actually, in this room I'm sitting in right now it's my office, and before we, when we were planning the home, this was meant to be a completely open plan landing, so it's right at the top of the house. You come to the top of the stairs, there's this space and then there's a doorway straight onto our bedroom and ensuite. But when I thought about Airbnb-ing it and just further usage of the home and practicalities. I actually thought this space would be much better off if we could actually close it off. So I designed some bespoke bookshelves with a sliding door in between. So it's kind of a sliding door sandwiched by two bookshelves one faces into this room, the other faces back onto the stairs and there's a sliding door in between which is mostly hidden. But when we do come to Airbnb it this serves as a fourth bedroom. So we have two bedrooms downstairs the main bedroom and then this is actually a fourth bedroom. So if you look on Airbnb, kind of properties with more bedrooms tend to demand higher rentals. So when I advertise this home I can say it's a four bedroom, so this could be a single person, a child's bedroom, a baby's room and so on, and then we just accommodate with a fold-up cot or a single bed, as we need to. So I would say, just think about that when you're planning your spaces. Maybe, even if it's if you have two reception rooms like a living room, have an option where there's some double doors or there's some way of closing off that space so you can could potentially be used as an extra bedroom when needed, so it doesn't always have to be a bedroom in your day-to-day living, but if you needed to have an extra bedroom for rental, it could possibly be, so just think ahead in that way in terms of materials and in terms of your space planning as well. Okay, so now when it comes to actually preparing your home and for renting out itself, so when you're ready to accept your first guests.

Speaker 1:

So I find people are generally concerned, obviously, about privacy. They've got all their personal things around. They're also worried about breakages, and so what I do when we do have guests is I just have a bit of a system. So any kind of personal items that I don't want people to be seeing or want to be put away, whether that's family photographs or any sensitive documentation I actually I'll take photographs down. I have these kind of plastic storage boxes, so everything I don't want anyone to access, or sometimes it's even like a precious or sentimental object or something on the shelf I have these boxes which I then go around the house. I quickly grab those things I don't want to have around when guests are here, and then I have a space ready for those boxes, so they then go into a wardrobe, and then all the items that I don't want people to see or access. I will then put in a storage, a wardrobe or something with a door that closes.

Speaker 1:

And then I don't know if you've ever seen, but if you have children or babies you may have seen there are these special locks that you can fit on the inside of drawers, doors, wardrobes, kitchen cabinets. They're kind of magnetic and you need this magnet to open, to release the magnet and open the drawer. So I simply put those magnetic locks on every single door and drawer that I don't want anyone to open and I think people are generally respectful of that. So if they go to open something and they find that it's locked, they'll, they'll leave it. They're not going to sit there and try and get into a drawer that's locked, right. So I tend to do that put everything away that I don't want people seeing. So I think that is a way that you can kind of protect your privacy. And then also you can do that for any of your sensitive documents, your filing, your work documents or files that you may have at home. I do exactly the same for those. So that is a way that I kind of just go around and make sure that in terms of security, that's dealt with.

Speaker 1:

And then, in terms of prepping the home for guests, what I love to do is kind of give the guests a experience of actually staying in a hotel, because mainly people who get Airbnbs are on holiday and they want to be living in a space that feels like a bit of a break. I always find it. You know, it absolutely must be clean. We've stayed in Airbnbs before where it was really not up to standard and there was stuff everywhere. Things were dusty, so I really take the time to make sure that everything's really lovely for the guests. I put mattress protectors on every single bed and then additional mattress cushioning as well, so it's extra comfy.

Speaker 1:

I actually have special duvets and cushions that are only for guests, which are stored up in kind of high shelves in the wardrobe so that we don't need to access all the time. So I swap everything round, so our own pillows and bedding, duvets and so on. They never get used for guests. So that's another way. I just kind of maintain that feeling that you know these are ours and we have other things for guests, and I think also that keeps the guest stuff. Because they're being used less often, they feel fresher. So the the guest pillows and duvets always feel quite new, which I think is important as well for the guests, because you don't want to kind of get into a bed where you feel like it's um, it's not new and fresh. So always fresh duvets, pillows and covers for everything when the guests come.

Speaker 1:

And then, something I think which is a really lovely touch that I always do for Airbnb guests as well is I will make sure that there's at least one section of wardrobe, one chest of drawers, completely empty for their things, especially if they're staying a while. The guests we've had usually stay for two weeks or longer, and so you want to make sure that they can come in with their suitcase, they've got somewhere to lay out their things, because obviously they want to be able to lay their things out, choose what they want to wear every day and have some space to do that. So I'll make sure that there are some empty spaces for them and everything else has got the magnetic locks on so that they can't access. And then I just think little things like making sure there's not a lot of stuff shoved under the bed, because you're trying to hide it and get rid of it and it's maybe shoved under and it's all a bit dusty hasn't been cleaned. I think things like that really are kind of just going a bit beyond and making sure that the guest has a really nice experience, they leave you a good review, and so they and they might come back again. So I think those things are really important.

