Your thoughts on this bath and basement?

Question

I have acquired this property with a decent margin and I am split whether to rent and collect 600 positive CF. Or flip and net about 50k plus with a full scale rehab.

Here are the pics of the bath which is dated. What would you do for rental and for flip? For rental I was thinking about just  glaze the bathtub and wall tiles and change flooring.

In the basement what would you do with drop ceiling and panels for rental and flip scenario?

There is a bedroom downstairs which isn’t a legal bedroom as it lacks egress. Is it worth getting an egress and how much would that usually cost?

for kitchen the cabinets are old but Still in good shape. For rental I would leave it alone but for flip what would you do different?

room with no egress.

Jacob Beg · Answer

@Patrick Drury What about the bath tub, bath tiles and that bath floor? What would be your approach on flip or rent?

For rental, I am trying to collect 2600 per month which is a a high rent. Personally, I don’t like that Color and decor at for rent or flip. I am Debating whether to reglaze the tub and paint the wall tiles.

For flip, I was going to knock the walls between the living and kitchen. Install an island where the where the china cabinet is to open the floor plan with recess lights throughout living room, kitchen and basement.

Aaron Schrader · Answer

My take on it...I'd redo the bathroom and do it up right, not repaint/reglaze. Maybe take out the tub and stick a shower stall in with some cabinet in the remaining space?   In the basement I'd be interested in sticking a common hard surface flooring (LVP or whatever) through the whole thing, just make it run from room to room. Or those interlocking carpet tiles are kind of interesting for a basement, they keep the carpet off the concrete and you can replace just one if something happened to it.  If  you don't think the bedroom thing is going to gain you rental income or benefit the sale that much I probably wouldn't do it.  But it is nice to have a "legal" bedroom.  The drop ceilings I have seen some people pull of decently well in a basement.  Putting can lights into the tiles changes the whole feeling of them, and if all the tiles are clean and not stained, and if the ceiling feels high enough as it is maybe its worth considering keeping it.  Again, just thoughts...

Mose Gebremeskel · Answer

I'm not sure if others have stated this since I didn't read much of the comments but my take on it would be:

Bathroom: Add new flooring and make it a vanity sink

Kitchen: Get new flooring. One that looks like wood something like a laminate plank flooring. Update the cabinets, add granite countertops, and if you have the money put an island in the kitchen while also taking out the top left of the cabinets to make some room. I would also get ride of that wall paper and have the walls repainted in a softer color or white.  I also know if you have the money to spend blowing out a wall and having it enter into the living space is also doable but very pricey.

Basement & Bedroom: I would try to replace the ceiling with a drywall ceiling and add some sort of more modern paneling to the walls. If that's too much I'd just leave it alone. I would definetly change the flooring to the similar laminate plank flooring from the kitchen.

Patrick Drury · Answer

@Jacob BegAs for the bathroom, I would have done everything you stated, plus added a new vanity. I would approach it as a rental.

Ryan Normand · Answer

A couple recommendations:

You can't "repaint" a tile tub surround. If you want to redo it, you have to rip it out back to the studs. From there you can either install an acrylic surround as some have suggested (less expensive, but cheaper looking), or you can install new backerboard/waterproofing/tile.

You might have mechanical, plumbing, and/or electrical running above that drop ceiling. Check before you start ripping it out. It'll be a huge pain if you have to relocate that stuff in order to raise the ceiling.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Why not just get a new tub and surround.  Get one of the surrounds that is a harder plastic and the seam is above the top of the tub-not inline with the top. I tried finding a photo but failed.  They also have a ceiling to the surround.

Jacob Beg · Answer

@Theresa Harris I am skeptical About leaving the wall tiles. In our market, and going by flip comps this wouldn’t fare well and would be considered an unattractive feature. I was tempted to paint them white. Or I can just gut the bath.  Drop ceiling and panels are definitely going. I was going to add trim to the windows but not sure about changing them all, it would be quite expensive. Egress window as far as I can tell is close to 7k.

With egress window I’ll get 4 legal br, however, none of the comps have 4br. Though I like the idea, I might be overdoing based upon comps.

Theresa Harris · Answer

You could try reglazing the tub, but it may not last. Leave the tiles if they are in good shape.

Kitchen paint cabinets and replace hardware.  Hard to see the back left, but it looks like a random counter coming out from the wall-remove those and place along the wall and get the fridge tucked away.

Basement definitely lose the drop ceiling.  It will give you more head space AND make it brighter.  Paint the panelling white.  Can you replace the windows and add a window well?  Again this will increase the light and give you proper egress.

Your thoughts on this bath and basement?

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