Personal experience: how to increase the price of apartments by a million in a month
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26 Feb 2023
500,000 rubles and 4 weeks for furnishing — how to speed up the sale of housing with the help of budget decoration, says the owner of the apartment and the host of the blog about investments Anna Gromova
I am blogging about investments, including in real estate, in the Telegram channel. In the summer of 2021, I bought an apartment in St. Petersburg for 3.6 million rubles - at the very start of sales. My goal was to sell them in a year for 5 million, earning on the price increase. But the crisis of 2022 led to the fact that apartments in this unfurnished apartment hotel began to cost from 4.7 million rubles from the developer (15% of the room stock has not yet been sold), and from 4.2 million rubles. from the owners. I put up my property for 4.3 million rubles and waited for the buyer.
View of the apartment before decoration.
View of the apartment before decoration.
For two weeks there was not a single call and not a single show. Then I decided to put furniture and decorate the interior in order to rent housing for daily rent while there is no buyer. It is very important that the apartment looks stylish and modern, standing out among competitors-neighbors. At the same time, you should not make too expensive repairs, because every 25,000 rubles invested is net income from a month of rent, that is, the money invested in the interior will pay off for several months.
Kitchen, pouf and round mirror, Leroy Merlin. Refrigerator, Hansa. Tile on the apron, Equipe Artisan. Kettle, Kitfort. Mixer, IKEA. The table lamp and sconce are ordered on Aliexpress.
I wrote to the decorator specialist I worked with earlier, but she was busy until the end of September (and her colleagues too). Then I published a post in my telegram channel and asked those who would be interested in taking my apartment to work to respond.
It was important for me that the work was done within the budget of 600,000 rubles — taking into account the trends of daily rent and apartment decoration and in the shortest possible time.
The final result: expenses of 430,000 rubles, plus 65,000 rubles the work of the decorator (total 495 0000 rubles). The deadline for turnkey work is 4 weeks.
Bed, "Liel", Sofa.Roo. Pillows, IKEA. A shelf instead of a bedside table, a round mirror and a plaid, Leroy Merlin.
In the apartment hotel where the accommodation is located, 90% of the rooms are 20 m2, the area is very small, the shape of the room is narrow and long. So making a beautiful and functional interior with a small budget is quite an ambitious task, which my decorator Alevtina Koroleva coped with perfectly. Considering that I had to work in conditions of withdrawal from the Russian market of most popular and budget brands, such as IKEA, Zara Home or H&M Home.
The table is made to order. Chairs, WB. Vase and tableware, IKEA. Cutlery, Aliexpress. Picture, Ozon.
I have already had experience working with other decorators, including a terrible one when the initial estimate was exceeded by almost 2 times. I constantly found missed expensive items in it, for example, an unused washing machine. As a result, that would-be decorator quit working on my project, leaving me with an unfinished interior and 117 IKEA boxes. In addition, some of the purchased goods did not fit, we had to make refunds. So I was very worried about how the new designer would work.
Kitchen, pouf and round mirror, Leroy Merlin. Refrigerator, Hansa. Tile on the apron, Equipe Artisan. Kettle, Kitfort. Mixer, IKEA. The table lamp and sconce are ordered on Aliexpress.
The table is made to order. Chairs, WB. Vase and tableware, IKEA. Cutlery, Aliexpress. Picture, Ozon.
But I wasn't worried for long. From the first day Alevtina showed herself as a super professional and a very responsible person who counts every ruble. The work went quickly, I sometimes posted intermediate results on my blog. And now the decorator was already worried: some of the sublists did not follow the words in the comments too much. For example, they criticized the outlet behind the hob, although it was a mistake of the developer (we planned to move it to another place before laying out the apron with tiles).
Washing machine, Candy. Mirror, Leroy Merlin. Planters with plants, dispenser and glass, IKEA. Locker door, Ozon. Handle on the door, H&M home
Alevtina worked on the interior for a little less than 4 weeks. Last week I got sick and couldn't come to the reception, so for the first time I saw the finished work only in the photo, and I was shocked. I was thrilled! And I decided to arrange a holiday on the occasion of the completion of the repair. I invited Alevtina, the neighbors and my mother. The party turned out to be very emotional — I realized that you always need to celebrate success. Yes, of course, I had to spend money on decorations and snacks, but it doesn't matter. Emotions and memory are priceless!
Pouf and round mirror, Leroy Merlin. Vase, IKEA. The table lamp and sconce are ordered on Aliexpress.
I needed to find a nice table, but at the same time stay within budget. Similar models cost from 28,000, it was beyond the budget. I ventured to make it to order in another region, found a cool blacksmith. The table cost me 18,300, which allowed me to save almost 10,000 rubles on one position
decorator Alevtina Koroleva
The table is made to order. Chairs, WB. Vase and tableware, IKEA. Cutlery, Aliexpress. Picture, Ozon.
The estimate that Alevtina made when she wrote me a letter was fulfilled. The deviation turned out to be small — 2.7%, and I think this is just an excellent result. The cost of the decorator's work cost me 15% of the entire estimate. In total, I paid exactly 500,000 rubles for turnkey equipment.
The finished interior immediately attracted buyers. And if the empty walls were not sold for 4.3 million rubles, then the decorated apartments were put up for 5.7 million. (taking into account the backlash for bidding up to 5.6 million), and soon a buyer was found. So I had the opportunity to sell a house at least a million more expensive than it would have been without repairs. So my advice is: do not be afraid to decorate the apartment before the sale, you will not only beat off the repair, but also earn almost 100% of its cost!