Speaker 1:

And then if we just go back to cleaning as well I mean, I generally clean pretty well, or I'll get some cleaners in to help me do it, because you really want to make sure especially the bathrooms, especially the kitchen, are really really clean and clean, and the beds obviously as well. So I think all of these little touches really count. It makes you be able to demand a higher rental for your property. Obviously, it depends on the area you're in as well. We happen to be in a big, busy city in London, so demand is always quite high, which is great. So we get really good guests and they generally stay quite a long time. But you can adjust that. We choose to have guests a long time because that's when we're going away for our holidays, and so to do all of that prep for someone just staying for a couple of nights is too much. So I generally do a minimum of two weeks, and so it's just about finding the right people who are going to be here for that amount of time, and then in the kitchen I'll do a similar thing.

Speaker 1:

I think also, people want to be able to go into the kitchen and not feel like they're cooking, particularly in someone else's kitchen, with all the ingredients still in the drawers and all the stuff still in the fridge. So what I do is I have a big clear out of all the drawers. I put a lock on kind of the larder cupboard, so anything that they don't want to see of like baking stuff, canned goods, any of the larder stuff, there's a lock on that cupboard. I'll leave them some space. So if they want to buy their own groceries, they've got space to put it. I'll completely clear out the fridge and really really clean the fridge. So I think the fridge is really important to be clean as well. Then of course, the oven and the hob. Just make sure those are spotless. Um, and then things like the sink as well. Make sure the sink's really clean, the taps are polished, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1:

And then I think a really lovely touch, which I love to do, is just to leave the guests something special to arrive to. We have an amazing baker's around the corner from where we are. I go and I get a really fresh cake. I leave that in the fridge for them with a bottle of champagne or a bottle of Prosecco, and then also I leave them a guide of how everything in the house works, but then also what's to do in the area, how far away the closest restaurant is, the closest tube station is. You know the nice places we've eaten, the good pubs, the best coffee shop, all that kind of stuff just written down for them in a guide which you can just do once and just bring it out every time you have guests and I just think that's a really lovely touch as well. And then, of course, always a little vase of fresh flowers as well just to welcome them. And I think just kind of all of these things together helps you not only prepare for your guests, but also if the guests experience is really good, they leave you really good reviews and then you'll get more rentals from that and then they might also return as well. So I think it's a really great way to earn money from your home after you're in, or if you just happen to have a home that's big enough anyways, and you can make a really good amount of money from doing this. I know for sure that the few times we've rented out our house, it has actually nearly paid for our holiday that we were on when the house would have been vacant. So I mean, to me that's really a great exchange. So I would really say, look into it if you are interested and if you want to know more, do let me know. Leave me a comment wherever you're listening to this, or send me an email and I'll do a full episode on holiday rentals, step by step, and I can perhaps even do a downloadable PDF guide as well. So do let me know if you might be interested in that.

Speaker 1:

Okay, moving on to number two. So this is quite an exciting one. This is one we've done before. So the second way of earning some money from your property that you've ploughed all that money into for your renovation is to hire it out as a location house. So what that means is that any kind of filming will happen in your home. It could be for any number of things. It could be for an advert, it could be for a charity, it could be for a movie or tv series. So this is actually a really fun way to make some money out of your home and also it's a bit less kind of intrusive than airbnb in your home. You don't have to do so much prep, you can literally leave it as it is if you like, and the company hiring your home the film crew or the film company they are obliged to leave it exactly how it was so and there's insurances for that. So they're generally quite well insured if anything breaks, if anything goes wrong. Obviously, if they do break something, you'd have the hassle of putting it right. But, um, generally, if you do it right, you should be protected, you should be insured and they should put everything right exactly how they found it before they leave.

Speaker 1:

Now these location shoots can sometimes take. They can just be one day, or, if they're doing a long shoot, it could be a number of days where you have to be out of the house or in a different area of the home if it's big enough for the time that they're there, and then of course, it depends where in the world your house is as well. So again, we're in London, so quite a lot of filming takes place, so it's quite a good location to be for this kind of thing. But really you could. You could register with an agency. So there's various location agencies out there. So location house agencies and you the way you do it is find out who those are wherever you are in the world. Find out who those are, send them an email, give them a call. They will then talk through the details of your home. They'll ask for some photos. They may even send someone out to look at it to see if it's suitable, and if it is, you're kind of ready to go, so they may send a photographer to take some photos. Or if you have some great photos already of your home, you can submit those and then they will make your listing live on their website and then people can then view your home along with all the others and make choices. So that's generally how that works.

