How to estimate repairs on a property?
Originally posted by @Landon Belk:
I'm trying to make a game plan to purchase anything from a duplex to a fourplex in order to house-hack it while making a little extra. I don't think taxes, insurance, or vacancy rates should be hard to estimate, but how do I estimate for possible repairs? How much do I need to be taking from the cash flow in order to prepare for unexpected repairs and maintenance? Is there a magic number for each unit? Do I need to account for age of the building? What about capex?
Good questions, a variety of answers depending on the following: . Are you hiring a contractor to do the repairs or doing them yourself? What level of finish do you want? What condition is the roof in, what about the AC Unit, how about the heating system, how is the plumbing and how is the electrical? Is there any asbestos? Do the kitchen and baths need to be updated? Are you satisfied with the landscaping?
We just replaced an A/C unit in one house and that costs about $5k. It was an old unit and I knew I would have to replace it when we bought the house 3 years ago. The big expenses you need to look out for are the roof, A/C unit, and water heater. I do most of the repairs to the houses we own so I've gotten pretty good at figuring out how much things are going to cost. We updated both bathrooms in one house. The hall bathroom needed a complete tear out and all new going back in. That one was about $4k. The master bathroom I completely re-did the shower area and textured the ceiling of the entire bathroom and that one costs around $6k.
