How to market unit that is not yet renovated?

Question

Hello BP,

After several months of searching, my wife and I will finally purchase our first investment property. It is a duplex where the units are about 1500 square feet. The property is a total renovation and won't be tenant ready for about 3 months. My question is, at what point can i start soliciting/marketing the unit (owner-occuping the other)? Does anyone have experience selling a unit that's not completely finished yet?

Thanks

Felix

Michael Boyer · Answer

Felix, honestly I find renters have so little imagination about what it will be in the "after" version that I would wait until it is ready to start showing and marketing.(or at least very close to completion)...otherwise you may just be spinning  your wheels and theirs..besides, it could take longer than anticipated to complete the remodel and the last thing you want is a lease and a tenant ready to move in and another week of final touches to finish for completion.....yikes.. Others may have other views but that is my two cents...

Felix Sharpe · Answer

Thank you everyone for the responses. And I did mean "market" Mike. Sorry for the confusion. I can't wait to post pictures and my first success story.

Andrea Castor · Answer

I'm not saying what we did was right, but we have been in this same position. We had a potential lead on renters but they were very eager to put a deposit on something as soon to be newlyweds. When they saw our condo, we were just putting up the drywall. I had vanities, tile, cabinet/counter top samples, etc in the garage. I showed them what it would look like but obviously they needed to use some imagination too. Their timeline worked out because it was a month after we planned to be finished with the remodel. Like others have touched on though, we were working on it up until move in day but just little touches here and there, washer/dryer delivery, etc. In our situation, it worked out, but I could see where it would not more often.

With our next flip, we're looking at getting it on the market when we are about 85-90% complete. We may learn a lesson on this but we'll see.

Mike Wood · Answer

@Felix Sharpe First i assume that you are looking to rent out the other unit.  You mentioned "sell" in your post.

If you are talking about renting the unit out, as everyone has said, don't market it till you can show the property complete.  Your tenants will not be able to see the finished product, and think its just a crappy apartment.

One of my units is very high end for the area, I have always rented it out in less than a week, as it shows very well.  So one time I thought that I would be cleaver and show the unit prior to the current tenant moving out (with the tenants approval), I did two (2) open houses, showing it to multiple people.  Not a single interested renter, not one submitted application (apparently the current tenants stuff was a huge turn off with all the people that viewed the place).  We waited till the current tenant moved out and we had a chance to touch up paint and the like.  We rented it out first day to a qualified person the first day of showings.   I now NEVER show units that are not move in ready.  People just cant see past the minor issues.

William Hochstedler · Answer

The verdict is in and I agree as well.  In a solid market, it will only take a couple of weeks max to rent out a newly remodeled unit.  Don't waste your time before hand.  Also, many tenants aren't looking to move more than 30 days out.

Also, make sure you take a high quality marketing video of it when finished before it's rented to market it in the future without a lot of showings.

George Hermann · Answer

Don't do it. Wait till it is ready and looking beautiful. It will rent quicker and at a higher price.

JD Martin · Answer

Quick answer: don't. Just when you're sure that it will be ready on January 1, you will have some hold up and a bad situation with a newly signed tenant. Get the place ready, then market it. That doesn't mean you can't hit some touch up or minor punch list items while it is being marketed, but you don't want to show a unit that needs anything major that you plan on rehabbing/replacing.

How to market unit that is not yet renovated?

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