Appliances for 98 Units

[Ben Leybovich]

Hey, guys!

So I am having a bit of an issue with appliances. @Sam Grooms and I closed on a 98-unit a couple of weeks back (there's a  10-page thread about it here). 

We are looking at a $1.4M rehab, and so far the bidding is extremely competitive. We've come under budget by significant margins on paint and landscape. The HVAC is on budget, and so are the flooring, cabinets, countertops, and roofs. 

All and all, pretty good so far. The one item we fudged up on are the appliances. We are using stainless, but our bids are coming in about $240 per unit higher. Home Depot where we are buying lots of stuff because they are so competitive (they kill competition on cabinets) is actually the weakest appliance bid we have. But, even the distributors are struggling with our expectations.

I am not sure what gives. Did the prices go up in the last few months? 

More importantly, does anyone have a referral to share? I am trying to get close to $1,400 on fridge, range, microwave, and dishwasher - my best bid is almost $1,600.

@Brian Burke , @Brian Adams , 

[Stephen Swiatek]

@Ben Leybovich Know you mentioned stainless steel appliances and I love the look myself. Had my eyes opened the other day though on a new apartment bus tour I went on and saw many of them going with black appliances. When asked for the reasoning they all came back with the same thing and that was that stainless looks great but stainless shows every little scratch...especially with the fridge magnets. Consensus was same rents with black and less maintenance costs and just look better over time. I know black tends to be a bit lower in cost so this may be of help...