How Much Should I spend on a Make Ready?

How much should you spend on a make ready. Most owners, myself included would like to have a good ball park number, depending on the property I am buying or turning over after a move out. Everybody has different opinions or thoughts of what they should do in a make ready.

My thoughts are first of all it is a business and I am not living in the property, so I have to make sure that however much I am going to be putting in the property, I am going to receive the same in return if not more. If you are going to put $10, $20 or $40,000 into a property am I going to want get that much money back out of it. It’s all based on making the property clean, making the property functional, and making the property fit the area.

I want to make sure that the house I am buying is going to fit with the rest of the neighborhood. I personally don’t want the ugliest house on the street and I don’t want the most updated on the street, because that will not fit and if I should ever want to sell the property that could come back to affect me

First thing to always do is all the trash should be removed from the front yard, backyard, and inside of the house. There should be no trash at the curb. Second thing is you want to make sure is if the house needs any type of paint. It’s very hard to match paint, you’re better off just repainting houses. I’ve found that the paint and the carpet are the best things that sell. If you don’t think you could clean the carpet, you’re probably better off just replacing the carpet. Those two things are huge motivators when people are looking at properties.

Last thing I would say is make sure the house is very clean. People do not like to see dirt in the house when they are imagining their stuff in it. If you follow those rules and you make sure that it’s painted or the paint looks good, make sure the carpet is clean or replaced, never show up with dirty carpets, and fix the landscaping in the front so when they do come up to the property it looks very inviting, it will go a long way.

When I am getting bids from vendors to do jobs, I get at least a minimum of three bids to make sure that I am getting competitive pricing. I make sure that if I am going to do future work with them I let them know. I have gone through several vendors, but the true partner will shine and you will know when you have found a reliable vendor.

I make sure that whoever I am using I always get their license and insurance information. The last thing I want is to get the cheapest bidder only to find out that they don’t have insurance. Then one of their guys slips and falls in my house and now the guy’s family cannot eat because he is not working, that will come back on me overtime. I have learned that cheaper is not always better, spend a little bit extra money in getting the professionals, it’s not worth the liability. Always remember, it is a business and with a business you have certain expenses, this is just one of those expenses.

So, if you follow these rules, you will probably be able to look at it objectively and look at it as a business. This is the way we try to have our clients think when they are looking at properties.