Suzanne joined The School of Renovating over 18 months ago with big goals. Before that, her only renovating experience was on her own homes. Since joining, she has finished five projects, each one bigger than the last.
Her latest was a seller joint venture in WA. She never bought the house, and she made $105,000 in about three and a half months. The owner walked away about $130,000 better off than she expected.
Here’s a quick look at the deal, and how we supported Suzanne along the way.
The Deal at a Glance
- Owner’s agreed price: $1 million
- Renovation spend: $195,000
- Sale price: $1.3 million, right on the valuation
- Suzanne’s profit: $105,000
- Time: about three and a half months
- Stamp duty and buying costs saved: about $60,000 (Suzanne’s estimate)
Suzanne found this deal and ran it herself, from the first coffee with the owner to the final inspection. That’s exactly what we want for every student. Our job is to give them the skills, the confidence and the people around them to do it.
Here’s what that looked like for Suzanne.
Training and mentoring over 18 months
Suzanne came to us with big goals and plenty of drive. With training and regular mentoring, she went from renovating her own homes to running five projects, with more in the pipeline. In her words, your confidence builds and you just get better as you go.
Knowing which deals to walk away from
Something I tell all my students is that there’s always another bus around the corner. Suzanne has taken that on. She doesn’t chase desperate deals. The numbers have to work first, every time.
Lessons from the training, put to work
In our training, I tell students to get a pressure test done before taking on a house with a pool. A pool problem came to light after this sale, and Suzanne is now adding a pool clause to her future joint venture agreements. Every project makes the next one safer.
Honest feedback as she grows
I give my students straight feedback. With Suzanne, I’ve watched her budgets grow to suit bigger homes, and I’ve seen how fast she adjusts when an agent’s price isn’t realistic. She’s done that twice now. Plenty of renovators hang on to the number they imagined. Suzanne pivots, and gets it sold.
A community that learns together
Suzanne shared this project with her fellow students in a live case study session. They asked about council approval, trades, heating, styling and how the profit was split, and she answered every question.
That’s how our students learn: from each other’s real projects. The only reason we know we can do this is because we see others doing it.
How the Seller Joint Venture Worked
Suzanne met the owner while buying a dining suite on Facebook Marketplace. The owner needed to sell, but the house needed work before it could go to market.
So Suzanne offered her a seller joint venture. The owner kept the house, and Suzanne paid for and ran the renovation. When it sold, the owner received an agreed $1 million. Anything above that covered Suzanne’s costs and became her profit.
Within a week, the contract was drawn up, checked by a lawyer and signed. Suzanne lodged a caveat to protect her money, and demolition started that Friday.
The Renovation
The 200m² house was stuck in the ’80s, with exposed brick and nothing touched for years. The kitchen made the biggest difference: Suzanne replaced four sliding windows with a half wall and fixed glass, which made room for a corner bench, five extra cupboards and a coffee bar.
She also covered the exposed brick, added two media walls and wall panelling, put in ducted heating and cooling and electric log fires, and turned the four-bedroom house into five bedrooms. Work started on 23 January, and the photographer came on 11 May.
The Result
The house sold for $1.3 million, right on the valuation. The buyers were a family with six children, who are now seven minutes from work instead of an hour. The owner got far more than her agent had put on the house, and Suzanne made $105,000.
Want Support Like Suzanne Had?
If you’d like to talk through how we could support your next renovation, book a free discovery call.
This is general information only, not financial advice.
