The PROPERTY DOCTORS, Sydney Australia Novak Properties
NOVAK PROPERTIES CREW and PROPERTY LEGENDS in the industry share their experiences and knowledge. Hacks and tips to make you a smarter property GURU :) Learn with exclusive content, advice, insider info and HOT real estate industry PRO SECRETS. For sale, for lease, residential, commercial, buying off the plan, finance, mortgages, interest rates, first home buyer, investments - all topics covered. The untold real estate info you've been waiting for.
The PROPERTY DOCTORS, Sydney Australia Novak Properties
EP. 1389 FLOOR PLAN HACKS: TIPS & TRICKS TO MAXIMISE SPACE & FUNCTIONALITY
Floor plans might seem like simple architectural drawings, but they're actually the genetic code of your property's value and livability. Our deep dive reveals what separates a cramped apartment from a spacious sanctuary – often without adding a single square meter.
We start by breaking down the crucial size benchmarks across different property types. From micro-studios starting at just 25 square meters in Sydney's eastern suburbs to sprawling three-bedroom apartments exceeding 120 square meters, we uncover what each configuration typically offers and what to expect at various price points. But here's the fascinating part: size alone doesn't determine comfort or value. We reveal how strategic bathroom placement, clever storage solutions, and natural light can transform even modestly-sized spaces into highly functional homes.
For investors and renovators, we share actionable insights on how small floor plan modifications – like moving a bathroom door – can yield significant financial returns. We explain why banks view certain apartment sizes differently (hint: under 40 square meters raises red flags), what makes a "hybrid" apartment so appealing to budget-conscious buyers, and how ceiling height creates a premium feel that buyers willingly pay more for. Whether you're hunting for your first property or optimizing your investment portfolio, understanding what makes a billionaire floor plan isn't about endless space – it's about intelligent design that maximizes every square meter you've got.
Ready to see your property through the eyes of professional investors? Listen now and discover why the most efficient floor plans command the highest prices regardless of their size. Your perception of property value will never be the same.
Guys and girls, how to spot the billionaire floor plan. Floor plans, they're not all the same. We're going to teach some stuff about floor plans today. Stay tuned. I'm the ringleader. Ooh, this is a hot, hot topic. I like this one Basic in your face.
Speaker 2:Really basic, relevant for every buyer? Yes, and I get this question a lot, actually Like what is the average size one, two, three bedroom apartment? And I guess everyone's wish list in some ways looks the same, like out of ten things, I'd say you know most people want seven common traits, which is like an efficiency to a floor plan, it's, you know, a big enough space, big enough second bedroom, all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So we're going to break it down this morning and you can bring efficiency to your floor plan in many different ways, which we're going to talk about. So, um, you know, you can, you can. You can actually make money out of your floor plan if you're super, super smart. What I love is I don't know if you've seen in I think it's japan the super small micro apartments and the way they, they, um, maximize space. It's just incredible yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:If you can have like a um dual purpose for anything in like the apartment, like they do, I think you're a winner. It's really. If you need inspiration, as you said, go on youtube, have a look those they probably do the best japan micro apartments yep, that's why we're drawing our inspiration there's a key words.
Speaker 1:So, billy, um, let's, let's start from small and let's go to big. Um, how small is the smallest apartment you'll see, meter squared generally northern beaches.
Speaker 2:Um, if it's a one bedroom, meaning it's got a separated bedroom space, not a studio. 40 square meters is is the is the smallest I've seen Studios not so common in our area. But I've got a first-time buyer friend who's looking on the eastern side of Sydney, Potts Point, Kings Cross, Bondi Junction. He's looking at anything from 25 to 30, 35 square metres Really Studio yeah. So they are out there they're out there.
Speaker 1:so the delineation between a studio and a one bedroom for people that don't know is pretty much that privacy in that second bedroom. Um, because and I've even seen seen people and normally a window in that second bedroom as well, because I've even seen people put a separation wall down, bang it down the middle of a studio and say, oh, this is a one-bedder now, but you sort of need that window for that delineation between a one-bedder and a studio. And then another thing, Billy, is the en suite in a one-bedder compared to a proper bathroom? Can you explain that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So if you have a look at most entry level price points, the bathroom comes off the bedroom as an ensuite, whereas the ideal floor plan is actually having it separated as its own entrance, so your guest, when you're entertaining, can come through use the bathroom without going through the bedroom.
Speaker 1:Really good point of difference If you can find that in a one-bedroom apartment or a studio even that's really, really valuable, and I've seen people make money because they've turned the ensuite bathroom into a separate bathroom. So I've seen people actually move a door and actually the door, make the door open into the living room instead of into the bedroom, because it can do that. Um, obviously you go through strata, but that's a good way to make money out of a floor plan, you know, just by just by moving a um a door around as well. Now there's funding issues on these sizes that you're talking about.
Speaker 2:There can be. Most lenders like to try and find something around 50 square metres. Sometimes that can be inclusive of parking as well, but under 40 square metres banks put it into a different category of risk and therefore the lending changes a little bit.
Speaker 1:doesn't mean it's impossible, just means you need a good broker and sometimes a way to show that your deposit, you know, can cover that, or or income, or guarantor or something like that, particularly for first-time buyers so something we should also talk about is, when we're referring to these sizes, we're referring to internal space, because you've also got balcony on top of that and you've also got garage on top of that and you've also got storage on top of that. Your agents, you're asking them because we're a bit cheeky sometimes when we're referring to floor plans, we bulk them up and we put in the balcony size and we put in the garage size or car space size into the total space. But you really want to know internal space.
