Rehab for a LTR buy and hold
Howdy BP community! I recently invested in a SFH in a great school district. My plan is to attract a family looking to benefit from that district for 5-7 years.
I've invested ~$10k in new appliances, scraping off popcorn ceiling, and light cosmetic updates to modernize the home. It's had HVAC and roof replaced in the past 2-3 years, and no foundation issues so I am not anticipating major CAPEX for the next 5-8 years.
What, if any, additional updates would you recommend to maximize rent / minimize future costs? I'm thinking:
1. Update cabinets (refinish/color)
2. Add Nest thermostats
3. Add rain gutters to divert water from foundation
4. Refresh kitchen countertops (currently bar height - decrease to counter height and replace with granite/quartz)
It's the cheapest house in the neighborhood ($139/sf ft vs $150 avg) but I don't want to price myself out of the neighborhood.
What do you think? Ideally I'd keep the incremental investment to ~$2.5k unless there's a tangible and immediate ROI
Hard to say without knowing exactly what the other rent homes look like in the neighborhood, but I can't imagine any of those things making a huge difference in the rent you can charge. I'm pretty sure no tenant will care about rain gutters or fancy thermostats.
@Jeff H. As was mentioned no idea on the neighborhood, but where we look I don't believe any of that would be a net positive on added rent. Gutters could make sense for mitigating future foundation issues but may not be necessary since it sounds like the house hasn't had any yet as it is, you may never know if adding them would help or not, barring an obvious spot where they would improve drainage.
Also along with presumably not getting you any more rent, it will just be that more of a capex expense if your next tenant messes up your new quartz counters somehow vs what I assume is existing laminate, or breaks the expensive thermostat etc.
