Did I overspend? Beating myself up

[Ericka G.]

Bought a triplex for $179k in May 2017 with 3 inherited tenants who paid monthly and were pleasant. Mortgage + insurance is $1100. Gross Income has been $2,075.

Now I suddenly have two units vacant.  Unit C is a one bedroom that took <$1k to get ready for a new tenant. This unit will now rent for $700 (was $500)

Unit B is a 2 bedroom townhouse that was a mess. I spent $2200 to rip up carpet/ install wood laminate downstairs; $1200 to entire unit painted/rwalls epaired; $60 for upstairs carpet cleaning. It still needs a scrub down + a garage door repair. Unit B will rent for $950 unfurnished, $1,800+ furnished (was $750). 

My concern is that I over-spent to update unit B. I put in the wood laminate downstairs before shampooing the carpet upstairs. $60 shampoo today and the carpet looks brand new. I’m now beating myself up for spending $2200 on new floors when I could have shampoo’d all the carpet for <$100.  What do you think? How much do you generally spend to prep a unit between tenants?

[Andrew Johnson]

Ericka Grant Short answer, I have no clue if you overspent :) Longer answer, I’ve told my PM that I never want to buy non-bedroom carpet ever again. And I don’t really want to buy bedroom carpet. Shampooing is great but I’ll have her install vinyl plank (waterproof) flooring or tile instead of replacing carpet.

So, in your situation, I might just think “bummer, I replaced the carpet too early.” But I wouldn’t kick myself over it too harshly. Now if you (or your tenant base) love carpet, who knows.