Irvine condo - renovations and improvements before selling?

Question

Hi all,We are planning to move to south county soon and after we plan to rent out our condo in Irvine for a shorter term lease before we go to sell. I think we would likely just do some minor renovation (maybe paint and carpet cleaning) before renting out but after the lease ends and the renters are out we would look to do some more renovation. Just looking for suggestions on the most minimal renovations/updates/improvements we might want to consider as our place is dated.It the original carpet from when I first moved in back in 2007 (I think the carpet was recently installed back when I moved in) throughout and has been kept up relatively well since then but it does show signs of wear. We don't wear shoes in the house though so it has held up well because of that I think. Other than that, white large subway tile in the kitchen, bathrooms and entries. A lot of original fixtures and lighting though. The kitchen we repainted and had most of the appliances updated. The bathrooms have the original vanities, lighting, tubs and bathtub tile walls - most of the faucets were changed out along with the toilets when I first moved in but some of the faucets are dingy now. The blinds are the older style cell shade/honeycomb shades - they're in OK condition. The windows are the original windows and some don't full close all the way. We just had a new water heater put in this past week as the prior one had issues. Furnace I think was put in by the previous owners possibly the same time the last water heater was installed (2005-2006?)Again, just looking for the common things that will get us the best ROI in our area - nothing super fancy, expensive or anything that would take a long time to get done.Seems flooring (vinyl tile in the bathroom, kitchen and entryways. And laminate in the common rooms and bedrooms) would go along way as well as a neutral color theme throughout like greige? The kitchen and living room are separated by a pocket door - I've seen a number of other units remove the pocket door and open that space up to give a more open look, so I'm considering doing that too. As well as adding cabinet and drawer pulls. As far as the bathrooms, not sure if it would be worth putting in new vanities, mirrors, corian walls around the tub and curved shower curtain bars or whatever.Another factor I'm concerned about down the road especially with selling (and even renting!) is the noise from the upstairs neighbors - the walls/ceilings are thin here and it doesn't help that a prior owner for the upstairs unit installed hardwood flooring (and without very good padding) throughout. So you can pretty much hear it whenever someone is walking around up there and the footsteps are pretty loud even if the person isn't necessarily 'heavily walking' - not sure if that will majorly detract from a sale or not.

Jeremy Lee · Answer

I've done some light research on other rentals in our community and it seems that if you run new flooring (I guess vinyl would be the most durable?) throughout and make some other more 'minor' updates, you can command at least a couple hundred dollars more worth of rent. I'm wondering if it's worth it to at least do *some* updates like the flooring, paint, fixtures and perhaps minor bathroom work as a means to get it both rent ready and ultimately sale-ready. Especially if we are intending only to rent for a year, it seems like we'd get a pretty good return at least for the flooring alone. As a quick benchmark, there's a place that was rented for $2550 that's an upstairs unit (ours is downstairs) with the same layout and very similarly with carpet running through most of the place. In contrast, another unit that's the exact same floorplan as ours rented for $2900 in December but they have new flooring, recessed lighting, and partial bathroom updates (new vanities and mirrors but same tub and tile). Also nicer closet organizers installed too. Thoughts on that? Or is it still better just to save all of this for after renting out? I was also curious if bottom floor units are generally less desirable and will, by default, always command a lower price compared to an identical upstairs floorplan. $45k is a lot to pour into one of these units but I'm wondering how much more we would realistically net compared to not doing any rehab or maybe doing partial rehab. This is the Northwood Villas community btw. My realtor/friend thinks we could probably end up selling as is for anywhere from $600-615k as-is. If a nice rehab was done I'm not sure what we might net - the unit above us, which was rehabbed years ago (5+) and rented out with short-stays ever since, recently sold for $675k. The problem with our unit is the noise levels too - the construction between flooring is shoddy and the contractor who did the work above also didn't do a great job factoring sound insulation in, so we can hear everything and especially heavy foot traffic (not sure how much of a factor this will play into renting our unit out as well btw)

Joe Homs · Answer

@Jeremy Lee I would wait on the upgrades until you are going to sell the home. Homes that are completely rehabbed sell much quicker than piece meal work.

Jeremy Lee · Answer

Thanks @Joe Homs - I've heard too that flooring can be tricky and a potential turn-off as buyers might not like the choice of flooring. But overall, it seems that it's beneficial to do. One contractor was saying based on what he's seen that kitchens and bathrooms typically don't have the best ROI in terms of the money you put in and what you get back - I don't know if that holds true for certain types of properties more (like condos and apartments versus SFHs) or also if it is location dependent. I heard the front door is a huge thing in terms of replacing if you can... I think in our HOA though, unfortunately, they won't allow it - every unit I've observed in our community has the same exact front door.As far as when to rehab, if we were to do the flooring and painting, is that something we ought to consider doing *after* renting it out? The concern is that once rented, that new flooring/paint and renovation could get damaged etc and be in need of repair and refurb. Thoughts on that?

Joe Homs · Answer

@Jeremy Lee minimum rehab to get it rented is fine. However, since you are in Irvine a minimal rehab to sell may not be enough.At the very least you need to address painting and flooring. I would suggest vinyl flooring throughout the home.You will get more money, for your home, if you rehab the kitchen and bathrooms.If you want to do a complete rehab of the home I would guess about $45K that includes all the above and new windows/doors.Good investing...