Case Study:
Not replacing the main door


"It is a pity that the Landlord did not change the main door" said Mrs Samuel who was entrusted with house hunting as her husband traveled overseas to work.

The Landlady said she spent $100,000 to renovate the Elizabeth Heights maisonette.

A lot of money had been spent on the bathrooms and kitchen.  It was not a 100% renovation. The main door was not replaced. Neither were the bedroom doors.

The Landlord replaced with a new light brown marble
flooring for the living and dining area but retaining the old front door as advised by the contractor as this is a fire door and costly to replace.

Wooden kitchen cabinets Brown black speckled granite kitchen table tops (should have used light colours).

Breaking down maid's room to enlarge the kitchen but the Landlord also retained the old kitchen door too. Parquet flooring of 4 bedrooms upstairs.

Marble tiling of walls and flooring of all bathrooms.

Not only were the old doors retained, the old grey tiles of the big balcony were retained and they do not match the decor. An old washing machine was placed next to the kitchen sink since the utility area was opened up. There was a small utility room in which a dryer could be placed.

As Elizabeth Heights is in a great location, being a 5-minute walk to Orchard Road and the condo premises has been upgraded as at December 10, 1999, there is no problem finding a tenant as it has big living and dining areas unlike the new condos. 

First-time Landlords to note: It takes longer to find a tenant if you don't have a 100% new look.  You may get lower rents too. 

Another interesting point is that the squatting toilet bowl in some older  condos is not replaced.  This is because it is a maid's bathroom and therefore maids don't need the pedestal WC.

This is false economy as the overall first impression to the prospective tenant who has seen numerous new swanky condos is no good if you forget to replace the "squatting toilet bowl" with a pedestal type.