Appliance Purchase - DirectBuy

[Joseph Berlin]

Hello

My wife I will be equipping two new rental properties (our first two) with a fridge, dishwasher, oven, washer and dryer in June/July of this year.

I read that a DirectBuy membership ($800) is a great way to get name brand appliances for lower than market prices, but I've also read a lot of poor reviews so I wanted to know if anyone on BiggerPockets has experience with DirectBuy or any tips on the most cost effective way to acquire all these appliances.

thank you very much

[Bill B.]

I don’t think there’s any chance you’ll save $800 buying 2 sets of appliances. So that’s definitely not a reason to buy a membership. Every holiday with a name causes Lowes/Home Depot/RC Wiley (if you have one)/etc etc to have a package deal with rebates and discounts. 

If these are under $800/mo or maybe $1,000/mo go ahead and buy used NON-DENTED/SCRATCHED!, appliances. You are setting the tone when the tenant moves in. If they see a place full of damaged appliances they know you don’t care about the property and neither should they. 

Anything over $1,200/mo spend the extra couple hundred for all stainless steel new appliances with ice/water in the fridge door. Yes, that will be the first thing to break, but they will pay for themselves. You’ll save a week or two of vacancy, you’ll have tenants that stay years, and tenants that treat the place like new.