Maintenance and other costs

[Blueberry]

I'm sure people have asked before, but trying to crunch some numbers to see how a deal stacks up. The two areas I really am stuck on are maintenance and water costs and searches seem to be coming up blank.

For maintenance do you use a percentage of rent? Then allocate a bit more for older properties?

For water I hear I don't pay water rates as such, but I do pay sewerage fees etc (Victoria). I believe I read here that one member allocated $300 /year for this. Does that sound right? I about $300,000 property if that makes difference.

What do you pay/allocate?

 

[Rickardo]

What do you pay/allocate?

Water service charges can vary a bit state to state and depending on the water provider, but for my Victorian properties my acual costs are around $580 per year.

Repairs and maintenance does vary significantly depending on type and age of property, but i tend to budget $500 per property. Actual costs have been anywhere between $0 and $3,000+ per year.

 

[Aaron_C]

If it's a house, it depends on the property. The older the property, the more maintenance is required. Also, if the property is weatherboard then it will require more maintenance than a brick house. Also depends on your tenants and the area. Obviously an apartment has far less direct maintenance but the body corporate fees make up for that.