Analysis on potential investment property

[Anthony Greco]

Hi all, 

I am just getting interested into real estate and have been reading books/listening to many bigger pocket podcasts. My Aunt is getting ready to sell her house and I have talked to her about buying it from her to get me started in real estate. It is 3 bds 2 ba single family home and in a good location. I believe the structure is in good condition but could use some rehab to make it more modern. I cannot really find similar homes in the area to help determine what I could get for rent or for a flip. I will be talking to a property management company sometime next week to see if they could assist in that aspect, but any other suggestions on how to have confidence in my numbers? 

Also, any suggestions on what to focus on rehabbing to increase the rental price vs rehab price? 

Thank you!

[Jeremy Taggart]

@Anthony Greco A good real estate agent should be able to give you these numbers relatively quickly. Outside of that though you can check on Zillow/Redfin/Realtor.com to get a rough idea on ARV's. Check the map view solds to identify properties that are similar and see what they sold for fixed up. I also like rentometer and looking at current rental listings to get an idea of what it would rent for.

I tend to favor going higher end on all of my rehabs, especially in a nicer area. I've always done the kitchens and baths up real nice and gotten higher rents than I was even anticipating. Plus the tenants tend to want to stay longer when the units are so nice. No need to go overboard with it though you can do a nice rehab with budget friendly materials. Just be smart about it.