Hello,

First time posting and also first time investing in a property on my own without any partners. I am set to close on my first SFH on 3/22 and I am using a hard money lender to rehab the place and then refi with a local bank once it is ready to rent. I have my budget in order and want to have the place ready to rent in less than 60 days. My question for anyone reading this is, what are the very first actionable steps I need to take once I get the keys? The place will be cleaned out and ready to start renovations. Do I focus on getting the exterior in order or interior? Do i order my materials and supplies immediately? What do I not need to immediately order? House needs drywall work, painting, flooring all throughout the house, and other cosmetic fixes. My uncle who is a retired GC will be doing the work and my BIL will be doing all the electrical work needed.

Any help on this topic is GREATLY apprecaited!

Congrats, Bryce! I would focus on the interior. That way you can start advertising it right away and then move on to the exterior. Potential tenants won't care much if the exterior is still being worked on while they are looking. But the interior has to be done. Typical order is rough plumbing, electrical, etc. Then drywall, painting. And then floors. Ideal is to complete all painting before you install floors. Always hire a cleaner that is familiar with construction cleaning. I also recommend having professional photos taken. It doesn't cost much extra but I feel they make the place look so much better! One thing I always do is get fun light fixtures. They again don't cost much, but can make a big impact. Wishing you tons of success!

@melissa Thank you for the quick reply! This is helpful. On a different note, with renting out to tenants in mind, what upgrades do you find "necessary" compared to "nice to haves". Your comment about the fun light fixtures sparked the thought. I plan to add a dishwasher and W/D to the unit. Goal is to keep the rental for many years, so would like to have these things in order to offer more value and command a higher rent as they are not standard in my market. 

@Bryce Carafa

You may have some of these steps done but this is how I approach it.

1. Clean out

2. Demo

3. Major systems- roof, electrical, plumbing (you should already know based on your due diligence if these things need upgrading or not

4.  HVAC and Water Heater

5. removing walls and adding headers to open up spaces including ceilings

6. windows

7. outside upgrades painting/ siding 

8. drywall

9. painting

10. flooring

11. bathroom and finishes

12. kitchen and finishes

13. Clean up the outside and make yard presentable to your liking

Bonus* double check the things you deemed good during your initial planning.

This happened to me one time.  I knew that the water heater was functional during my initial planning.  Went through the whole process and was a day away from renters coming in.  

I went to start the water heater back up and it failed.  Had to run out and panic buy a water heater.  If I would have checked the system earlier I could have mitigated the panic/rushed situation.

As far as need to do: In my area of Los Angeles, people are looking for open space between kitchen and living room with a nice Island in between to be conducive to entertaining, so that is something I am always considering when making a place rent ready and marketable at top dollar.

Look at your area and make your rental competitive with the others.  

Good luck!

@Damaso Bautista thank you very much i will follow this. Much apprecaited !