Renovating for renting

Parent Cafe
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<p>Yep, another real estate/renovation thread. </p>

<p>I’ve finished renovating my house, and I need a hobby. So I bought a small, three bedroom total fixer upper in a good neighborhood for young professional/young families. It’s near the light rail for a short commute uptown, the medical center is nearby, with a small fenced yard. It is not an expensive neighborhood, but tends to have good starter homes.</p>

<p>The big question is what kind of updates should I put into this house to rent is to the best clients. Since many of you also have young professional children who rent, I’m looking for opinions…</p>

<p>Floors:
It has hardwood floors in all rooms except bathrooms and kitchen/dining room which just need to be refinished. I was thinking nice vinyl flooring for the kitchen, but I’m worried that might not be nice enough for the dining room. My D, of course, really likes the idea of concrete floors, but I’d have to looking into how expensive that would be. I was thinking tile, but my mom pointed out tile chips if you drop things in the kitchen. If there weren’t hardwood floors already, I’d be thinking engineered floors, but since they but up against one another I’m worried it would look weird. Any suggestions?</p>

<p>Kitchen:
I’ve always wanted to put in an IKEA kitchen, as they look very smart. My daughter had one in her last rental apartment and loved it. As for counter tops, she again, likes concrete. (Is that an LA thing? This house is not in LA…) Or butcher block. I was thinking granite, but am swayed by the grey quartz that would look so good with white cabinets. If I go with white cabinets I’d need dark counters, and I haven’t seen any stained dark butcher block. This is a tiny kitchen, so I can somewhat splurge on about 20 square feet of counter.</p>

<p>Are stainless appliances the be all/end all? I saw a picture on the IKEA website of grey cabinets with black appliances that I thought looked slick.</p>

<p>Which brings me to color choices. I’ve seen a lot of grey and white that looks quite sharp. Would that be okay for a rental, where folks could bring in their own pop of color? Or is it too bold?</p>

<p>Bathrooms:</p>

<p>Right now there are 1 and 1/2 bathrooms. A full bath in the hall, and a 4.5x7.5 foot half bath in the master. I could squish a small shower (30"x53") with a 24 inch vanity, and toilet into that space. Would it be worth it to add the shower? The hall bath has a shower over tub.</p>

<p>And again, colors… Both baths need to be gutted. Are white bathrooms good for rental? Or would adding pops of color be good?</p>

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<p>Good neighborhood near light rail? Sounds like you have a winner there!</p>

<p>Not knowing where this house is, I can’t speak to decoration issues in that locale. But I would suggest that a tiled kitchen over a concrete slab is really nice. And it’s a lot less maintenance than wood (i.e. water stains) and linoleum (which is basically disposable flooring, and an especially poor choice if there’s danger of a dishwasher leak). If placed over wood subflooring, tile is susceptible to cracking (unless the subflooring is properly reinforced). In the unlikely event of a tile getting chipped, it’s a lot easier to replace one tile than it is to repair, say, a damaged linoleum floor. In any case, congrats on the new purchase.</p>

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<p>My kiddos have been renting for a while, and according to them, the color of the appliances and tile vs linoleum are not as important as long as everything is functional, low maintenance, and not ugly looking (no torn wallpaper, peeled paint, broken toilet seats, etc.). Location trumps everything else, and a lanord who takes care of the problems quickly and in non-invasive manner is a huge plus. :)</p>

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<p>Remember, it’s for rental, not meant to be to your taste. The countertops? granite vs quartz? You have figured what you can rent for and “return on investment?” It almost sounds like you are renovating for a close family member (or the decisions some of us may make on a vacation home,) not a stranger who may not like your choices and may not take care of them.</p>

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<p>Ooohhh. This is what we do. Have several and are working on one right now. Our market is professional couples. Make the houses nicer than the standard rental and charge more than the standard rental. </p>

<p>Flooring: we put in tile in kitchen and bath with epoxy grout. haven’t had chipping be a problem in the rental. Can replace a tile if you have extra and it’s needed.</p>

<p>Cabs: We always put in an IKEA kitchen. Love, love, love them. Currently using their farmhouse sink which is cool. Also put in their undercab lighting. We like them so much (and the price is great enough) that we drive to the nearest IKEA (>500mi) to pick them up.</p>

<p>Countertop: we’ve put in nice laminates mostly. Did put a granite eating island this time for fun. I’d go with quartz if you wanted upscale as it is indestructo. Lighter granites can stain depending on the stone.</p>

<p>What we have found/like to do is:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>we like doing it like we could live there. It’s fun to pick out the stuff and when we show to renters, they’re pleased and want to rent from us. The difference in price long term is minimal. </p></li>
<li><p>They really don’t care about colors and stainless vs white issues. Since they are ‘passing through’ and not going to live with it for 20 years, it’s really a non-issue to them as long as it looks decent. Therefore, I go with pride of ownership on my part.</p></li>
<li><p>The better you do it up front, the less maintenance there will be. The houses we have redone have had minimal problems. The one we did not re-do, because it was in decent shape, have had multiple small things that need constant attending to.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>Don’t listen to your daughter. :slight_smile: Concrete sounds hideous and too fashionable - something that will look dated rather quickly.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t do the butcher block counter unless you want your renters using it as a massive cutting board. (Kidding, sort of.) Figure out which of granite or quartz is the most durable and put that in. </p>

