Rehabbing rental properties can be very expensive and time-consuming for real estate investors.
Most investors make costly mistakes with their rehab property flips because they are not clear on what things they should give attention to and what things they should ignore. If you lead out with your emotions on what should be fixed – treating it like it’s your own home then you’ll likely go over budget and boost profitability when you rent or sell the property.
Hopefully, these tips will help you focus and on what you should put your time and money into fixing and steer clear of things you should avoid. If you focus on these things you will sell the property or rent it out faster, within your budget, and for top dollar.
Cheap Exterior Fixes for Maximum Curb Appeal
Curb appeal is important in selling or renting your investment property out fast and for top dollar. They always say you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but if you look at the statistics of what sells homes fast, you’ll see that most Americans don’t abide by that rule.
The truth is, curb appeal adds a lot of value to home. Here are some great ways to maximize the curb appeal and value of the home quickly and very inexpensively.
Pressure Wash the House
Just like every other material thing you own, your house needs a splash of soap and water every now and again, also. Dirt and grime buildup on your house and windows and leave the home looking dingy. You can make the exterior of the house ‘pop’ again by just washing off all the grimy buildup that hide its beauty.
You can hire someone to pressure wash your house for about $200 – $300, but can save a little coin and do it yourself for less.
Fresh Coat of Paint
If the pressure wash job just doesn’t do the trick for this house, then take it up a notch and slap a coat of paint on it. Paint is always a really inexpensive way to bring back the glory and pristine appearance of a home.
Painting the house is the highest return on investment activity you can do to restore top value for your investment properties. And when you buy paint in bulk and save even more money. You should look at the other houses in the neighborhood – your comps – to decide what color is neutral and blends in with the other homes in the neighborhood, while helping your home pop.
New Address Numbers on Mailbox and House
Many times the address number on the house, concrete, and mailbox fades off. You can bring back newness and more pristine look simply by repainting address number and slapping new address decals on the mailbox.
Landscaping
Another thing you need to address here is landscaping. Green grass, trimmed bushes and hedges, flowers, and manicured trees add a level of beauty and value to a home that exceed their cost. You can spend just a few hundred dollars and add some beautiful flowers, plant some new bushes, add some fresh mulch and pick the weeds to really spruce up the landscaping of the home. This will bring more life to the home and add to the irresistible appeal of the home.
New Door
Especially for rental properties, doors tend to get beat up a lot. A nice new door can dramatically increase visual appeal of your home. A nice door can add a lot of swank to a home without adding a lot of cost. You may be able to get a nice door at the hardware store for less than $100. However, you may potentially pay up to a few thousand dollars for a really great door.
Cheap Interior Fixes for Maximum WOW! Appeal
Once your potential new tenant or buyer steps into the house you want them to be amazed – you want them to follow love with home.
Fresh Coat of Neutral Paint
as with the exterior of the home, one of the first ways to add a lot of value on a budget is to paint the interior. You can spice up the natural features of a home with neutral paint colors and accent walls. The world of neutral colors has expanded from what it was 30 years ago.
There are more colors than just beige and tan that count as neutral colors. If you have professional painters do the work for you and you may stand around $5000 painting the home. This one move alone can add an additional 10 to 15,000 or more dollars in ARV.
Wood Floors
Wood floors take your property to a whole new level. Don’t just think new carpets anymore – that’s a rookie move. The truth is, cheap new carpet starts to the bad within a year. Then nice, expensive carpet puts you in the neighborhood of pricing that she would be at with wood floors. So why not just bite the bullet and get distressed wood floors to start with?
The beautiful thing about wood floors is that if you are renting the property, you don’t have to replace them over and over again like you have to carpets. If you get distressed wood floors you already have flooring that will hide scuffs and scratches. So, they will stay looking beautiful and be a high selling point for many years to come.
Replace Cabinet Doors
you don’t always have to replace the cabinets. Sometimes, just replacing the doors does the trick. The doors are what people see. You may consider repainting the current door you have. However, if they are really outdated and you need to buy new doors, you’ll still save a lot more money than trying to fully replace the cabinets and the doors. If you salvage the doors you already have you may be able to do a paint job on them and add new door knobs to spice them up.
Since kitchens and bathrooms are what sell homes, I would consider changing of the doors or spicing up the doors and all of the bathrooms and kitchen.
With all of these cheap fixes you should add tens of thousands of dollars of value to the home that helps attract a buyer or new tenant a lot faster than later. Beyond this, you should attract someone willing to pay top dollar for the property.
