Paint in between tenants? Yes or no?

Question

Hello everyone,

I'm curious how many people paint in between each tenant? Surely depends on condition, but if it has some basic scrapes and marks here and there, do you repaint for each tenant?

im calculating the costs of I do this every time.  Leasing fee is 1100/month, paint is $1500 for the whole place.  This means for each tenant I'm immediately $2600 in the hole.  For those who shoot for $200-400 per door, how do you even break even just with these costs alone? That's 7 months of rental income just to pay off the move-in costs alone.

Jake Wiley · Answer

I agree with the posts about painting as needed. One thing I'd like to point out is how you turn over a unit to a new tenant sets the precedence for the unit and you/your company as a landlord. I am not suggesting that everything needs to be perfect, but you do need to get to the perceived level that you care about your units and have a good product.

When units look like they've been used hard when the tenant moves in, they aren't going to be as thoughtful about their use because they know it's likely not coming out of their security deposit upon move out.

Dan H. · Answer

Like most of the responders I clean walls and touch up paint where needed.  Rarely do I need to do a complete repaint.  Ideally you know the existing paint (color and sheen),  but if you do not the various paint vendors can create a match from a modest size paint sample.

As for the profit with $200 to $400 per door, That profit should be after allocating for all expected expenses including tenant turn over costs, vacancy, maintenance/cap ep, PM (charge for PM even if self managing because it is work and you deserve compensation for doing the PM duties), PITI, and the various miscellaneous costs (such as portion of LLC cost, portion of umbrella policy, portion of office costs, unexpected costs (for example if a slab leak occurs, we pick up the excess water charge as it would not be right having the tenant pay this cost - these types of items are irregular but they do happen and should be accounted for), etc.).  If you allocate conservatively, you make at least what the pro forma indicates even when a tenant may not stay as long as the LL may desire.

Good luck

Cody H. · Answer

We do a walkthrough and only repaint the worst walls/areas.

Agree with above; turnover is a huge expense, and most forget about the 1-2 months of missed rent during the process.

Theresa Harris · Answer

I only paint if it needs it.  If there are small holes from hanging pictures, just bring some spackle and fill them with your finger.

Mr Clean magic eraser works wonders on many of the marks on the walls.

As others said, keep the paint so you can do touch ups if needed.  If you run out of paint/forgot the colour and just need to do one wall, paint it an accent colour or a colour that is really close to the original.

Only do what needs to be done.  The condition of the rental often determines how people treat it (there are exceptions).

John Teachout · Answer

Painting should always be based on condition. Some people can live in a place for years and paint is fine, others after several months it's trashed. So paint if it needs it.

The scenario you proposed though is why keeping tenants is where profit can be made. Turnovers are expensive.

Ethan Biederman · Answer

@Steve Balinski We use the same colors on all apartments so we can easily touch up between tenants rather than do a full repaint if it's in good condition.  Someareas like kitchens and hallways, doors, etc. need repainting more often than others.

All trim and any dingy looking walls get a good cleaning with Dirtex first. Anything that looks less than new after that gets repainted.

Tim Herman · Answer

@Steve Balinski it shouldn't come out of your profits. You should have a reserve account. You should have budgeted a certain percentage of gross income for vacancy, repair,capex and Property Management. My minimum for the reserve account is $230 per month plus 10% PM.

Joe Hammel · Answer

@Steve Balinski

Only repaint if needed.

Almost always paint whole house LIGHT gray with white trim when initially purchase. Then only redo if necessary.

Steve Balinski · Answer

Ohh they do in mine, lease has paint in there.  If they move into a freshly painted unit and I need to re-paint it, thats on them.  I've lived in my place for several years and there is hardly  a single mark on the walls, I expect people living in my building to treat it as I would.  I let them know I don't play around when they move in.

Paint in between tenants? Yes or no?

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