How nice are your units??

Question

I just completed re-habbing my upper unit in my duplex. Turned out really nice. Most who came to look at it said it's the nicest they've seen. Hence it rented in 4 days. I do just about everything myself, so I save a ton in labor costs. If there's something I can't/won't do I'm lucky enough to have a little team of friends who do it on the cheap for me.

I know MikeOH says he is responsible to supply a clean, safe place to live, and I agree. But at the same time I'm not sure what that means exactly. I walk into houses that I'm looking at as possible investments, and I see old wood paneling, old wood or worse yet, metal cabinets, dated bathrooms, etc...I don't want to put a zillion dollars into these, but I don't want to be considered a "slumlord" either. Where do you draw the line?

I feel sometimes I'm passing on these houses because "in my mind" there's too much work to do. Should I overlook some of this stuff, and look at it as strictly a cashflow thing? Basically "it's not about pride of ownership, it's about cashflow"

I think my apartment rented so quickly because it stands out. There's a lot of these homes where my duplex is located that I think would be great investmnets from a cashflow standpoint, but need, again, "in my mind" to much work. This is a lower income area, but home price remain relatively low (25k-40k) and rents are still pretty stable ($375-$550). My standards are obviously a bit higher, but maybe I need a "standard" adjustment?

Are these "dated qualities" acceptable to all the other landlords out there? I hope I'm making sense.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Norm

Account Closed · Answer

We rehab with the view of keeping our ongoing maintenance costs as low as possible which means trying to make the places as indestructible as is feasible.

Nothing is indestructible but, replacing all floors in a unit with tile, minimizes the damages caused to carpet, wood floors, etc..

The tenant wants rugs, they can furnish and take them with them. Remember to keep the grout dark, grey or darker, as that minimizes the dirty look of light grout needing cleaning and re-sealing.

Replace fluorescent lighting with cheap easy access standard bulb fixtures. We use the same fixtures in all units, again for stocking and replacement. Nice fixtures,but cheap, and try and find fixture covers that will not break when the tenant drops it while replacing a bulb.

No horizontal blinds but rather vertical blinds where we must provide window treatments, and always the same manufacturer so that we can maintain a stock of replacement parts.

All rooms, all units, painted the same, and clauses forbidding repainting of any type, as well as no smoking whatsoever, all the same paint, color and manufacturer. We use home depot UltraHide antique white. Available in 5 gal buckets and we always have some in stock.

Bathrooms, floor to ceiling tile, no soap dished in the bath, tenants sometimes use them to get out of the tub, or stand on them to shave their legs, and pull them out enough for water to get behind them.

No bathroom window in the shower, it is a leak waiting to happen.

The end result for us, is that when a tenant moves out, it is a quick clean of the tile floors, fix the holes in the walls, touch up the paint job, re-caulk where needed and the units look wonderful, immaculate, and rent easily.

For tiles, whenever possible, we buy closeouts, from Home Depot or Lowes, watch your lot numbers, and store them in our storage garage. You can often find nice travertine tile at less the .70 a square foot. Buy the mortar and grout as and when needed, do not store, do not listen to the HD or Lowes sales person when he offers to pick them out to go with your tile order.

Learn how to do the tile work yourself, my husband has done the floors in all of our units, he now hires temp help as his back is not what it once was, but he knows how do the layout, can oversee the workers doing the laying. A throw-away tile cutter is $80.00 at Home Depot. They sometimes last three or four units!

The cost winds up comparable, a bit more expensive, to having someone lay new carpet, and tile will last three or four times carpet and the cleanup costs for carpet or two or three times those of tile.

Cheers, the basic message, rehab for lower maintenance costs.

Account Closed · Answer

If you renting to low income tenants, you will need to screen them very well if you want to keep your apartments in good condition.

I would visit them at their current place before moving them into one of your rentals. If they are keeping their last place neat and clean, then they will most likely do the same in yours.

All the hard work and labor you put into a rental will be wasted if you get a tenant that doesn't care.

Remember that you are running a business. If everything is functional and clean, then rent it out and use the money to buy another rental!

Chris

Tony D'Anzica. · Answer

I like Lucia Waibel's response. She makes some good points. A rental unit needs to be habitable, very clean, very functional with no adornments (unless you're marketing apartments to upscale tenants). Your apartment should standout from the competition for a quicker turn-a-round, but your improvements and upgrades need to be economical. Do not overspend. make improvements that will reduce your long-term maintenance costs (i.e., replace carpets with linoleum tiles and paint walls/ceilings all one color). All of the apartments we manage look exactly the same...

Tony D'Anzica, JD
DynaMax Realty, Inc.
Property Manager

Tony D'Anzica, JD DynaMax Realty, Inc. Property Manager

Mark N.A · Answer

I'm for indestructible (after learning the hard way).

Last time I replaced a counter in a college rental I had the carpenters use salt-treated wood and/or exterior grade plywood for everything out of sight.

Spill your keggers on that!

Loc R. · Answer

Not to hijack the thread, but here is my screening process.

I have all prospective tenants show up at the same time for a showing. That way they see that they have competition. During this time I'll converse with them about their life stories.

After showing the unit, I have interested prospects fill out an application and pay the $30 for the credit check on the spot. They already know that a $30 credit check would be required with application from my ad and our phone conversation. If they are interested, and know that they had a decent chance of passing a credit check, then they will fill out the application.

I use tenantalert.com and it has provided me with a 100% success rate with screening for good tenants.

Hope this helps.

Rich Weese · Answer

I've gone to tile instead of carpet. Where I am, the labor is under a buck a sq. ft. If it is a low income home, I have one, I put in vinyl tile. No more carpet except sometimes in the brs.

Norm Chrostowski · Answer

I agree with all. But I hope proper screening pays off. This couple is engaged, she's pregnant, and they both are attending college. Both are taking Criminal justice courses no less. She aspires to be a police officer. He works 2 jobs, she also works. They don't smoke, and don't "party much" as per they're app. To me, it seems these kids have they're sh*t together. Now that's not saying they're not going to trash the apartment, but it does say something about they're character. Hopefully I made the right choice...time will tell.

Michael Shadow · Answer

It doesn't take long for tenants to trash a nice apartment. I just installed my first set of commercial carpets in an apartment. I've had to many of the nicely padded mid quality rugs trashed. They got the big box retailer commercial grade cheap carpet with no padding this time.

-Michael

Norm Chrostowski · Answer

I do All tile myself. I have a wet-saw, and all tools needed. I also put laminent in the kitchen and bathroom. Bedrooms and living room got dark relatively cheap carpet. Got berber for 50 cents a foot!! I thought that was a pretty good deal. 52 yards of carpet cost $500 WITH install. Last carpet lasted 14 years and 6 tenants.

The paint....I had six gallons of mix and match stuff in the basement of my new house. Mixed it all together, and the color was pretty nice, earth-tonish. So paint didn't really cost me anything, so that worked out good.

All in all, I saved and tried to keep cost down as much as possible, and where ever I could. It was definatley time for some work on this place

Josh Green · Answer

great advice lucia!

How nice are your units??

How nice are your units??

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