Sue Elkington has been doing refurbs for 38 years, so she's seen everything that can possibly go wrong. In this interview, she shares the 10 most common mistakes she sees investors making – and tells us how we can avoid making them ourselves.
So what are the 10 mistakes that we talked about?
- Ignorance of what you're getting into
- Getting too involved: falling in love with a property instead of seeing it as stock
- Buying the wrong property in the wrong area for the wrong reason
- Doing nothing but preparation, and never getting started
- Making unqualified offers to agents (Sue explains why this is the key to getting the price you want)
- Not properly understanding your finances, then running out of cash or time
- Starting too big, without having fully tested your team
- Not allowing room to go over time or budget
- Refurbing to your taste, not the taste of the target audience
- Not having a Plan B, or not being able to detach yourself emotionally to execute that plan
So why exactly are these mistakes so damaging, and what can you do to prevent them? Listen to the episode to find out…
Episode resources
- Sue's website, Refurb Expert, where you can get a free 5-step guide to refurbishment success
- If you want to get in touch with Sue directly, email her here