Must a single family home be brought up to electrical code to be a rental?

[Lenzy Ruffin]

Just getting started with wholesaling. I inspected a lead I got from direct mail the other day and I'm wondering if I went way too low on my offer because I overestimated the rehab cost substantially.

The owner was an elderly lady who passed away. The house was built in the '60s and was extremely well maintained. Everything in it was ancient, but in perfect working order. The HVAC components were way old, but fully functional. 15 year-old water heater.  Fuse box and two-prong outlets throughout the house.

I submitted an offer based on the cost of totally renovating the house for retail sale. I'm new at this, but my assumption is that the electrical system has to be brought up to code in order to sell the house. Of course, the kitchen and bathrooms have to be re-done. Add on all the wood paneling removal and drywall installation, floor treatments, etc, etc. and it got to be a pretty good size rehab cost to prep the house for retail.

But like I said, this house was very well-maintained. Aside from all the wood paneling in the basement, the property is essentially in move-in condition for a renter. All the mechanical systems and the roof are fully functional. The house look great, cosmetically.

So my question is would the electrical system on this house have to be brought up to code for it to be used as a rental? My thought process was that a landlord wouldn't want a house that needed the electrical system re-done, which then made me view the property only as a "rehab for resale," which necessitated a bunch other stuff like kitchen, bathrooms, replacing old, but functional mechanical systems, etc.

If this property could have been legally rented without the electrical overhaul, I could have made a much higher offer. It doesn't bother me that I missed this one because I erred in the right direction (low), I just want to get myself properly calibrated so I can make "intelligent" low offers. I think I might have made an "uneducated" low offer on this house.