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I'm purchasing my first investment property. A 2-unit multi-family. I will live in one unit so it will be owner occupied.
Although it is a legal 2-family, the previous owner had it setup as a mother/daughter. There is only one electic meter, one furnace, and one hot water heater.

The good news it the second apartmenet unit was an addition built on the house 30 years after the house was built. I imagine the wiring to the addition would all be on seperate circuits then the old house wiring. I'd imagine it wouldn't be extremely difficult to seperate the wiring, relocate the panel and add a meter to the apartment (the basement is one large basement divided between two units).

I'm wondering if anyone has ever added an electric meter to a house? Is it very expensive? I've heard between $1500-$2000, does this seem reasonable?

Heat will remain a shared utility, I will absorb the cost and build it into the rent. The hot water heater is an old gas water heater, the building inspector suggested it has "exceeded it's expected life". He recommended replacing it with two seperate electric hot water heaters (cheaper than ONE new gas water heater), and seperate the hot water between the two units.

Again, similar to the electric I imagine the plumbing is already seperated between the two units to some extent, so I don't think extensive plumbing rerouting would need to occur to again relocate a hot water heater to the basement of the apartment to keep the utility seperate. I anticipated another $1000 or so for this job?

I'm a first time investor, and greatly appreciate any advice. Hot water heater is not a big issue, but electric is one utilty I don't want to share.

Thanks,
Justin

This is my first time on this forum.
Just a quick background, I just purchased a 2-family home, I intend to live in one unit, and rent the other unit. My goal is in two years, depending on the market, either "flip" the house, or keep it, rent both sides and purchase another house.

The house has had some renovations, new siding, windows, roof, decks, etc. Essentially the exterior has already been fully renovated by previous owner who lived in it as a single family.

I notice in many new condos, houses, rehabs, etc I see the SAME things over and over again. The exact same light fixtures, same switches, same molding, same bathroom vanities, etc.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever put together a comprehensive list of SKU's or Item #'s and pricing in a spreadsheet to quickly access and order the standard things (door knobs and hinges, light switches, sockets, switch plates, vanities, light fixtures, etc) from a popular store like Lowes or Home Depot.

Sometimes it feels like finding anything is like finding a needle in a haystack, especially shopping from the web. I've heard and read people purchasing contracter packs or bundles, but rarely see these listed on the websites (with the exception of molding at lowes.com).

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I guess it wouldn't be a big deal to spend a day at home depot and lowes and assemble such a list, just wondering if anyone knows a resourse where the legwork is already done?

Thanks,
Justin