<p>Don’t worry too much about colour. Go with something basic and sharp in the kitchen and let the renters decorate. In the bathrooms, go for white appliances (everything else eventually looks grody and dated) and paint the walls something bright and fun. </p>

<p>Remember, always remember, that you can go crazy trying to predict a random stranger’s ideal tastes. (I watched a friend do that with a home that she was renovating for her own use, with an eye towards resale value, and $50k later, she had a falling out with the architect and hadn’t changed a thing about the home.) Don’t go for trendy; go for clean and classic.</p>

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<p>Two thoughts…</p>

<p>I’d suggest looking at other rentals in the same market…see if similar-sized homes in the area vary on rental price versus amenities…I too think laminate on countertops is fine (there is some nice flecky looking stuff) and no wood/wood laminates around water (kitchen or bath).</p>

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<p>I’d avoid butcher block countertops like the plague. They have to be treated carefully. Not in a rental. I’d go with granite for my own house, quartz for a rental if it is substantially cheaper. </p>

<p>Tile in the kitchen and DR. If you want something else, a floating vinyl floor such as Allure can be good looking and much cheaper. They have some pseudo-tile styles that are very good looking. Don’t use it if the floor will have hot direct sunlight falling on it for much of the day, though. Oh, and COLORED grout, not white. Avoid staining. A friend of mine had a smallish bath that had the floor done in smallish square–probably about 2"–white tile with a grey grout, with white fixtures. Looked great.</p>

<p>White and grey is nice, not dated, and neutral for bathrooms and kitchen. They can supply their own color. I think that white or black or stainless is fine for rental appliances, although white is more likely to become stained, which would point me towards the other two.</p>

<p>I think that if you are gutting the baths anyway it is very much worth it to add a shower unit in the master bath, and keep a shower over tub in the hall bath.</p>

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<p>Ihs, how do you find your tenants? I was thinking if the house was in like new condition, with nice finishes, we would be able to attract better tenants. As I mentioned, its the perfect location for young professionals.</p>

<p>That’s interesting that linoleum doesn’t stand up to kitchen living either. I hadn’t thought of that. The reason I am pulling the stained carpet and refinishing the floors is I know carpet lasts about one tenant.</p>

<p>I do plan on doing something I wouldn’t mind living in, but I am not doing it up to the standard of my home. (Viking/subzero kitchen appliances are a bit too nice for this rental. :-)</p>

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<p>UCDAlum82,</p>

<p>I am not Ihs, but I am a landlord and by far the best renters I get are from real estate listings. I list properties with real estate agent and most (but not all) of the potential renters come with their own real estate agent. The ones that come with their own real estate agent are the best.</p>

<p>I give up one month rent (both agencies split it as a commission), but I get a peace of mind with a good renter.</p>

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<p>I would consider refinishing the hardwood floors. I have hardwood in my kitchen and love it. It is far gentler on the back & legs to stand on.</p>

<p>Regarding the color of cabinets, I would stay away from white w tenants, as it can marr easily. Possibly a dark stain with gray faux granite laminate. </p>

<p>Appliances. I don’t think tenants really care about stainless v black, as long as they work and are clean, with sufficient capacity. </p>

<p>A second full bath is a plus. While your water pressure may not allow 2 showers at once, it does allow people to take them back-to-back and stay in the bathroom to finish getting ready. </p>

<p>Just paint the walls off-white. (Find a standard Benjamin Moore that you can use to touch up). If you sign a long-term lease, perhaps you can allow the tenants to paint walls, but they are responsible for painting them back to the off-white when they leave if you request.</p>

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<p>I wholeheartedly agree. I finally learned this lesson about 10 years ago after 20 years of trying to do it all myself. The quality of prospective tenants is WAY better through a real estate agent, not to mention eliminating the hassle of having to show the place all the time.</p>

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<p>For countertops, perhaps you could do laminates like I’ve seen in model homes that look granite-like.</p>

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<p>I actually have just been using Craigslist. I post on it and note that we have income and credit score/background check requirements. When people express interest, I send them a copy of our policy with our requirements (credit score >600, income ratios required etc). I never hear from most of them again. The few that do follow through are not all gems but we do screen them pretty carefully. Also, when I have a house that I know will come open, I keep an eye out for people looking for housing that looks like they might be good and contact them. Found my most recent renter that way. We do allow pets on approval and lots of professional couples have dogs. </p>

<p>I don’t think we have any realtors doing rentals in our town so that’s not really an option for us. I got a NOLA book on rentals and it has all the info/forms I needed. I actually like doing all my own stuff (except I farmed out the reference calls recently). These rentals are our projects that we worked hard on and I like checking out the potential renters etc. </p>

<p>We use Craigslist a lot for appliances and other stuff like faucets. I can put in a $300 faucet that I picked up new for $75 and have nice stuff that I didn’t pay retail for. DH does most of the work and I help out around my job.</p>