I spent $33,836 renovating this apartment unit.

Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 756 votes

I spent $33,836 renovating this unit.

Here's the breakdown:

-Quartz Countertops: $3,500
-Heat Pump System: $5,500
-SS Appliances: $1,773
-LVP 20 MIL Flooring: $4,406
-White Shaker Cabinets: $4,000
-Washer & Dyer: $400
-Bathroom accessories, ceiling fans, black matte fixtures, toilets, light fixtures, faucets, etc. : $2,347
-Paint, all new doors, plumbing fixtures, drywall work, garbage disposal, carpet, bathtub: $3,934
-Labor: $7,976

The previous owner did not do any updates to this unit for the last 25 years!

My goal here was to replace all major components and renovate to a premium level finish in order to charge market rent.

By installing high quality finishes, I am setting this property up to be a low maintenance long term hold 📈

What kind of renovation costs are you currently spending on your properties?

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Steve K.

Realtor · Boulder, CO · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 5k+ votes

Quote from @Sebastian Bennett:

@Shango Collier Why in the world do you want a referral on a contractor who clearly overcharged for the materials based on what was written in this post? Setting aside what you say is drama there should be a number of red flats regardless. Not one person has stepped in to confirm the pricing seems to be in line with industry expectations.

Pricing is on the high side for sure. The counter tops cost more than I just spent on counter tops for my own home. This looks like a 700 or 800 square foot apartment to me, not a million dollar home. $34k is a lot of $ to spend on a rental unit rehab.Whoever owns this property, (it's unclear if it's actually OP's or not from the comments...?) is going to lose a lot of money unless they can get rehab costs way down. Even if you can raise rents by $1,000/mo after this, it'll take 3 years just to break even on this "renovation". But there's no guarantee that the next set of tenants won't beat this place up all over again, sending the owner back to square one, which is why you don't spend $34k to turn an apartment. I probably would have spent $10-15k max on this unit turn. An 800ft2 unit rents for $2,500-5k/mo. in my market, so I could make the numbers work up to $15k. A good rule of thumb is a unit turn shouldn't cost more than 2-3 months rent, or you'll end up losing money over time for sure. The only way I'd be able to justify spending $34k for a unit turn would be if it was in a super high-end luxury market, renting for at least $10k/month. Perhaps the most classic beginner mistake we see in the biz is first-timers over-improving a rental property like crazy, putting in finishes that they'd like for their own home, “renovating" instead of rehabbing. Homeowner's fixing up a historical property for themselves to live in "renovate". Landlords and investors REHAB.

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I spent $33,836 renovating this apartment unit.

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