Extent of Renovations for Flip

[Kathryn Bowden]

Hello!  I would love to get input from the BP community on this.  We are working on one of our first flips, and are trying to find that sweet spot on amount of renovations to do - most bang for our buck and time.  We will of course be doing needed repairs and tending to deferred maintenance.  This is a little 1/1 older beach town cottage.  We will be adding off-street parking, just because we can cheaply with our excavator, and tending to various curb appeal items.  Inside, we could either keep the updating minimal, or more extensively completely upgrade kitchen and bath.  The inside is definitely outdated, but still has charm.  My love for design urges me towards the latter, but I'm thinking perhaps not a good idea.  Inside we would do repairs, flooring, fixtures, paint, cabinet pulls, etc., at a minimum.  We will be doing most the work ourselves, so saving on labor costs (but of course, the quicker we can flip, the better).  The reason I ask this is I see flippers that seem to standardly rip out the outdated kitchens and baths on almost all their flips, and this was our initial plan on this place.  I also read all the time that on an average kitchen and bathroom remodels actually don't return 100% of their costs (at least not retail costs).  I will be consulting with a good local realtor, but also figured I can get helpful insights here, as to when and in what kind of areas/markets one remodels more.  This area is a little hodge-podge and mixed, so not real obvious to the eye.