Speaker 2:The reason for that is a strata plan will sometimes only give you the total number rather than breaking it down to all of those different balcony storage, parking, internal. So we just package it up as one number. That's on the strata plan. Um, if you ever need help, you can refer back to the contract of sale and in there there's a strata plan. It will tell you all of those numbers for every apartment in the building. Um two bedrooms.
Speaker 1:What's a one, what's a one bed that you go wow, that's massive um over 50 square meters.
Speaker 2:Internal is is good, balcony um good, and parking good. Parking is 15. So that brings you to about 70, 60, 70 square meters total, which is great. You're, you're a hero, yeah, that's, that's hero. For two bedrooms, anywhere between 70 to 90 square meters is the average range for dy northern pictures.
Speaker 1:Typical two-bedroom apartment um it's about 80 square meters total and now you've got full, you've also got floor plans that want to be another bedroom on top. I sometimes call them a hybrid, where sometimes you know you have a one-bedder that's got this room to the side, that has a window, that has a door and it's like that's pretty much a two-bedroom unit. So how do you price something like that and do you? You know, is that good?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1:Or should you just get a?
Speaker 2:proper two-bedder. Well, sometimes people's you know, budget doesn't quite allow them to get the two-bedroom they want. They're wanting something premium, comfortable, so they go for the one-bedroom that can then do the home office set up or the nursery setup. So, as you said in the beginning, a bedroom often requires a window. That's the only difference. So if you've got the size for it, you basically box in a three by three room with no window. You can call it a guest room, a nursery, a nursery, a home office, a media room, anything you want other than a bedroom, but it serves the same practicality. So a lot of clients um often find that apartment sits in the gap between the one bedroom and the two bedroom price point, which is often a couple hundred thousand dollars in in price. So it definitely serves a purpose. What's the?
Speaker 2:smallest size two bedroom, you've seen internal metre squared Like 2 by 2.5. The ideal bedroom has got a 3 by 3. So anything other than like a 3 by something is cutting it down a little bit. And 2 by 2 or 2 by two and a half is pretty small but again works for a nursery, works really well for a home office and I'm finding a lot of clients actually use that second bedroom for that reason. It's not to sleep in.
Speaker 1:And total size two bed. What's the smallest you see?
Speaker 2:70 odd, 70 odd square meters total. That puts you at just over 50 something. Internal, three better. Three better is anywhere from 90 to 120 square meters. Once you're over 120, you're generally quite an impressive space.
Speaker 2:You're a hero, yeah, you're a hero. Yeah, you're a hero. You've broken through the glass ceiling, um. But here, like here's some things you can do to maximize the efficiency, because you can have big floor plans and they just don't make sense. They feel like a bit of a rabbit warren, um, and that's where I don't think size actually matters as much.
Speaker 2:So open plan layouts combining kitchen, living, dining, that's really ideal for a lot of people. Having, you know, like, your kitchen cornered off, you lose that sort of entertaining feel to the whole apartment Corridors and hallways when you come through your front door. If you're then going through a long corridor to get into the living room and then the bedrooms go the other way again, you're gonna chew up internal square meterage with space that you can't actually use. It's nice to have, it gives you a bit of a house like feel, but it's it's still an inefficiency in some ways. Like smart storage, really, really clever.
Speaker 2:Find ways you can get more storage into your apartment, um, with lock-up garages. They often do it with like a mezzanine if you've got the clearance for it. Um, internally, it's finding places to put linen closets and things like that, and then um integrating sort of utilities. Some people find ways to free up their like internal laundry so they put it under the kitchen bench. Things like that frees up that entire space. Then it becomes a pantry if it's off the kitchen. So there's ways you can improve room layouts to you know, make it better and then your back mark. Yep, I was.
Speaker 1:I was going to mention, um, the aspect and the outlook will certainly help make an apartment feel bigger, big or small yeah, too right, you know, I think if you're, if you've got really good natural light and really good windows, you can probably forgive a little meter with meter squared space inside like it, whereas if you're a dark apartment, you may need size a little bit more than a light apartment, believe it or not?
Speaker 2:um, that that good, old-fashioned natural light's always going to, always going to optimize your floor plan yeah, and one last thing that people take for granted when they've got it is high ceilings makes a massive difference. You tend to find high ceilings in the older style buildings, sometimes again on the top floor as well, compared to the the lower and the middle. Um, but high ceilings are a really real luxury. If you've got them, you'll love it now.
Speaker 1:We've focused on. We've focused on apartments. Just before we go, we just touch on houses yep and what's a big house size?
Speaker 2:um on on square meterage. About 200 square meters is the average home size. 300, 400 on one single level is pretty monster.
Speaker 1:It's, it's pretty impressive there you go, there you go. So there you go on your metrics, on your room sizes, on your natural light, on your ceiling height, um, on optimizing your floor. We've given you all of the tips today and I think you know even the way those rooms are dissected is super important. The way they're doing floor plans in the last 10 or 20 years 10 years particularly compared to how they're doing them in the 70s completely different. So, even if you're looking an apartment that's new these days, look at it differently than you know what mum and dad had when they bought, when they bought a place, because, um, we're much more efficient in our floor plans these days yeah, absolutely have a great day.
Speaker 1:Hope that helps have a great day thanks. Thanks, billy Bob. See you bud.