Speaker 1:

Now, same as with the rentals, let me talk you through what you can think about before renovating. That could perhaps facilitate this and make it a little bit easier to get some location house shoots when your house is finished. And then also I'll talk through some of the pros and cons that I've experienced when we have done this. So firstly, let's look at the renovation section. So I would say it's very similar. So I would say it's very similar actually to the Airbnb in terms of making sure those materials are hard wearing and robust because, even more so than the rental, you're going to have crews come into your house. They've got lots of equipment tripods, cameras and, depending on what they're shooting, there could be up to 20-30 people in your house at any one point.

Speaker 1:

So you need to make sure that if you're going to be concerned about finishes, floors, walls getting dinked and so on, that you are choosing materials that you are happy with. They're robust, easy to clean and not easily damaged. Also, something to think about, I found, is if you're having, if you have, a kind of a larger space, so like an open plan ground floor of your home so kitchen, diner, living type situation they find that quite useful as well, because they generally the camera people need to get quite far away from what they're filming or they need to have that option anyway, and so that is a benefit. If you have kind of a space where they can get from one end to the other without visual interruption, get their equipment through, that's really great as well to think about when you're thinking about layout doors that can be open, everything that can be open so that the camera people can get far away, so that's a great one as well. And then also hard floors. Um, they tend to prefer hard floors and I think that's generally because sometimes the cameras are on wheels and the tripods on wheels and they need to be able to kind of roll them about to get various shots. So that's really good to know as well.

Speaker 1:

And now issues we have here in this house when we're doing this is actually it's not that big of a house and the stairs are quite narrow. So actually, when we've had people come to view it, to look at suitability for filming, they have told us that the stairs are perhaps too narrow. They can't get all of their kind of long tripods, poles, equipment through. Sometimes we've lost out on that. So if you have the opportunity to keep things spacious, if you have the option to have bigger stairways, higher, higher ceilings sorry, higher stairwells, then that's great to have as well in terms of perhaps getting more, more opportunities. And then again, let's look at the practicalities. So I found generally, again when we've had crews into our home, they have been really considerate, they've really looked after everything well and they have left everything as they found it, and they should really, because that should be in your contract. So that's been really great.

Speaker 1:

Um, I tend to do this is completely up to you, but again, I tend to not want to have the private stuff out, especially when you have possibly 30 strangers coming into your home. So I tend to do the same thing as I do for the Airbnb, where I'll go around, grab the personal stuff, put them away and then just make sure all those magnetic locks on all the doors are locked so that people can't go around opening cupboards and looking into things in terms of kind of kitchens, bathrooms and so on. You can pretty much leave things as they are if they're filming in a particular area. Um, we've had quite a lot of filming in our kitchen area because it's kind of the more spacious part of the house. But when they are filming there, they generally will bring their own stylists and people to kind of set everything up. So you don't even need to worry about kind of leaving things out, having the um, having things on the surfaces or whatever, because even if you go around and and you know arranging everything to look pretty, they'll bring their own stylus in, take everything out, possibly bring their own items to style as well, so you don't really need to worry about that too much.

Speaker 1:

Um in terms of money, so it can vary and again depending on where where your house is in the world, but here in london it's actually it's really good money. You can start anywhere from one thousand one thousand five hundred pounds a day. Um to use your house as a location house. So you know if you can, if you can get it, it's really great and it and it's for not much disruption and quite often the shoots are only one day. Sometimes you'll get a three-day shoot and then obviously they'll pay you that per day, which is great as well. Then, of course, you just need to make sure that they have access to everything all the space in the house. So that's really great. The money can be really good, obviously depending on where you are, but it can take a while to get these.

Speaker 1:

It's not really like you can depend on getting every job. Sometimes we've had four or five people come round to look at the house, to film one ad and so on, and then they're viewing maybe three or four others as well and then they might decide the others are better for what they need to do. It's just really good to know that it's not always guaranteed, but it is lovely when you get it. Also, another thing to note is that parking is really important as well. So if your home's got great parking, that's a really positive, because obviously you have all these vans coming up with all the equipment, all the talent, all the staff. Everyone that needs to be on the shoot needs to bring vehicles to get there, and they need somewhere to park and get their stuff in and out of their vans quite easily as well. So if you've got that, that's a huge bonus. So I think that wraps up the episode.

Speaker 1:

Everybody, I hope this was useful. I hope that you can see how, if you think ahead, how you can actually make some really good money out of your property as well. Help pay for that expensive renovation. If you'd like me to expand on these, like I said, drop me a line. Maybe I can do a full episode on each of these with more details. Let me know. But that brings us nicely to the end and I'll see you in the next episode. Bye for now. For more information on my five pillar process for successful renovation, you can go directly to southplacestudiocom forward slash pillars, where you'll find an introduction to the process which covers each of the pillars and what they cover. We also have a number of other free renovation resources. Go now to southplacestudiocom forward slash freebies. I have created some amazing freebies for you there. There is one on the process, like we just said, there is one on planning permission. There is one on kitchen design. There is another one on lighting planning. Go and check those out. There's so much free information there to help you with your renovation.