The Living Room's Cherie Barber tells how to buy, renovate and rent for profit

Buy, renovate and rent. It’s a simple mantra, but it’s one that leading renovation expert Cherie Barber believes can set up the average Australian financially.

Barber is in Canberra on Sunday for a free renovation masterclass that will give aspiring property entrepreneurs the nuts and bolts of what they need to turn their hard work into a tidy profit.

The creator of the Renovating For Profit course is a regular on Australian TV. She has appeared on Network Ten’s The Living Room and is Lifestyle Home’s resident renovation and development expert.

Barber is sure to find plenty of like-minded renovators in the nation’s capital.

According to the Housing Industry Association’s latest housing and renovation forecast, Canberrans invested $369 million in housing renovations during the last financial year.

The figure was a 7.1 per cent increase from the previous year and historically low interest rates and steady house price growth are expected to fuel further renovation activity in the capital.

Barber said buyers should alway purchase a fixer-upper.

“If you go out and buy a property that has already been renovated, in effect, someone has already made a profit from you,” Barber said.

She said many Australians are struggling financially and property provides a low-risk, wealth-creating alternative to shares and business ventures.

“The best strategy of all in the current marketplace is the buy, renovate and rent strategy as opposed to the buy, renovate and sell,” Barber said.

She said the formula involves less costs, such as capital gains tax, and once you’ve built up some equity you can start on project number two.

“It’s not a hard process once you know how to do it, it just requires hard work and I believe anybody who is prepared to work hard and get educated can turn their financial lives around,” Barber said.