Bringing a house up to code to rent
Thanks in advance for any potential insight on my questions.
I bought my first house in Aurora CO back in 2014, rented rooms for a few years, and have been living it without renting out rooms for the past 2 years. I'm planning on buying a new primary residence within 12-18 months and want to hold this first house as my first of hopefully many rentals. I have done some improvements while owning, including new hot water heater, Central AC, irrigation and landscaping. I am debating other improvements to make over the next year with long term renting in mind. I am trying to balance two principles of increasing rent, while also making sure that my house is safe for renters and up to code. The following are projects I am still considering:
- Egress windows: The house has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths upstairs, and 2 bedrooms 1 bath in a finished basement for a total of 2400 square feet. I have quotes on installing 3 egress windows (1 per bedroom, and 1 in the living space) for 10,000 including permit. My question is do I need to have them to consider my house a true 4 bedroom for rent? Will adding them increase the appraisal if I were to refinance or sell? Is 10k for 3 installed into existing a good price?
- Electrical panel: I have the old federal pacific electrical panel. Do I need to replace this in terms of mitigating my risk when renting? Will upgrading add to the value on appraisal? Additionally, I have 2 other panels (1 in the garage, 1 in the basement) that when I had my AC installed the electrician told me need to be moved vertically to be up to code. Do these secondary panels to to be brought up to code to rent?
- Fence: I have a large backyard, 0.33 acre lot with 320 linear feet of fence that is failing. Does a new fence and generally more appealing backyard translate to higher rent? Higher appraisal?
Thanks again for any responses.
Josh