Decisions, decisions . . .

[Sylvia B.]

We're considering purchasing a SFR for a rental and trying to decide about rehab, so I thought maybe talking it through on here would help. We told ourselves that we weren't going to buy any more houses until next year, but...

So basically the question is, do we do the minimum rehab and get a tenant in right away, with plans to do a major reno sometime in the future, or do we go all in and make it nice right away?

Some details: 

• Paying cash, so holding costs will be very low
• Roof, siding, plumbing & mechanicals are new or nearly new
• Home is in rentable condition, but not up to our usual standard
• Our current rehab project will have us fully occupied at least through the end of the year.

If we go with option 1 the house is unlikely to appeal to a more desirable tenant, but option 2 will not get us much more rent. Option 1 could have it ready to rent in 1-2 weeks after closing, so as early as mid Dec. Option 2 will take at least 3 months once we get started, which would mean late Mar/early Apr.

The problem areas are the kitchen and bath. The bath is very small, with no tub, only a stall shower, and yes, it's the only bath. It will take a great deal of creativity to find the space for a tub, but that's what we'd like to do.

The kitchen will be okay if we replace the countertop, but it really needs to be redone completely. The layout is terrible, and the cabinets, though in good shape, are ancient. They were made of plywood from a local lumber company that closed down in the late 50's!

I really hate the "It's good enough for a rental" mentality, and I don't really want to deal with the quality of tenants that are satisfied with that type of house, but we can only take on so many projects, and may be worn out when we finish the current one.